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I Pray That I May Never Meddle, Interfere, Dictate, Give Advice That Is Not Wanted, Or Assist When My Services Are Not Needed. If I Can Help People, I'll Do It By Giving Them A Chance To Help Themselves; And If I Can Uplift Or Inspire, Let It Be By Example, Inference And Suggestion, Rather Than By Injunction And Dictation. That Is To Say, I Desire To Be Radiant -- To Radiate Life!

-Elbert Hubbard

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I Pray That I

Elbert Hubbard

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I Pray That I May Never Meddle, Interfere, Dictate, Give Advice That Is Not Wanted, Or Assist When My Services Are Not Needed. If I Can Help People, I'll Do It By Giving Them A Chance To Help Themselves; And If I Can Uplift Or Inspire, Let It Be By Example, Inference And Suggestion, Rather Than By Injunction And Dictation. That Is To Say, I Desire To Be Radiant -- To Radiate Life!

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He Who Influences The Thought Of His Times Influences The Times That Follow.

Man's Greatest Blunder Has Been In Trying To Make Peace With The Skies Instead Of Making Peace With His Neighbors

The Man Who Is So Run Down That He Needs A Vacation Can Never Adjust Or Reform Himself In Two Weeks. What He Really Needs Is To Re-transform His Life.

Growth Is Often A Painful Process.

The Difference In Men Does Not Lie In The Size Of Their Hands, Nor In The Perfection Of Their Bodies, But In This One Sublime Ability Of Concentration: To Throw The Weight In One Blow, To Live Eternity In An Hour.

A College Degree Does Not Lessen The Length Of Your Ears; It Only Conceals It.

The Worst Thing About Medicine Is That One Kind Makes Another Necessary

What People Need And What They Want May Be Very Different.

Positive Anything Is Better Than Negative Nothing.

The Cure For Grief Is Motion.

If I Supply You With A Thought, You May Remember It And You May Not. But If I Can Make You Think A Thought For Yourself, I Have Indeed Added To Your Stature.

There Have Always Existed Three Ways Of Keeping The People Loving And Loyal. One Is To Leave Them Alone, To Trust Them And Not To Interfere. This Plan, However, Has Very Seldom Been Practised, Because The Politicians Regard The Public As A Cow To Be Milked, And Something Must Be Done To Make It Stand Quiet.

Two-thirds Of All Preachers, Doctors And Lawyers Are Hanging On To The Coat Tails Of Progress, Shouting, Whoa! While A Good Many Of The Rest Are Busy Strewing Banana Peels Along The Line Of March.

To Avoid Criticism, Do Nothing, Say Nothing And Be Nothing.

The Art Of Winning In Business Is In Working Hard - Not Taking Things Too Seriously.

Opportunities For Education Should Be Within The Reach Of Every Individual, Not For The Lucky Few.

Pessimist: One Who Has Been Intimately Acquainted With An Optimist.

Library: A Place Where The Dead Lie.

An Enemy Is Anyone Who Tells The Truth About You.

Telling The Truth

Old Ways Will Always Remain Unless Some One Invents A New Way And Then Lives And Dies For It

The Valuable Person In Any Business Is The Individual Who Can And Will Cooperate With Others.

Often We Can Help Each Other Most By Leaving Each Other Alone; At Other Times We Need The Hand-grasp And The Word Of Cheer.

What We Call God's Justice Is Only Man's Idea Of What He Would Do If He Were God.

Life Consists In Molting Our Illusions. We Form Creeds Today Only To Throw Them Away Tomorrow. The Eagle Molts A Feather Because He Is Growing A Better One.

Freedom Cannot Be Bestowed - It Must Be Achieved.

Our Admiration Is So Given To Dead Martyrs That We Have Little Time For Living Heroes.

Men Whose Lives Are Doubtful Want A Strong Government And A Hot Religion

Football: A Sport That Bears The Same Relation To Education That Bullfighting Does To Agriculture.

The Friend Is The Man Who Knows All About You, And Still Likes You.

Action Is Thought Tempered By Illusion.

God Looked Upon His Work And Saw That It Was Good. That Is Where The Clergy Take Issue With Him.

Heaven: The Coney Island Of The Christian Imagination.

Time Is An Eternal Guest That Banquets On Our Ideals And Bodies.

There Is No Failure Except The Failure Of Trying.

Life Is A Compromise Between Fate And Free Will.

The Home Is A Tryst-the Place Where We Retire And Shut The World Out.

Natural Joy Brings No Headaches And No Heartaches.

If There Is Any Better Way To Teach Virtue Than By Practicing It, I Do Not Know It.

