P.T. Barnum Quotes

• “The noblest art is that of making others happy”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else.”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “Nobody ever lost a dollar by underestimating the taste of the American public.”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “Unless a man enters upon the vocation intended for him by nature, and best suited to his peculiar genius, he cannot succeed.”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “WHATEVER YOU DO, DO IT WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT Work at it, if necessary, 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 old proverb is full of truth and meaning, "Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well." Many a man acquires a fortune by doing his business thoroughly, while his neighbor remains poor for life, because he only half does it. Ambition, energy, industry, perseverance, are indispensable requisites for success in business. Fortune always favors the brave, and never helps a man who does not help himself.”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “There's a sucker born every minute.”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “The best kind of charity is to help those who are willing to help themselves.”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “I don't care what the newspapers say about me as long as they spell my name right.”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “Be cautious and bold.”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “Comfort is the enemy of progress.”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “Let your motto then always be 'Excelsior', for by living up to it there is no such word as fail.”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “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.”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “The foundation of success in life is good health:”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “Young men starting in life should avoid running into debt. There is scarcely anything that drags a person down like debt. It is a slavish position to get ill, yet we find many a young man, hardly out of his "teens," running in debt. He meets a chum and says, "Look at this: I have got trusted for a new suit of clothes." He seems to look upon the clothes as so much given to him; well, it frequently is so, but, if he succeeds in paying and then gets trusted again, he is adopting a habit which will keep him in poverty through life. Debt robs a man of his self-respect, and makes him almost despise himself.”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “Money is, in some respects, like fire. It is a very excellent servant, but a terrible master.”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “The possession of a perfect knowledge of your business is an absolute necessity in order to insure success.”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “Advertising is to a genuine article what manure is to land, - it largely increases the product.”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “Dr. Franklin says "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.”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “Fortune always favors the brave, and never helps a man who does not help himself.”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “Young men starting in life should avoid running into debt.”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “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.”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “The great ambition should be to excel all others engaged in the same occupation.”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “I will loose my camel, and trust it to God!" "No, no, not so," said the prophet, "tie thy camel, and trust it to God!”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “And in what business is there not humbug? “There’s cheating in all trades but ours,” is the prompt reply from the boot-maker with his brown paper soles, the grocer with his floury sugar and chicoried coffee, the butcher with his mysterious sausages and queer veal, the dry goods man with his “damaged goods wet at the great fire” and his “selling at a ruinous loss,” the stock-broker with his brazen assurance that your company is bankrupt and your stock not worth a cent (if he wants to buy it,) the horse jockey with his black arts and spavined brutes, the milkman with his tin aquaria, the land agent with his nice new maps and beautiful descriptions of distant scenery, the newspaper man with his “immense circulation,” the publisher with his “Great American Novel,” the city auctioneer with his “Pictures by the Old Masters”—all and every one protest each his own innocence, and warn you against the deceits of the rest. My inexperienced friend, take it for granted that they all tell the truth—about each other! and then transact your business to the best of your ability on your own judgment.”

  P.T. Barnum

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• “Those who really desire to attain an independence, have only to set their minds upon it, and adopt the proper means, as they do in regard to any other object which they wish to accomplish, and the thing is easily done.”

  P.T. Barnum

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