Inspirational Quotes by Elbert Hubbard (American Writer)

Inspirational Quotations by Elbert Hubbard (American Writer)

Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) was a popular American salesman, author, and philosopher from the turn of the twentieth century.

This self-described “businessman with a literary attachment” had an unusual career. Hubbard was a brilliant marketer and salesperson for a soap company. At age 37, he sold his shares in the company to establish an arts and crafts community called Roycroft in East Aurora, New York. Roycroft attracted publishers, bookbinders, and artisans who, although not paid well, had a great deal of freedom to experiment with and refine their trade-skills.

Hubbard wrote six novels and hundreds of inspirational biographical essays called Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great. His A Message to Garcia (1899) was a bestselling inspirational essay on sales and marketing. His satirical newspaper The Philistine had a monthly circulation of over 100,000.

In 1915, Hubbard died on a voyage from New York to Liverpool aboard the RMS Lusitania when a German submarine torpedoed it off the coast of Ireland.

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Elbert Hubbard

Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day. Wisdom consists in not exceeding that limit.
—Elbert Hubbard

Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer to your goal.
—Elbert Hubbard

A failure is a man who has blundered, but is not able to cash in on the experience.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Mistakes, Failure, Failures

Do your work with your whole heart, and you will succeed—there’s so little competition.
—Elbert Hubbard

The average man plays to the gallery of his own self-esteem.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Self-Discovery

He who influences the thought of his times influences the times that follow.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Leadership

Expert: One who limits himself to his chosen mode of ignorance.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Experts

We find what we expect to find, and we receive what we ask for.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Expectation

Never explain—your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyhow.
—Elbert Hubbard

The happiness of this life depends less on what befalls you than the way in which you take it.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Happiness

Life is a compromise between fate and free will.
—Elbert Hubbard

I believe in my own divinity—and yours.
—Elbert Hubbard

HISTORY: gossip well told.
—Elbert Hubbard

If pleasures are greatest in anticipation, just remember that this is also true of troubles.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Worry, Anxiety, Expectation

If you err it is not for me to punish you. We are punished by our sins not for them.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Sin

We awaken in others the same attitude of mind we hold toward them.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Health, Positive Attitudes, Attitude, War, Optimism

Art is the beautiful way of doing things. Science is the effective way of doing things. Business is the economic way of doing things.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Science

Many a man’s reputation would not know his character if they met on the street.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Reputation, Hypocrisy, Character

The point I wish to make is this: President William McKinley gave Rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia; Rowan took the letter & did not ask, Where is he at? By the Eternal! there is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze & the statue placed in every college of the land. It is not book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this and that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies: do the thingCarry a message to Garcia!
—Elbert Hubbard

The church saves sinners, but science seeks to stop their manufacture.
—Elbert Hubbard

OPTIMISM: A kind of heart stimulant—the digitalis of failure.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Optimism

Positive anything is better than negative nothing.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Thinking, Optimism, Attitude, Virtues, Entrepreneurs

Habit is a form of exercise.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Habit

Some men succeed by what they know; some by what they do; and a few by what they are.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Success, Character

The best way to prepare for life is to begin to live.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Procrastination, Getting Going, Inaction

Fear clogs; Faith liberates.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Faith

The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.
—Elbert Hubbard

If men could only know each other, they would neither idolize nor hate.
—Elbert Hubbard

The cheerful loser is the winner.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Loss, Winners, Winning, Losers, Losing

The path of least resistance is what makes rivers run crooked.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Change

Where parents do too much for their children, the children will not do much for themselves.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Parents

Simply be filled with the thought of good, and it will radiate—you do not have to bother about it, any more than you need trouble about your digestion.
—Elbert Hubbard

A friend is a person who knows all about you-and still likes you.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Friendship

To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Critics, Perfection, Criticism, Action

Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Genius

Man is not what he thinks he is, but what he thinks, he is.
—Elbert Hubbard

Genius is often only the power of making continuous efforts. The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it—so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it. How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience, would have achieved success. As the tide goes clear out, so it comes clear in. In business sometimes prospects may seem darkest when really they are on the turn. A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success. There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose.
—Elbert Hubbard
Topics: Failure, Endurance, Mistakes, Perseverance, Success, Failures, Resolve, Genius, Persistence