Picture In Your Mind The Able, Earnest, Useful Person You Desire To Be, And The Thought You Hold Is Hourly Transforming You Into That Particular Individual You So Admire

The Final Proof Of Greatness Lies In Being Able To Endure Contumely Without Resentment.

Secrets Are Things We Give To Others To Keep For Us.

Keeping Secrets

To Make Mistakes Is Human, But To Profit From Them Is Divine.

Fences Are Made For Those Who Cannot Fly.

We Work To Become, Not To Acquire.

It Is A Fine Thing To Have Ability, But The Ability To Discover Ability In Others Is The True Test.

Progress Needs The Brakeman, But The Brakeman Should Not Spend All His Time Putting On The Brakes.

Character Is The Result Of Two Things: Mental Attitude And The Way We Spend Our Time.

To Subjugate Another Is To Subjugate Yourself.

Some One Has Said That We Are Moving So Fast That When Plans Are Being Made To Perform Some Great Feat, These Plans Are Broken Into By A Youth Who Enters And Says, “i Have Done It."

Piety Is The Tinfoil Of Pretense.

Victory; A Matter Of Staying Power.

I Would Rather Have A Big Burden And A Strong Back, Than A Weak Back And A Caddy To Carry Life's Luggage.

Life Is A Movement Outward, An Unfolding.

Postponement: The Father Of Failure.

Truth, In Its Struggles For Recognition, Passes Through Four Distinct Stages. First, We Say It Is Damnable, Dangerous, Disorderly, And Will Surely Disrupt Society. Second, We Declare It Is Heretical, Infidelic And Contrary To The Bible. Third, We Say It Is Really A Matter Of No Importance Either One Way Or The Other. Fourth, We Aver That We Have Always Upheld It And Believed It.

There Is A Wild, Splendid, Intoxicating Joy That Follows Work Well Done.

The Weaknesses Of The Many Make The Leader Possible.

A Creed Is An Ossified Metaphor.

Be Pleasant Until Ten O'clock In The Morning And The Rest Of The Day Will Take Care Of Itself.

Genius Is The Capacity Of Avoiding Hard Work.

The Product Of The Head, Heart And Hand Is A Thing To Be Loved.

Strong Men Can Always Afford To Be Gentle. Only The Weak Are Intent On Giving As Good As They Get.

An American Religion: Work, Play, Breathe, Bathe, Study, Live, Laugh, And Love.

An Ounce Of Performance Is Worth More Than A Pound Of Preachment.

Genius May Have Its Limitations, But Stupidity Is Not Thus Handicapped.

When We Really Live Truth, We Will Cease To Talk About It.

Organized Religion, Being Founded On Superstition, Is, Perforce, Not Scientific. And All That Which Is Not Scientific - That Is, Truthful - Must Be Bolstered Up By Force, Fear And Falsehood. Thus We Always Find Slavery And Organized Religion Going Hand In Hand.

No Great Spiritual Event Befalls Those Who Do Not Summon It.

Writers Seldom Write The Things They Think. They Simply Write The Things They Think Other Folks Think They Think.

It Does Not Take Much Strength To Do Things, But It Requires Great Strength To Decide On What To Do.

The Inspirations Of Today Are The Shams Of Tomorrow The Purpose Has Departed.

Every Quarrel Begins In Nothing And Ends In A Struggle For Supremacy.

Every Man Should Have A College Education In Order To Show Him How Little The Thing Is Really Worth.

In The Life Of Darwin By His Son, There Is Related An Incident Of How The Great Naturalist Once Studied Long As To Just What A Certain Spore Was. Finally He Said, "it Is This, For If It Isn't, Then What Is It?" And All During His Life He Was Never Able To Forget That He Had Been Guilty Of This Unscientific Attitude, For Science Is Founded On Certitude, Not Assumption.

Nature: The Unseen Intelligence Which Loved Us Into Being, And Is Disposing Of Us By The Same Token

We Are Not Punished For Our Sins, But By Them.

If You Suffer, Thank God! It Is A Sure Sign That You Are Alive.

World Suffering

Friendship, Like Credit, Is Highest When It Is Not Used.

Parties Who Want Milk Should Not Seat Themselves On A Stool In The Middle Of The Field In Hope That The Cow Will Back Up To Them.

Life Without Absorbing Occupation Is Hell; Joy Consists In Forgetting Life.

A Good Front Is Half The Battle In Love Or War.

Never Explain - Your Friends Do Not Need It And Your Enemies Will Not Believe You Anyway.

God Will Not Look You Over For Medals Degrees Or Diplomas, But For Scars.

