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

-Elbert Hubbard

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Wealth: A Cunning Device

Elbert Hubbard

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

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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.

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.

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

Self-control Is The Ability To Restrain A Laugh At The Wrong Place.

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

History: A Collection Of Epitaphs.

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

Christianity Supplies A Hell For The People Who Disagree With You And A Heaven For Your Friends.

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

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

The Reward Of A Good Deed Is In Having Done It.

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

Government Is A Kind Of Legalized Pillage.

I Believe The Universe Is Planned For Good.

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

Men Are Only As Great As They Are Kind.

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.

Our Finest Flowers Are Often Weeds Transplanted.

To Subjugate Another Is To Subjugate Yourself.

There Is No Failure Except The Failure Of Trying.

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

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

Happiness Is A Habit—cultivate It.

Positive Thinking

It Is Easy To Get Everything You Want, Provided You First Learn To Do Without The Things You Cannot Get.

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.

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

Your Neighbor Is The Man Who Needs You.

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

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

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

Man Is Creation's Masterpiece. But Who Says So?

We Awaken In Others The Same Attitude Of Mind We Hold Toward Them.

What Others Say Of Me Matters Little; What I Myself Say And Do Matters Much.

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

The Stupidity Of One Brain Multiplied By Twelve.

Victory; A Matter Of Staying Power.

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

It Is Always The Nearest, Plainest And Simplest Principles That Learned Men Comprehend Last.

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.

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

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.

It's Pretty Hard To Be Efficient Without Being Obnoxious.

I Am Not Sure Just What The Unpardonable Sin Is, But I Believe It Is A Disposition To Evade The Payment Of Small Bills.

Time Is An Illusion-to Orators.

Habit: The Great Economizer Of Energy.

Postponement: The Father Of Failure.

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!

Natural Joy Brings No Headaches And No Heartaches.

Genius Is Only The Power Of Making Continuous Efforts.

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.

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

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

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

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

A Conservative Is A Man Who Is Too Cowardly To Fight And Too Fat To Run.

In A State Of Nature, The Weakest Go To The Wall; In A State Of Over-refinement, Both The Weak And The Strong Go To The Gutter.

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.

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

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 Have To Bother About It, Any More Than You Need Trouble About Your Digestion.

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

The Supernatural Is The Natural Not Yet Understood.

A Committee Is A Thing Which Takes A Week To Do What One Good Man Can Do In An Hour.

Dogma Is A Lie Reiterated And Authoritatively Injected Into The Mind Of One Or More Persons Who Believe That They Believe What Someone Else Believes.

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

Reason: The Arithmetic Of The Emotions.

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

The Happiness Of This Life Depends Less On What Befalls You Than The Way In Which You Take It.

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

Knowledge Is The Distilled Essence Of Our Institutions, Corroborated By Experience.

Fear Clogs; Faith Liberates.

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

Get Happiness Out Of Your Work Or You May Never Know What Happiness Is.

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.

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.

The Great Man Is A Man Who Lives A Long Way Off.

Laughter Is Higher Than All Pain.

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.

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

Talent Does Things Tolerably Well; Genius Does Then Intolerably Better

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

Morality Is The Thing Upon Which Your Friends Smile, And Immorality Is The Thing Upon Which They Frown

The More One Knows, The More One Simplifies.

Some Men Succeed By What They Know; Some By What They Do; And A Few By What They Are.

No One Ever Gets Far Unless He Accomplishes The Impossible At Least Once A Day.

Impossible Things

Possible And Impossible

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

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

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.

We Are Punished By Our Sins, Not For Them.

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

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

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

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

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

It Is A Curious Fact That Of All The Illusions That Beset Mankind None Is Quite So Curious As That Tendency To Suppose That We Are Mentally And Morally Superior To Those Who Differ From Us In Opinion.

The Secret Of Salvation Is This: Keep Sweet, Be Useful, And Keep Busy.

Politicians Regard The Public As A Cow To Be Milked

Be Patient With The Boys - You Are Dealing With Soul-stuff.

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

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.

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

Wealth Is An Engine That Can Be Used For Power, If You Are An Engineer; But To Be Tied To The Fly Wheel Of An Engine Is Rather A Misfortune.

Constant Effort And Frequent Mistakes Are The Stepping Stones To Genius.

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.

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

World Suffering

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.

Life Is Just One Damned Thing After Another.

A Person May Be Very Secretive And Yet Have No Secrets.

The Finest Flowers Are Those Transplanted, For Transplanting Means Difficulty, A Readjusting To New Conditions, And Through The Effort Put Forth To Find Adjustment Does The Plant Progress.

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

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

A Goal Without A Plan Is A Dream.

The Man Who Knows It Can't Be Done Counts The Risk, Not The Reward.

