Elbert Green Hubbard

Woman's inaptitude for reasoning has not prevented her from arriving at truth; nor has man's ability to reason prevented him from floundering in absurdity.

Why not be a top-notcher? A top-notcher is simply an individual who works for the institution of which he is a part, not against it.

To remain on earth you must be useful, otherwise Nature regards you as old metal, and is only watching for a chance to melt you over.

The way to learn to earn a living is to go at it and earn a living.

The ineffable joy of forgiving and being forgiven forms an ecstasy that might well arouse the envy of the gods.

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

There is no such thing as success in a bad business.

Respectability is the dickey on the bosom of civilization.

Perfume; Any smell that is used to drown a worse one.

Our admiration is so given to dead martyrs that we have little time for living heroes.

Making men live in three worlds at once — past, present and future has been the chief harm organized religion has done.

Life without absorbing occupation is hell — joy consists in forgetting life.

A pessimist is a man who has been compelled to live with an optimist.

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

The weaknesses of the many make the leader possible—and the man who craves disciples and wants followers is always more or less of a charlatan. The man of genuine worth and insight wants to be himself; and he wants others to be themselves, …

Literature is the noblest of all the arts. Music dies on the air, or at best exists only as a memory; oratory ceases with the effort; the painter's colors fade and the canvas rots; the marble is dragged from its pedestal and is broken into …

Academic education is the act of memorizing things read in books, and things told by college professors who got their education mostly by memorizing things read in books.

When you see a tomcat with his whiskers full of feathers, do not say "Canary!" — he'll take offense.

Men who marry for gratification, propagation or the matter of buttons or socks, must expect to cope with and deal in a certain amount of quibble, subterfuge, concealments, and double, deep-dyed prevarication.

Do not dump your woes upon people — keep the sad story of your life to yourself. Troubles grow by recounting them.

I am not sure just what the unpardonable sin is, but I believe it is a disposition to evade the payment of small bills.

The newspapers print what the people want, and thus does the savage still swing his club and flourish his spear.

Your friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you.

Do not go out of your way to do good whenever it comes your way. Men who make a business of doing good to others are apt to hate others in the same occupation. Simply be filled with the thought of good, and it will radiate — you do not …