Strength And Strength's Will Are The Supreme Ethic. All Else Are Dreams From Hospital Beds, The Sly, Crawling Goodness Of Sneaking Souls.

The Supernatural Is The Natural Not Yet Understood.

What People Need And What They Want May Be Very Different.... Teachers Are Those Who Educate The People To Appreciate The Things They Need.

Where Parents Do Too Much For Their Children, The Children Will Not Do Much For Themselves.

Don't Lose Faith In Humanity; Think Of All The People In The United States Who Have Never Played You A Single Nasty Trick.

The Great Big Black Things That Have Loomed Against The Horizon Of My Life, Threatening To Devour Me, Simply Loomed And Nothing More. The Things That Have Really Made Me Miss My Train Have Always Been Sweet, Soft, Pretty, Pleasant Things Of Which I Was Not In The Least Afraid.

The Path Of Civilization Is Paved With Tin Cans.

It May Happen Sometimes That A Long Debate Becomes The Cause Of A Longer Friendship. Commonly, Those Who Dispute With One Another At Last Agree.

Lost Friendship

Prophecy - To Observe That Which Has Passed, And Guess It Will Happen Again.

Responsibiliti Es Gravitate To The Man Who Can Shoulder Them And The Power To Him Who Knows How

Philosophy Rests On A Proposition That Whatever Is Is Right. Preaching Begins By Assuming That Whatever Is Is Wrong.

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.

Government Is A Kind Of Legalized Pillage.

The Man Who Is Anybody And Who Does Anything Is Surely Going To Be Criticized, Vilified, And Misunderstood. This Is A Part Of The Penalty For Greatness, And Every Great Man Understands It; And Understands, Too, That It Is No Proof Of Greatness. The Final Proof Of Greatness Lies In Being Able To Endure Contumely Without Resentment.

Folks Who Never Do Any More Than They Get Paid For, Never Get Paid For Any More Than They Do

Do Not Dump Your Woes Upon People — Keep The Sad Story Of Your Life To Yourself. Troubles Grow By Recounting Them.

The Teacher Is The One Who Gets The Most Out Of The Lessons, And That The True Teacher Is A Learner.

If You Have Health, You Probably Will Be Happy, And If You Have Health And Happiness, You Have All The Wealth You Need, Even If It Is Not All You Want.

Public Opinion Is The Judgment Of The Incapable Many Opposed To That Of The Discerning Few.

Study: Concentration Of The Mind On Whatever Will Ultimately Put Something In Your Pocket.

Time Is An Illusion-to Orators.

Happiness Is A Habit—cultivate It.

Positive Thinking

Never Get Married In College; It's Hard To Get A Start If A Prospective Employer Finds You've Already Made One Mistake.

The Average Woman Sees Only The Weak Points In A Strong Man, And The Good Points In A Weak One.

Faith Is The Effort To Believe What Your Common Sense Tells You Is Not True.

A Man Is As Good As He Has To Be, And A Woman Is As Bad As She Dares

Do Your Work With Your Whole Heart, And You Will Succeed - There's So Little Competition.

Life Is A Voyage, And We Are All Sailing Under Sealed Orders. We Plan, Plot, Scheme And Arrange, And Some Fine Day Fate Steps In And Our Dreams Are Tossed Into The Yeasty Deep. We Grin And Bear It--anyway We Bear It: It Is The Only Thing To Do.

Every Man Is A Damn Fool For At Least Five Minutes Every Day; Wisdom Consists In Not Exceeding The Limit.

The Only Man Who Makes Money Following The Races Is One Who Does It With A Broom And Shovel.

I Would Rather Be Able To Appreciate Things I Can Not Have Than To Have Things I Am Not Able To Appreciate.

It Is Not To Be Wondered That Men Have Worshiped The Ocean, For In His Depths They Have Seen Mirrored The Image Of Eternity Of Infinity. Here They Have Seen The Symbol Of God's Great Plan Of Oneness With His Creatures, For The Sea Is The Union Of All Infinite Particles, And It Takes The Whole To Make The One.

Men Are Only As Great As They Are Kind.

It Is Not Book Learning Young Men Need, Nor Instruction About This And That, But A Stiffening Of The Vertebra Which Will Cause Them To Be Loyal To A Trust, To Act Promptly, Concentrate Their Energies, Do A Thing.

Play Needs Direction As Well As Work.

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.

It Is Only Life And Love That Give Love And Life.

An Executive Is One Who Makes An Immediate Decision And Is Sometimes Right

Orthodoxy Is A Corpse That Doesn't Know It's Dead.

