Elbert Hubbard Quotes

Initiative is doing the right thing without being told.

Encourage members of your team to take the initiative and act on their own.

Every person who ever had a plan to do anything, and went and did it, or who laid his plan before others, and won their co-operation to do it with him, without going to external authorities to please do the thing for them, was a direct actionist.

The efficient man is the man who thinks for himself.

Don't bother people for help without first trying to solve the problem yourself.

You've got to be able to think on your own; you've got to be creative. You can't be willing to take a backseat.

You can't always wait for the guys at the top. Every manager at every level in the organization has an opportunity, big or small, to do something. Every manager's got some sphere of autonomy. Don't pass the buck up the line.

Is it important to have a crew behind me? No, it's important to have me behind them. That's how I look at it. You can't just roll with a situation like you're depending on somebody to help you. You're supposed to help the situation, whatever the situation is that you're in.

I'm the type of person that doesn't like to wait for people to do things for me, and I never want to feel stuck. Why sit around and be like, 'I wish my label would book me some studio time,' if I can just buy my own studio equipment and figure out how to run Pro Tools and record it myself?

No, I think it taught me to be independent and never expect a handout and never wait for anybody to hand you anything in any aspect of my life.

Heaven never helps the men who will not act.

Believe in individual initiatives, in courage, in risk.

I always say to the players, 'You can either create or wait.' If you're waiting, you're relying on someone else, as simple as that. But if you create it, you've got to do it.

I guess I've just always had an entrepreneurial spirit.

When you see something that needs to be done, you do it.

Very often, if a founder is waiting around for someone else to tell him what to do, the company is near death.

My father had taught me - mostly by example - that if a man wanted to be in charge of his life, he had to be in charge of his problems.

we cant wait for someone else to do it, we have to take matters into our own hands or it will never be done.

Without any assistance whatever, I founded a school in Weimar in 10 years. Only I could perform certain works with the scanty means that I dared not ask anyone else to work with.

Kids raised to be pampered and spoiled don't really end up being good leaders. Leaders need to be independent minded and confident.

I do less waiting by the phone than anyone I know in the business. I don't wait for a job. I just go on to my own work.

I think if you show up and you work hard and you're straightforward, you can always create your own opportunities. I hope I'm right.

If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.

I am certainly not one of those who need to be prodded. In fact, if anything, I am the prod.

If you're not getting work, make your own work. I think that's a good mentality. I suppose I take my drive from my mother and my practicality from my father.