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Tragedy And Comedy Are Simply Questions Of Value; A Little Misfit In Life Makes Us Laugh; A Great One Is Tragedy And Cause For Expression Of Grief.

-Elbert Hubbard

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Tragedy And Comedy Are

Elbert Hubbard

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Tragedy And Comedy Are Simply Questions Of Value; A Little Misfit In Life Makes Us Laugh; A Great One Is Tragedy And Cause For Expression Of Grief.

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

I Believe In Salvation Through Economic, Social, And Spiritual Freedom.

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

I Will Gladly Lecture For Fifty Dollars, But I'll Not Be A Guest For Less Than A Hundred.

God Is Good, There Is No Devil But Fear.

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

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

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

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.

When You Once Attribute Effects To The Will Of A Personal God, You Have Let In A Lot Of Little Gods And Evils - Then Sprites, Fairies, Dryads, Naiads, Witches, Ghosts And Goblins, For Your Imagination Is Reeling, Riotous, Drunk, Afloat On The Flotsam Of Superstition. What You Know Then Doesn't Count. You Just Believe, And The More Your Believe The More Do You Plume Yourself That Fear And Faith Are Superior To Science And Seeing.

Life Is A Compromise Between Fate And Free Will.

The Great Man Is Not So Great As Folks Think, And The Dull Man Is Not Quite So Stupid As He Seems. The Difference In Our Estimates Of Men Lies In The Fact That One Individual Is Able To Get His Goods Into The Show-window, And The Other Is Not Aware That He Has Any Show-window Or Any Goods.

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

Men Who Sit Back And Pride Themselves On Their Culture Haven't Any To Speak Of.

The Businessman Is One Who Supplies Something Great And Good To The World, And Collects From The World For The Goods.

When Certain Unmarried Men, Who Had Lost Their Capacity To Sin, Sat Indoors, Breathing Bad Air, And Passed Resolutions About What Was Right And What Wrong, Making Rules For The Guidance Of The People, Instead Of Trusting To The Natural, Happy Instincts Of The Individual, They Ushered In The Dark Ages. These Are The Gentlemen Who Blocked Human Evolution Absolutely For A Thousand Years.

Politicians Regard The Public As A Cow To Be Milked

A Book On Cheap Paper Does Not Convince. It Is Not Prized, It Is Like A Wheezy Doctor With Pigtail Tobacco Breath, Who Needs A Manicure.

Whom The Gods Love Die Young No Matter How Long They Live.

Formal Religion Was Organized For Slaves: It Offered Them Consolation Which Earth Did Not Provide.

Men Are Only As Great As They Are Kind.

Of All The Mental And Physical Polluters Of Life, Nothing Exercises Such A Poisonous Effect As Fear.

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.

Every Life Is Its Own Excuse For Being, And To Deny Or Refute The Untrue Things That Are Said Of You Is An Error In Judgment. All Wrong Recoils Upon The Doer, And The Person Who Makes Wrong Statements About Others Is Themselves To Be Pitied, Not The Person They Vilify. It Is Better To Be Lied About Than To Lie. At The Last No One Can Harm Us But Ourselves.

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

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

Library: A Place Where The Dead Lie.

The Newspapers Print What The People Want, And Thus Does The Savage Still Swing His Club And Flourish His Spear.

History: Gossip Well Told.

If Men Will Not Act For Themselves, What Will They Do When The Benefit Of Their Effort Is For All?

There Is Something That Is Much More Scarce, Something Finer Far, Something Rarer Than Ability. It Is The Ability To Recognize Ability.

I Believe It Is Possible That I Shall Make Other Creeds, And Change This One, Or Add To It, From Time To Time, As New Light May Come To Me.

The Thing We Fear We Bring To Pass.

Freedom Cannot Be Bestowed - It Must Be Achieved.

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

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.

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

As A Rule, The Man Who Can Do All Things Equally Well Is A Very Mediocre Individual.

To Subjugate Another Is To Subjugate Yourself.

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

Dignity Is A Mask We Wear To Hide Our Ignorance.

To Supply A Thought Is Mental Massage; But To Evolve A Thought Of Your Own Is An Achievement. Thinking Is A Brain Exercise And No Faculty Grows Save As It Is Exercised.

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, Also.

No Man Ever Did Or Can Do A Great Work Alone.

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

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

Conformists Die, But Heretics Live Forever.

To Have A Full Stomach And Fixed Income Are No Small Things .

Every Knock Is A Boost.

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

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

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.

In God's Great Vaudeville, Mother Is The Headliner.

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

A Failure Is A Man Who Has Blundered, But Is Not Able To Cash In The Experience.