Every Man Who Speaks Out Loud And Clear Is Tinting The "zeitgeist." Every Man Who Expresses What He Honestly Thinks Is True Is Changing The Spirit Of The Times. Thinkers Help Other People To Think, For They Formulate What Others Are Thinking. No Person Writes Or Thinks Alone--thought Is In The Air, But Its Expression Is Necessary To Create A Tangible Spirit Of The Times.

You Can Lead A Boy To College, But You Cannot Make Him Think.

One Machine Can Do The Work Of Fifty Ordinary Men. No Machine Can Do The Work Of One Extraordinary Man.

Little Minds Are Interested In The Extraordinary; Great Minds In The Commonplace.

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.

No Matter How Long You Live, Die Young.

As A Career, The Business Of An Orthodox Preacher Is About As Successful As That Of A Celluloid Dog Chasing An Asbestos Cat Through Hell.

Money Never Made A Fool Of Anybody; It Only Shows Them Up.

Souls Are Made Of Dawn-stuff And Starshine.

If We Cannot Be Powerful And Happy And Prey On Others, We Invent Conscience And Prey On Ourselves.

Wealth: A Cunning Device Of Fate Whereby Men Are Made Captive, And Burdened With Responsibilites From Which Only Death Can File Their Fetters.

Prison Is A Socialist Paradise Where Equality Prevails, Everything Is Supplied, And Competition Is Eliminated.

Most People Like Hard Work, Particularly When They're Paying For It.

If It Was Woman Who Put Man Out Of Paradise, It Is Still Woman, And Woman Only, Who Can Lead Him Back.

Allow Motion To Equal Emotion.

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.

If Your Religion Does Not Change You, Then You Had Better Change Your Religion.

All Success Consists In This: You Are Doing Something For Somebody - Benefiting Humanity - And The Feeling Of Success Comes From The Consciousness Of This.

Imitation Is The Sincerest Form Of Insult.

The Finest Friendships Are Between Those Who Can Do Without Each Other.

If You Work For A Man, In Heaven's Name Work For Him, Speak Well Of Him, And Stand By The Institution He Represents. Remember, An Ounce Of Loyalty Is Worth A Pound Of Cleverness. If You Must Growl, Condemn, And Eternally Find Fault - Resign Your Position, And When You Are Outside, Damn To Your Heart's Content - But As Long As You Are Part Of The Institution, Do Not Condemn It. If You Do, The First High Wind That Comes Along Will Blow You Away, And Probably You Will Never Know Why.

Love Grows By Giving. The Love We Give Away Is The Only Love We Keep. The Only Way To Retain Love Is To Give It Away.

Charity: A Thing That Begins At Home, And Usually Stays There.

Life Is A Checkerboard, And The Player Opposite You Is Time. If You Hesitate Before Moving, Or Neglect To Move Promptly, Your Men Will Be Wiped Off The Board By Time. You Are Playing Against A Partner Who Will Not Tolerate Indecision!

Not Only Does Beauty Fade, But It Leaves A Record Upon The Face As To What Became Of It.

Most Reformers Wore Rubber Boots And Stood On Glass When God Sent A Current Of Commonsense Through The Universe.

Die, V.: To Stop Sinning Suddenly.

The Artist Needs No Religion Beyond His Work.

I Pray That I May Never Meddle, Interfere, Dictate, Give Advice That Is Not Wanted, Or Assist When My Services Are Not Needed. If I Can Help People, I'll Do It By Giving Them A Chance To Help Themselves; And If I Can Uplift Or Inspire, Let It Be By Example, Inference And Suggestion, Rather Than By Injunction And Dictation. That Is To Say, I Desire To Be Radiant -- To Radiate Life!

The Mintage Of Wisdom Is To Know That Rest Is Rust, And That Real Life Is Love, Laughter, And Work.

If You Work For A Man, In Heavens Name Work For Him! If He Pays You Wages That Supply You Your Bread And Butter, Work For Him Speak Well Of Him, Think Well Of Him, Stand By Him And Stand By The Institution He Represents. I Think If I Worked For A Man I Would Work For Him. I Would Not Work For Him A Part Of The Time, And The Rest Of The Time Work Against Him. I Would Give An Undivided Service Or None. If Put To The Pinch, An Ounce Of Loyalty Is Worth A Pound Of Cleverness.

The Trouble With Many Married People Is That They Are Trying To Get More Out Of Marriage Than There Is In It.

Destruction, Violence, Ravages, Murder, Are Perpetrated By Statute Law.

Art Is The Beautiful Way Of Doing Things. Science Is The Effective Way Of Doing Things. Business Is The Economic Way Of Doing Things.

