55 Elbert Hubbard Quotes

Elbert Hubbard was a publisher, writer, artist, and philosopher from the United States.

Hubbard started his career as a traveling salesperson for the Hudson, Illinois-based Larkin Soap Company. Elbert is most known for being the brainchild of the Arts and Crafts movement and for founding the Roycroft artist colony in East Aurora, New York.

The fourteen-volume 'Little Journeys To The Homes Of The Great' and the short book 'A Message To Garcia' are only two of Hubbard's many writings. Hubbard and his wife, Alice, died on May 7, 1915, as they were on the RMS Lusitania, which was plunged by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland on that day.

Famous Elbert Hubbard Quotes

On June 19, 1856, Hubbard was born in Bloomington, Illinois. The name of his parents is Juliana Frances Read and Silas Hubbard.

In the fall of 1855, his parents relocated to Bloomington., where his father had a medical practice. The following year, after finding it difficult to settle in Bloomington due mainly to the presence of multiple reputable doctors, Silas moved his family to Hudson, Illinois.

"Civilization is one long anxious search for just such individuals. Anything such a man asks shall be granted."

- 'A Message To Garcia'.

"Many a man's reputation would not know his character if they met on the street."

"We are punished by our sins, not for them."

"I believe in the hands that work, in the brains that think, and in the hearts that love… I believe in sunshine, fresh air, friendship, calm sleep, beautiful thoughts."

"Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped."

"The only foes that threaten America are the enemies at home, and these are ignorance, superstition, and incompetence."

"The love we give away is the only love we keep."

"Possibly I have; but when all the world has gone a-slumming, I wish to speak a word of sympathy for the man who succeeds – the man who, against great odds, has directed the efforts of others and, having succeeded, finds there's nothing in it: nothing but bare board and clothes."

- 'A Message To Garcia'.

"The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure criticism without resentment."

"The only way to retain love is to give it away."

"I would rather be able to appreciate things I cannot have than to have things I am not able to appreciate."

"He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words."

"It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires a great deal of strength to decide what to do."

"The line between failure and success is so fine. . . that we are often on the line and do not know it."

Elbert Hubbard Quotes For Inspiration

Elbert Hubbard had two elder siblings and three younger siblings. Charlie, who was primarily bedridden following a childhood fall, Hannah, and the three younger sisters, Mary, Anna Miranda, and Honor.

"Genius is only the power of making continuous efforts."

"A retentive memory may be a good thing, but the ability to forget is the true token of greatness."

"The teacher is the one who gets the most out of the lessons, and the true teacher is the learner."

"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."

"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 the goal."

"To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing."
-'Little Journeys To The Homes Tf The Great Vol. 3: American Statesmen'.

"The world cries out for such: he is needed and needed badly — the man who can carry a message to Garcia."

- 'A Message to Garcia'.

"A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success."

"Do your work with your whole heart, and you will succeed – there's so little competition."

- ' A Life Of Love, Laughter And Work, Volume 4'.

"Success is a result of mental attitude, and the right mental attitude will bring success in everything you undertake. In fact, there is no such thing as failure, except to those who accept and believe in failure."

"Folks who never do any more than they get paid for, never get paid for any more than they do."

"The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today."

"The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: Be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge."

Elbert Hubbard Quotes About Life

Elbert Hubbard's first business endeavor was marketing Larkin's soap goods, which led him to Buffalo, New York. Premiums and leave on trial were two of his initiatives for Larkin.

"If you work for a man, in heaven's name, work for him, speak well of him, and stand by the institution he represents."

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

"If you suffer, thank God! It is a sure sign that you are alive."

"A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success."

"Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive."

"True life lies in laughter, love, and work."

"Our desires always disappoint us; for though we meet with something that gives us satisfaction, yet it never thoroughly answers our expectation."

"The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can't be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it."

"Never explain―your friends do not need it, and your enemies will not believe you anyway."

- 'The Motto Book (1907)'.

"Character is the result of two things: mental attitude and the way we spend our time."

- 'A Message To Garcia'.

"And the man who, when given a letter for Garcia, quietly takes the missive, without asking any idiotic questions, and with no lurking intention of chucking it into the nearest sewer or of doing aught else but deliver it, never gets laid off nor has to go on a strike for higher wages.

- 'A Message To Garcia'.

"God will not look you over for medals, degrees, or diplomas but for scars."

"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man."

"There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except within; no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose."

"A genius is a man who takes the lemons that Fate hands him and starts a lemonade stand with them."

Excellent Elbert Hubbard Quotes

Hubbard identified as an anarchist and a socialist. He advocated for economic, social, domestic, mental, political, and spiritual liberty. Nonetheless, frequent motifs in his writings show him as a capitalist with pro-business and anti-union sentiments.

"Politicians regard the public as a cow to be milked."

"There is something that is much more scarce, something finer far, something rarer than ability. It is the ability to recognize ability."

"A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you."

"Good people are only half as good, and bad people only half as bad as other people regard them."

"Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit."
- 'The Roycroft Dictionary Concocted By Ali Baba And The Bunch On Rainy Days'.

"I have carried a dinner pail and worked for day's wages, and I have also been an employer of labor, and I know there is something to be said on both sides."

- 'A Message To Garcia'.

"The sculptor produces the beautiful statue by chipping away such parts of the marble block as are not needed - it is a process of elimination."

"Be pleasant until ten o'clock in the morning, and the rest of the day will take care of itself."

"Self-discipline is the ability to make yourself do what you should do when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not."

"The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without a teacher."

"If men could only know each other, they would neither idolize nor hate."

"He has achieved success who has worked well, laughed often, and loved much."

"We awaken in others the same attitude of mind we hold toward them."