Bruce Barton Quotes

Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change - this is the rhythm of living. Out of our over-confidence, fear; out of our fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress.

If you can give your child only one gift, let it be enthusiasm.

A daughter is the happy memories of the past, the joyful moments of the present, and the hope and promise of the future.

In good times, people want to advertise; in bad times, they have to.

The five steps in teaching an employee new skills are preparation, explanation, showing, observation and supervision.

Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstance.

When you can dump a load of bricks on a corner lot, and let me watch them arrange themselves into a house - when you can empty a handful of springs and wheels and screws on my desk, and let me see them gather themselves together into a watch - it will be easier for me to believe that all these thousands of worlds could have been created, balanced, and set to moving in their separate orbits, all without any directing intelligence at all.

When you are through changing, you are through.

When you have something for breakfast, you're not going to be starving by lunch.

Cereal eating is almost a marker for a healthy lifestyle. It sets you up for the day, so you don't overeat.

The big rewards come to those who travel the second, undemanded mile.

The essential element in personal magnetism is a consuming sincerity - an overwhelming faith in the importance of the work one has to do.

If you have anything really valuable to contribute to the world it will come through the expression of your own personality, that single spark of divinity that sets you off and makes you different from every other living creature.

I do not like the phrase: Never cross a bridge till you come to it. The world is owned by men who cross bridges on their imaginations miles and miles in advance of the procession.

If you expect perfection from people your whole life is a series of disappointments, grumblings, and complaints.

When you're through changing you're through.

Great men suffer hours of depression through introspection and self-doubt. That is why they are great. That is why you will find modesty and humility the characteristics of such men.

The most important thing about getting somewhere is starting right where we are.

Much brass has been sounded and many cymbals tinkled in the name of advertising; but the advertisements which persuade people to act are written by men who have an abiding respect for the intelligence of their readers, and a deep sincerity regarding the merits of the goods they have to sell.

It takes a real storm in the average person's life to make him realize how much worrying he has done over the squalls.

If you are going to do anything, you must expect criticism. But it's better to be a doer than a critic. The doer moves; the critic stands still, and is passed by.

What a curious phenomenon it is that you can get men to die for the liberty of the world who will not make the little sacrifice that is needed to free themselves from their own individual bondage.

Conceit is God's gift to little men.

Every time you open your mouth you let men look into your mind.

Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think there are no little things.

Jesus picked up twelve men from the bottom ranks of business and forged them into an organisation that conquered the world.

If you expect perfection from people your whole life is a series of disappointments, grumblings and complaints. If, on the contrary, you pitch your expectations low, taking folks as the inefficient creatures which they are, you are frequently surprised by having them perform better than you had hoped.

We pay just as dearly for our triumphs as we do for our defeats. Go ahead and fail. But fail with wit, fail with grace, fail with style. A mediocre failure is as insufferable as a mediocre success.

As a profession advertising is young; as a force it is as old as the world. The first four words ever uttered, Let there be light, constitute its charter. All nature is vibrant with its impulse.

Most successful men have not achieved their distinction by having some new talent or opportunity that was at hand.

It would do the world good if every man would compel himself occasionally to be absolutely alone. Most of the world s progress has come out of such loneliness.

Christ would be a national advertiser today, I am sure, as He was a great advertiser in His own day. He thought of His life as business.

Many a man who pays rent all his life owns his own home; and many a family has successfully saved for a home only to find itself at last with nothing but a house.

There are no little things.

Not eating breakfast is the worst thing you can do, that's really the take-home message for teenage girls.

No sex, age, or condition is above or below the absolute necessity of modesty; but without it one vastly beneath the rank of man.

If you want to know if your brain is flabby, feel your legs.

If advertising encourages people to live beyond their means, so does matrimony.

The Bible rose to the place it now occupies because it deserved to rise to that place, and not because God sent anybody with a box of tricks to prove its divine authority.

As a profession advertising is young; as a force it is as old as the world.

Before you give up hope, turn back and read the attacks that were made on Lincoln.

Talkers have always ruled. They will continue to rule. The smart thing is to join them.

The faults of advertising are only those common to all human institutions. If advertising speaks to a thousand in order to influence one, so does the church. And if it encourages people to live beyond their means, so does matrimony. Good times, bad times, there will always be advertising. In good times, people want to advertise; in bad times they have to.

Surely no one will consider us lacking in reverence if we say that every one of the "principles of modern salesmanship" on which business men so much pride themselves, are brilliantly exemplified in Jesus' talk and work.

In the long run no individual prospers beyond the measure of his faith.

Jesus brought forth men's greatest efforts by the promise of obstacles not rewards.

The ablest men in all walks of modern life are men of faith. Most of them have much more faith than they themselves realize.

Get money - but stop once in a while to figure what it is costing you to get it. No man gets it without giving something in return. The wise man gives his labor and ability. The fool gives his life.

The American conception of advertising is to arouse desires and stimulate wants, to make people dissatisfied with the old and out-of-date and by constant iteration to send them out to work harder to get the latest model - whether that model be an icebox or a rug or a new home.

I had never thought of advertising as a life work, though I had on the side, written some very successful copy.