Top 93 Quotes & Sayings by P. T. Barnum

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American entertainer P. T. Barnum.

Last updated on December 21, 2024.

Phineas Taylor Barnum was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He was also an author, publisher, and philanthropist, though he said of himself: "I am a showman by profession ... and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me". According to his critics, his personal aim was "to put money in his own coffers." He is widely credited with coining the adage "There's a sucker born every minute", although no evidence has been collected of him saying this.

American - Entertainer | July 5, 1810 - April 7, 1891

Source: Wikipedia

As a general thing, I have not 'duped the world' nor attempted to do so... I have generally given people the worth of their money twice told.

P. T. Barnum

Men, women, and children who cannot live on gravity alone need something to satisfy their gayer, lighter moods and hours, and he who ministers to this want is, in my opinion, in a business established by the Creator of our nature. If he worthily fulfills his mission and amuses without corrupting, he need never feel that he has lived in vain.

P. T. Barnum

Medicine is the means by which we poor feeble creatures try to keep from dying or aching.

P. T. Barnum

To me there is no picture so beautiful as smiling, bright-eyed, happy children; no music so sweet as their clear and ringing laughter.

P. T. Barnum

Every crowd has a silver lining.

P. T. Barnum

The show business has all phases and grades of dignity, from the exhibition of a monkey to the exposition of that highest art in music or the drama which secures for the gifted artists a world-wide fame princes well might envy.

P. T. Barnum

Science is the pursuit of pure truth, and the systematizing of it.

P. T. Barnum

There is scarcely anything that drags a person down like debt.

P. T. Barnum

Clowns are the pegs on which the circus is hung.

P. T. Barnum

Every man should make his son or daughter learn some useful trade or profession, so that in these days of changing fortunes of being rich today and poor tomorrow they may have something tangible to fall back upon. This provision might save many persons from misery, who by some unexpected turn of fortune have lost all their means.

P. T. Barnum

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.

P. T. Barnum

Money is in some respects life's fire: it is a very excellent servant, but a terrible master.

P. T. Barnum

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

Witchcraft is one of the most baseless, absurd, disgusting and silly of all the humbugs.

P. T. Barnum

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.

P. T. Barnum

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 to-day, and another to-morrow, 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.

P. T. Barnum

Politics and government are certainly among the most important of practical human interests.

P. T. Barnum

Politeness and civility are the best capital ever invested in business. Large stores, gilt signs, flaming advertisements, will all prove unavailing if you or your employees treat your patrons abruptly. The truth is, the more kind and liberal a man is, the more generous will be the patronage bestowed upon him.

P. T. Barnum

A lovely nook of forest scenery, or a grand rock, like a beautiful woman, depends for much of its attractiveness upon the attendance sense of freedom from whatever is low; upon a sense of purity and of romance.

P. T. Barnum

Without promotion, something terrible happens... nothing!

P. T. Barnum

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.

P. T. Barnum

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.

P. T. Barnum

He who is without a newspaper is cut off from his species.

P. T. Barnum

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

P. T. Barnum

True economy consists in always making the income exceed the out-go. Wear the old clothes a little longer if necessary; dispense with the new pair of gloves; mend the old dress: live on plainer food if need be; so that, under all circumstances, unless some unforeseen accident occurs, there will be a margin in favor of the income.

P. T. Barnum

Literature is one of the most interesting and significant expressions of humanity.

P. T. Barnum

Money is the excellent slave and a horrible master.

P. T. Barnum

When a man is in the right path, he must persevere.

P. T. Barnum

You know I had rather be laughed at than not to be noticed at all.

P. T. Barnum

To forgive heals the wound, to forget heals the scar.

P. T. Barnum

There is no greater picture than that of 10,000 smiling children. No brighter music than their clear-ringing laughter. That I, with my small amusements, have created such precious art is my life's proudest achievement.

P. T. Barnum

Many people are gullible, and we can expect this to continue.

P. T. Barnum

Your success depends on what you do yourself, with your own means

P. T. Barnum

We cannot all see alike, but we can all do good.

P. T. Barnum

There's no such thing as bad publicity.

P. T. Barnum

Advertising is like learning - a little is a dangerous thing.

P. T. Barnum

If you hesitate, some bolder hand will stretch out before you and get the prize.

P. T. Barnum

If I shoot at the sun, I may hit a star.

P. T. Barnum

But however mysterious is nature , however ignorant the doctor, however imperfect the present state of physical science , the patronage and the success of quacks and quackeries are infinitely more wonderful than those of honest and laborious men of science and their careful experiments.

P. T. Barnum

The common man, no matter how sharp and tough, actually enjoys having the wool pulled over his eyes, and makes it easier for the puller.

P. T. Barnum

Without publicity a terrible thing happens: nothing.

P. T. Barnum

The noblest art is that of making others happy

P. T. Barnum

Energy and patience in business are two indispensable elements of success.

P. T. Barnum

Whatever you do, do it ardently.

P. T. Barnum

Every man's occupation should be beneficial to his fellow-man as well as profitable to himself. All else is vanity and folly.

P. T. Barnum

Money is good for nothing unless you know the value of it by experience.

P. T. Barnum

Engage in one kind of business only, and stick to it faithfully until you succeed, or until you conclude to abandon it. A constant hammering on one nail will generally drive it home at last, so that it can be clinched.

P. T. Barnum

There's one born every minute.

P. T. Barnum

You must exercise your caution in laying your plans, but be bold in carrying them out.

P. T. Barnum

More persons, on the whole, are humbugged by believing in nothing, than by believing too much.

P. T. Barnum

You can fool most of the people most of the time.

P. T. Barnum

There is a fool born every minute

P. T. Barnum

The bigger the humbug, the better people will like it.

P. T. Barnum

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

P. T. Barnum

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

P. T. Barnum

I am a showman by profession... and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me.

P. T. Barnum

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.

P. T. Barnum

No man ever went broke overestimating the ignorance of the American public.

P. T. Barnum

Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.

P. T. Barnum

Money is in some respects like fire; it is a very excellent servant but a terrible master.

P. T. Barnum