One Great, Strong, Unselfish Soul In Every Community Would Actually Redeem The World.

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

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

The Poor And Ignorant Will Continue To Lie And Steal As Long As The Rich And Educated Show Them How.

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.

Theology Is Classified Superstition.

Allow Motion To Equal Emotion.

The Cheerful Loser Is The Winner.

Success Is Voltage Under Control-keeping One Hand On The Transformer Of Your Kosmic Kilowatts.

A Pessimist Is A Man Who Has Been Compelled To Live With An Optimist.

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

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

Punishment - The Justice That The Guilty Deal Out To Those That Are Caught.

No Matter How Long You Live, Die Young.

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

Prosperity: That Condition Which Attracts The Lively Interest Of Lawyers, And Warrants Your Being Sued For Damages, Or Indicted, Or Both.

If You Work For A Man, In Heavens Name Work For Him! If He Pays You Wages That Supply Your Bread And Butter, Work For Him, Stand By Him, And Stand By The Institution He Represents.

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.

Human Service Is The Highest Form Of Self-interest For The Person Who Serves.

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

Wise Man: One Who Sees The Storm Coming Before The Clouds Appear.

All Good Men Are Anarchists. All Cultured, Kindly Men; All Gentlemen; All Just Men Are Anarchists. Jesus Was An Anarchist.

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.

Fortitude: That Quality Of Mind Which Does Not Care What Happens So Long As It Does Not Happen To Us.

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

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

Responsibility Is The Price Of Freedom.

The Brain Is A Commodity Used To Fertilize Ideas.

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

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

The Cure For Grief Is Motion.

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

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

Genius Is The Ability To Act Rightly Without Precedent - The Power To Do The Right Thing The First Time.

Those Who Do Unlawful Acts Are No More Sinners In The Eyes Of God Than We Who Think Them.

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

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.

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

You Had Better Be A Round Peg In A Square Hole Than A Square Peg In A Square Hole. The Latter Is In For Life, While The First Is Only An Indeterminate Sentence.

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 Only Way To Retain Love Is To Give It Away.

Falling In Love

Lawyers Are The Jackals Of Commerce.

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.

Falling In Love Is The Beginning Of All Wisdom, All Sympathy, All Compassion, All Art, All Religion; And In It's Larger Sense Is The One Thing In Life Worth Doing.

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

A Poor Man Who Eats Too Much, As Contradistinguished From A Gourmand, Who Is A Rich Man Who ''lives Well.''

Dignity Is A Mask We Wear To Hide Our Ignorance.

The Greatest Mistake You Can Make In Life Is Continually Fearing That You'll Make One.

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

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.

A Little More Patience, A Little More Charity For All, A Little More Devotion, A Little More Love; With Less Bowing Down To The Past, And A Silent Ignoring Of Pretended Authority; Brave Looking Forward To The Future With More Faith In Our Fellows, And The Race Will Be Ripe For A Great Burst Of Light And Life.

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

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

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

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

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.

Life Is A Compromise Between Fate And Free Will.

No Man Should Dogmatize Except On The Subject Of Theology. Here He Can Take His Stand, And By Throwing The Burden Of Proof On The Opposition, He Is Invincible. We Have To Die To Find Out Whether He Is Right.

Burden Of Proof

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

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

The Average Man Believes A Thing First, And Then Searches For Proof To Bolster His Opinion

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.

Man, Like Deity, Creates In His Own Image.

History: Gossip Well Told.

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

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

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

Die, V.: To Stop Sinning Suddenly.

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.

Do You Say That Religion Is Still Needed? Then I Answer That Work, Study, Health And Love Constitute Religion. . . . Most Formal Religions Have Pronounced The Love Of Man For Woman And Woman For Man An Evil Thing. . . . They Have Said That Sickness Was Sent From God. . . . Now We Deny It All, And Again Proclaim That These Will Bring You All The Good There Is: Health, Work, Study - Love!

Freedom Cannot Be Bestowed - It Must Be Achieved.

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

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

Piety Is The Tinfoil Of Pretense.

Pray That Success Will Not Come Any Faster Than You Are Able To Endure It.

Congratulations

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

Every Tyrant Who Ever Lived Has Believed In Freedom — For Himself.

There Is Something That Is Much More Scarce, Something Finer Far, Something Rarer Than Ability. It Is The Ability To Recognize Ability. The Sternest Comment That Can Be Made Against Employers As A Class Lies In The Fact That Men Of Ability Usually Succeed In Showing Their Worth In Spite Of Their Employer, And Not With His Assistance And Encouragement.

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

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

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.

Love, We Say, Is Life; But Love Without Hope And Faith Is Agonizing Death.

The Teacher Is One Who Makes Two Ideas Grow Where Only One Grew Before.

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

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

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

Art Is Not A Thing; It Is A Way.

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