This Will Never Be A Civilized Country Until We Spend More Money For Books Than We Do For Chewing Gum.

As We Grow Better, We Meet Better People.

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

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

Love Is Not Really Blind- The Bandage Is Never So Tight But That It Can Peep.

Jealousy Seems The Absolute Reversal Of Love. It Is The Swinging From The Sunny Warmth Of The Equator To The Frigid Cold Of The North Pole.

To Know The Great Men Dead Is Compensation For Having To Live With The Mediocre.

Life Is Just One Damned Thing After Another.

You Can Go Wrong By Being Too Skeptical As Readily As By Being Too Trusting. You Can Lead A Boy To College But You Cannot Make Him Think.

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

Heaven: The Coney Island Of The Christian Imagination.

Art Is Not A Thing; It Is A Way.

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

Lovers Are Fools, But Nature Makes Them So.

A Man's Acts Are Usually Right, But His Reasons Seldom Are.

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

The Brain Is A Commodity Used To Fertilize Ideas.

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

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!

Success Is The Most Natural Thing In The World. The Person Who Does Not Succeed Has Placed Himself In Opposition To The Laws Of The Universe.

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

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

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

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

Live Truth Instead Of Professing It.

Thoroughness Characterizes All Successful Men. Genius Is The Art Of Taking Infinite Pains. All Great Achievement Has Been Characterized By Extreme Care, Infinite Painstaking, Even To The Minutest Detail.

Grammar Is The Grave Of Letters.

Half The Failures In Life Arise From Pulling In One's Horse As He Is Leaping. Happiness Is A Habit. Cultivate It.

Impossible Things Are Simply Those Which So Far Have Never Been Done.

Impossible Things

Men Are Rich Only As They Give. He Who Gives Great Service Gets Great Rewards.

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.

Habit Is A Form Of Exercise.

I Wish To Live Without Hate, Whim, Jealousy, Envy, And Fear. I Wish To Be Simple, Honest, Frank, Natural . . To Face Any Obstacle And Meet Every Difficulty Unabashed And Unafraid.

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

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.

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

There Was One Who Thought Himself Above Me, And He Was Above Me Until He Had That Thought.

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

Be Yourself And Think For Yourself, And While Your Conclusions May Not Be Infallible They Will Be Nearer Right Than The Inclusions Forced Upon You By Those Who Have A Personal Interest In Keeping You In Ignorance.

I Do Not Read A Book; I Hold A Conversation With The Author.

The Ineffable Joy Of Forgiving And Being Forgiven Forms An Ecstasy That Might Well Arouse The Envy Of The Gods.

Life In Abundance Comes Only Through Great Love.

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.

The Average Man Plays To The Gallery Of His Own Self-esteem.

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.

Theology Is Classified Superstition.

Freedom Is A Condition Of Mind, And The Best Way To Secure It Is To Breed It.

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

Action Is Thought Tempered By Illusion.

There Is No Freedom On Earth Or In Any Star For Those Who Deny Freedom To Others.

Enthusiasm Is Like Having Two Right Hands.

Service Culture

No Good Sensible Working Bee Listens To The Advice Of A Bedbug On The Subject Of Business.

We Will Not Be Dictated To By Men With Less Intelligence, Energy, Initiative And Ambition Than We Ourselves Possess.

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

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

Real Life Is In Love, Laughter, And Work.

No Matter How Long You Live, Die Young.

Every Spirit Makes Its House, But As Afterwards The House Confines The Spirit, You Had Better Build Well.

I Believe The Universe Is Planned For Good.

Lawyers Are Men Whom We Hire To Protect Us From Lawyers.

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

Reason: The Arithmetic Of The Emotions.

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

Your Enemy Is One Who Misunderstands You; Why Should You Not Rise Above The Fog And See His Error And Respect Him For The Good Qualities You Find In Him?

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

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

Loyal Customers

Man, Like Deity, Creates In His Own Image.

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

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.

The Highest Reward That God Gives Us For Good Work Is The Ability To Do Better Work.

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

Nothing Is Permanent But Change.

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

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

Don't Make Excuses, Make Good.

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

God — The John Doe Of Philosophy And Religion.

Postponement: The Father Of Failure.

Play Needs Direction As Well As Work.

We Work To Become, Not To Acquire.

Mystic: A Person Who Is Puzzled Before The Obvious, But Who Understands The Non-existent.

A School Should Not Be A Preparation For Life. A School Should Be Life.

The Hundred-point Man Is One Who Is True To Every Trust; Who Keeps His Word; Who Is Loyal To The Firm That Employs Him; Who Does Not Listen For Insults Nor Look For Slights; Who Carries A Civil Tongue In His Head; Who Is Polite To Strangers Without Being Fresh; Who Is Considerate Toward Servants; Who Is Moderate In His Eating And Drinking; Who Is Willing To Learn; Who Is Cautious And Yet Courageous.

