Browse 6 quotations connecting P. T. Barnum with Success, with meanings, source notes and related themes.
Each quotation is included because its central idea connects with this theme, not simply because one matching word appears in the sentence.
Sources represented here include The Art of Money Getting, Struggles and Triumphs. Keeping the work and source note beside each quotation makes differences in setting, speaker and emphasis easier to see.
Sources represented here include The Art of Money Getting, Struggles and Triumphs.
“The situation was disheartening, but I had energy, experience, health and hope.”
The memoir acknowledges discouraging circumstances while inventorying the practical and psychological resources Barnum believed remained available to him.
Source note: Struggles and Triumphs, 1872 author’s edition; this is autobiographical reflection from Barnum’s account of rebuilding after a difficult business period.
“Whatever you do, do it with all your might.”
Barnum argues for wholehearted execution rather than half-effort, especially when a task is important enough to deserve sustained attention.
Source note: The Art of Money Getting, section headed “Whatever You Do, Do It With All Your Might.”
“The foundation of success in life is good health.”
Achievement is treated as dependent on the physical capacity to work, think, and sustain effort rather than as a purely financial or professional matter.
Source note: The Art of Money Getting; Barnum places health before the business maxims that follow.
“Politeness and civility are the best capital ever invested in business.”
Respectful treatment is described as business capital because trust, repeat dealings, and reputation often depend on how people are treated as much as on the transaction itself.
Source note: The Art of Money Getting, “Be Polite and Kind to Your Customers”; Barnum treats civility as a practical part of durable commercial reputation.
“Prosperity is a more severe ordeal than adversity, especially sudden prosperity.”
Sudden financial improvement can test restraint because rising income may encourage equally rapid expansion of spending, display, and recurring obligations.
Source note: The Art of Money Getting, economy section; Project Gutenberg #8581. Barnum introduces the line while describing lifestyle expansion after financial success.
“Ambition, energy, industry, perseverance, are indispensable requisites for success in business.”
The sentence presents business success as a compound result of sustained energy and persistence rather than a single clever idea or fortunate moment.
Source note: The Art of Money Getting, in Barnum’s discussion of thorough work and business effort.