So Long As Governments Set The Example Of Killing Their Enemies, Private Individuals Will Occasionally Kill Theirs.

When Trouble Comes, Wise Men Take To Their Work; Weak Men Take To The Woods.

Politicians Regard The Public As A Cow To Be Milked

Those Who Create Beauty Are Also They Who Possess It.

Of All Blessings, No Gift Equals The Gentle, Trusting Love And Companionship Of A Good Woman.

One Thing Is Sure, There Are Just Two Respectable Ways To Die. One Is Of Old Age, And The Other Is By Accident.

Cultivate Only The Habits That You Are Willing Should Master You

Dignity Is A Mask We Wear To Hide Our Ignorance.

The Fool Is Not The Man Who Merely Does Foolish Things. The Fool Is The Man Who Does Not Know Enough To Cash In On His Foolishness.

In Order To Have Friends, You Must First Be One.

Some Men Can Get Results If Kindly Encouraged, But Give Me The Kind That Do Things In Spite Of Hell.

When On The Brink Of Complete Discouragement, Success Is Discerning That...the Line Between Failure And Success Is So Fine That Often A Single Extra Effort Is All That Is Needed To Bring Victory Out Of Defeat.

It Is The Weak Man Who Urges Compromise - Never The Strong Man.

There Is A Joy In Going Without Things, A Fine Tang In Eliminating The Superfluous.

The Church Saves Sinners, But Science Seeks To Stop Their Manufacture.

Science And Religion

Theology, By Diverting The Attention Of Men From This Life To Another, And By Endeavoring To Coerce All Men Into One Religion, Constantly Preaching That This World Is Full Of Misery, But The Next World Would Be Beautiful - Or Not, As The Case May Be - Has Forced On Men The Thought Of Fear Where Otherwise There Might Have Been The Happy Abandon Of Nature.

People Who Are Able To Do Their Own Thinking Should Not Allow Others To Do It For Them.

The Love You Liberate In Your Work Is The Love You Keep.

The New Definition Of A Heathen Is A Man Who Has Never Played Baseball.

Righteous Indignation: Your Own Wrath As Opposed To The Shocking Bad Temper Of Others

If Put To The Pinch, An Ounce Of Loyalty Is Worth A Pound Of Cleverness.

Loyal Customers

A Retentive Memory May Be A Good Thing, But The Ability To Forget Is The True Token Of Greatness.

The Object Of Teaching A Child Is To Enable Him To Get Along Without His Teacher.

The Line Between Failure And Success Is So Fine That We Are Often On The Line And Do Not Know It. How Many A Person Has Thrown Up His Or Her Hands At A Time When A Little More Effort, A Little More Patience, Would Have Achieved Success. A Little More Persistence, A Little More Effort, And What Seemed Hopeless Failure May Turn To Glorious Success.

If Men Could Only Know Each Other, They Would Neither Idolize Nor Hate.

I Believe That The Best Way To Prepare For A Future Life Is To Be Kind, Live One Day At A Time, And Do The Work You Can Do Best, Doing It As Well As You Can.

One Day At A Time

Most Diseases Are The Result Of Medication Which Has Been Prescribed To Relieve And Take Away A Beneficent And Warning Symptom On The Part Of Nature.

Martyrs And Persecutors Are The Same Type Of Man. As To Which Is The Persecutor And Which The Martyr, This Is Only A Question Of Transient Power.

Art Is Nothing; It's A Way.

Dreams Can Come True, But There Is A Secret. They're Realized Through The Magic Of Persistence, Determination, Commitment, Passion, Practice, Focus And Hard Work. They Happen A Step At A Time, Manifested Over Years, Not Weeks.

The Stupidity Of One Brain Multiplied By Twelve.

The Greatest Mistake A Person Can Make Is To Be Afraid Of Making One.

Business Is A Fight, A Continual Struggle, Just As Life Is

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.

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.

When You Grow Suspicious Of A Person And Begin A System Of Espionage Upon Him, Your Punishment Will Be That You Will Find Your Suspicions True.

There Are Three Sides To Every Question-where A Divorce Is Involved.

Anyone Who Idolizes You Is Going To Hate You When He Discovers That You Are Fallible. He Never Forgives. He Has Deceived Himself, And He Blames You For It.

A Woman Will Doubt Everything You Say Except It Be Compliments To Herself.

Meanness Is More In Half-doing Than In Omitting Acts Of Generosity.

Every Knock Is A Boost.

Life In Abundance Comes Only Through Great Love.

Put Yourself In The Other Man's Place And Then You Will Know Why He Thinks Certain Things And Does Certain Deeds.

God Is Good, There Is No Devil But Fear.

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