P. T. Barnum quotes: the founder of Barnum & Bailey Circus, Phineas Taylor Barnum’s best quotes.
“No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else.”
“To forgive heals the wound, to forget heals the scar.”
“Without promotion, something terrible happens – nothing!”
“The best charity is to help those who are willing to help themselves.”
“I don’t care what the newspapers say about me as long as they spell my name right.”
“When a man is in the right path, he must persevere.”
“Unless a man enters upon the vocation intended for him by nature, and best suited to his peculiar genius, he cannot succeed. I am glad to believe that the majority of persons do find their right vocation.”
“Clowns are the pegs on which the circus is hung.”
“The great ambition should be to excel all others engaged in the same occupation.”
“Politeness and civility are the best capital ever invested in business.”
“Literature is one of the most interesting and significant expressions of humanity.”
“Never attempt to catch a whale with a minnow.”
“More persons, on the whole, are humbugged by believing in nothing, than by believing too much.”
“If you hesitate, some bolder hand will stretch out before you and get the prize.”
“Whatever you do, do it with all your might. Work at it early and late, in season and out of season, not leaving a stone unturned, and never deferring for a single hour that which can be done just as well now.”
“The truth is, the more kind and liberal a man is, the more generous will be the patronage bestowed upon him.”
“There is scarcely anything that drags a person down like debt.”
“Fortune always favors the brave, and never helps a man who does not help himself.”
“The plan of ‘counting the chickens before they are hatched’ is an error of ancient date, but it does not seem to improve by age.”
“Nobody ever lost a dollar by underestimating the taste of the American public.”
“It is the eyes of others and not our own eyes which ruin us. If all the world were blind except myself I should not care for fine clothes or furniture.”
“Science is the pursuit of pure truth, and the systematizing of it.”
“No man has a right to expect to succeed in life unless he understands his business, and nobody can understand his business thoroughly unless he learns it by personal application and experience.”
“Money is good for nothing unless you know the value of it by experience.”
“Advertising is to a genuine article what manure is to land – it largely increases the product.”
“The foundation of success in life is good health: that is the substratum fortune; it is also the basis of happiness. A person cannot accumulate a fortune very well when he is sick.”
“If I shoot at the sun, I may hit a star.”
“To me there is no picture so beautiful as smiling, bright-eyed, happy children; no music so sweet as their clear and ringing laughter.”
“Every crowd has a silver lining.”
“You must exercise your caution in laying your plans, but be bold in carrying them out.”
“Energy and patience in business are two indispensable elements of success.”
“Money is in some respect life’s fire: it is a very excellent servant, but a terrible master.”
“In the United States, where we have more land than people, it is not at all difficult for persons in good health to make money.”
“Your success depends on what you do yourself, with your own means.”
“The possession of a perfect knowledge of your business is an absolute necessity in order to ensure success.”
“There is no such thing in the world as luck. There never was a man who could go out in the morning and find a purse full of gold in the street today, and another tomorrow, and so on, day after day. He may do so once in his life; but so far as mere luck is concerned, he is as liable to lose it as to find it.”
“There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
“A penny here, and a dollar there, placed at interest, goes on accumulating, and in this way the desired result is attained. It requires some training, perhaps, to accomplish this economy, but when used to it, you will find there is more satisfaction in rational saving than in irrational spending.”
“The noblest art is that of making others happy.”
“Politics and government are certainly among the most important of practical human interests.”
“Constant hammering on one nail will generally drive it home at last, so that it can be clinched. When a man’s undivided attention is centered on one object, his mind will constantly be suggesting improvements of value, which would escape him if his brain was occupied by a dozen different subjects at once.”
“Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.”
“The safest plan, and the one most sure of success for the young man starting in life, is to select the vocation which is most congenial to his tastes.”
“Advertising is like learning – a little is a dangerous thing.”