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.

Theology Is An Attempt To Explain A Subject By Men Who Do Not Understand It. The Intent Is Not To Tell The Truth But To Satisfy The Questioner.

Telling The Truth

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.

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

If You Have No Enemies You Are Apt To Be In The Same Predicament In Regard To Friends.

Good Health! Whenever You Go Out Of Doors, Draw The Chin In, Carry The Crown Of Your Head High, And Fill The Lungs To The Utmost; Drink In Sunshine; Greet Your Friends With A Smile, And Put Soul Into Every Handclasp. Do Not Fear Being Misunderstood And Never Waste A Minute Thinking About Your Enemies.

Thinking About You

Many A Man's Reputation Would Not Know His Character If They Met On The Street.

The Love We Give Away Is The Only Love We Keep.

Laughter Is Higher Than All Pain.

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

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

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

I Believe The Only Way We Can Reach The Kingdom Of Heaven Is To Have The Kingdom Of Heaven In Our Hearts.

I Have Noticed That Youngsters Given To The Climbing Habit Usually Do Something When They Grow Up

Respectability Is The Dickey On The Bosom Of Civilization.

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.

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!

Let A Man Once See Himself As Others See Him, And All Enthusiasm Vanishes From His Heart.

The Stupidity Of One Brain Multiplied By Twelve.

No Book Is Of Much Importance; The Vital Thing Is, What Do You Yourself Think?

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.

Luck Is Tenacity Of Purpose.

Laws That Do Not Embody Public Opinion Can Never Be Enforced.

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

Seeing With Better Eyes We Can Recognize That The Offender Is A Valuable Human Being Who Struggles With The Same Needs, Pressures, And Confusions That We Struggle With. We Will Recognize That The Incident Really May Not Have Been About Us In The First Place. Instead It Was About The Wrongdoer's Misguided Attempt To Meet His Or Her Own Needs. As We Regard Offenders From This Point Of View (regardless Of Whether They Repent And Regardless Of What They Have Done Or Suffered), We Will Be In A Position To Forgive Them.

Victory; A Matter Of Staying Power.

Fear Is The Thought Of Admitted Inferiority.

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

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

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

An Imitator Is A Man Who Succeeds In Being An Imitation.

Blessed Is The Man Who Has Found Someone To Do His Work.

If Pleasures Are Greatest In Anticipation, Just Remember That This Is Also True Of Trouble.

War Is The Sure Result Of The Existence Of Armed Men. That Country Which Maintains A Large Standing Army Will Sooner Or Later Have A War. The Man Who Prides Himself On Fisticuffs Is Going, Some Day, To Meet A Man Who Considers Himself The Better Man, And They Will Test The Issue.

No Man Needs A Vacation So Much As The Man Who Has Just Had One.

The Recipe For Perpetual Ignorance Is: Be Satisfied With Your Opinions And Content With Your Knowledge.

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

The Heroic Man Does Not Pose; He Leaves That For The Man Who Wishes To Be Thought Heroic.

Orthodoxy: That Peculiar Condition Where The Patient Can Neither Eliminate An Old Idea Nor Absorb A New One.

The Man Who Has No Problems Is Out Of The Game.

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.

Success - To Rise From The Illusion Of Pursuit To The Disillusion Of Possession.

Art Is Nothing; It's A Way.

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

Make Two Grins Grow Where There Was Only A Grouch Before.

Responsibility Is The Price Of Freedom.

Cultivate Only The Habits That You Are Willing Should Master You

The Wise Way To Benefit Humanity Is To Attend To Your Own Affairs, And Thus Give Other People An Opportunity To Look After Theirs.

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

Optimism Is A Kind Of Heart Stimulant - The Digitalis Of Failure.

Religions Are Many And Diverse, But Reason And Goodness Are One.

Forbid A Man To Think For Himself Or To Act For Himself And You May Add The Joy Of Piracy And The Zest Of Smuggling To His Life.

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 Fragments.

Talent Does Things Tolerably Well; Genius Does Then Intolerably Better

Every Life Is Its Own Excuse For Being.

The Best Preparation For Good Work Tomorrow Is To Do Good Work Today.

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.

It Does Not Make Much Difference What A Person Studies-all Knowledge Is Related, And The Man Who Studies Anything, If He Keeps At It, Will Be Learned.

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.

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

A Friend Is One Who Knows You And Loves You Just The Same.

All Wages Are Based Primarily On Productive Power. Anything Else Would Be Charity.

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