Phineas T Barnum is the best-known circus proprietor of the nineteenth century. He excelled as a showman, and throughout his career in the entertainment business, he promoted many different forms of attractions.
Barnum’s first venture was as a newspaper owner. He also worked as a writer and publisher. His enduring fame, however, is as a showman. Barnum considered this to be his main talent and he never altered this view of his character.
T. Barnum’s entertainment interests covered museums, traveling dance troupes, and even the mid-century US tour by Jenny Lind, the Swedish singer. He was, by nature, a risk-taker, and usually garnered success from the most unlikely enterprises.
Barnum was willing to adopt any tactic that publicized his businesses. His American Museum in New York included hoaxes and freaks, both human and animal. This was not unusual by the standards of the time, but even he felt the need to justify his hoaxes, as advertising ploys.
Barnum’s unbounded self-confidence meant he never doubted his ability to make a success of any venture. He opened America’s first aquarium and opened a theater in New York that was the largest and most modern in the city. He aimed to change the public perception of theaters, and in this, he largely succeeded. He made theater-going respectable.
Determination and hard work featured majorly in the qualities that Barnum displayed, and he frequently spoke about the necessity of both. He believed success only came to those who worked for it and knew they had the self-determination necessary. He also stated the necessity of understanding the business that a person was running. Knowledge and experience counted for much in Barnum’s life, and he certainly knew the entertainment business.
However, Barnum’s biggest success and the project that his name will forever be synonymous with was his circus—founded in 1870, when Barnum was 60 years old. He toured both the US and Europe, becoming famous on both sides of the Atlantic.
There were setbacks, including train wrecks and fires, but Barnum was not deterred. He firmly resolved not to let such problems stop him from achieving his dream of owning the greatest circus ever.
T. Barnum also had a political career, sitting in the Connecticut House of Representatives for four terms and serving as Mayor Bridgeport, Connecticut. He was absolute in his opposition to slavery. He felt that every human had the right to freedom and to be treated equally.
Success in life, according to Barnum, could only be achieved when a person is in good health. He advised that getting healthy and maintaining a healthy body and mind would lead to happiness as well as success.
No-one, in Barnum’s opinion, would succeed if they did not put one hundred percent effort into whatever venture they began. Do not postpone tasks or ignore any opportunities that come along. Aiming to be the best means you will need to be the best at working hard.
P. T. Barnum Quotes
Money is in some respect life’s fire: it is a very excellent servant, but a terrible master.
P.T. Barnum
Politeness and civility are the best capital ever invested in business.
P.T. Barnum
Literature is one of the most interesting and significant expressions of humanity.
P.T. Barnum
Fortune always favors the brave, and never helps a man who does not help himself.
P.T. Barnum
Without promotion, something terrible happens…nothing!
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
You are beautiful. You are unique.
P.T. Barnum
If you hesitate, some bolder hand will stretch out before you and get the prize.
P.T. Barnum
You don’t need everyone to love you. Just a few good people!
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
Be cautious and bold.
P.T. Barnum
The best charity is to help those who are willing to help themselves.
P.T. Barnum
The show must go on.
P.T. Barnum
When a man is in the right path, he must persevere.
P.T. Barnum
Trust me, they don’t know it yet, but they’re going to love you.
P.T. Barnum
More persons, on the whole, are humbugged by believing in nothing, than by believing too much.
P.T. Barnum
Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.
P.T. Barnum
The truth is, the more kind and liberal a man is, the more generous will be the patronage bestowed upon him.
P.T. Barnum
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.’
P.T. Barnum
Science is the pursuit of pure truth, and the systematizing of it.
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
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
You must exercise your caution in laying your plans, but be bold in carrying them out.
P.T. Barnum
Inspirational P. T. Barnum Quotes
Let your motto then always be ‘Excelsior’, for by living up to it there is no such word as fail.
P.T. Barnum
The possession of a perfect knowledge of your business is an absolute necessity in order to insure success.
P.T. Barnum
In my temperance speeches, I have frequently been interrupted, and sometimes interrogated by opponents. I always take things coolly, let them have their say, and endeavor to give them a ‘Roland for an Oliver.’
P.T. Barnum
If I shoot at the sun, I may hit a star.
P.T. Barnum
We agreed that many a human life is sacrificed in sudden anger, because one or both the parties carry deadly weapons.
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 as now.
P.T. Barnum
Money is good for nothing unless you know the value of it by experience.
P.T. Barnum
The great ambition should be to excel all others engaged in the same occupation.
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
If all the world were blind except myself I should not care for fine clothes or furniture.
P.T. Barnum
Energy and patience in business are two indispensable elements of success.
P.T. Barnum
Young men starting in life should avoid running into debt….Debt robs a man of his self-respect, and makes him almost despise himself.
P.T. Barnum
Every crowd has a silver lining.
P.T. Barnum
The greatest humbug of all is the man who believes—or pretends to believe—that everything and everybody are humbugs.
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 today, and another tomorrow, 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
Money is, in some respects, like fire. It is a very excellent servant, but a terrible master.
P.T. Barnum
To forgive heals the wound, to forget heals the scar.
P.T. Barnum
Hyperbole isn’t the worst crime. Men suffer more from imagining too little than too much.
P.T. Barnum
Never attempt to catch a whale with a minnow.
P.T. Barnum
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
P. T. Barnum Quotes On Success
The plan of ‘counting the chickens before they are hatched’ is an error of ancient date, but it does not seem to improve by age.
P.T. Barnum
Advertising is to a genuine article what manure is to land—it largely increases the product.
P.T. Barnum
Your success depends on what you do yourself, with your own means.
P.T. Barnum
My father was treated like dirt. I was treated like dirt. My children won’t be.
P.T. Barnum
Let your motto be ‘Excelsior,’ for living up to it there is no such word as fail.
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 one ever made a difference by being like everyone else.
P.T. Barnum
There is scarcely anything that drags a person down like debt.
P.T. Barnum
When was the last time you smiled? Or had a good laugh? A real laugh.
P.T. Barnum
The P. T. Barnum quotes below are full of wisdom and sound common sense. The advice he gives through these quotes is as relevant now as when he was the greatest showman in the world. Follow his advice, and you could become as successful and possibly as famous as P. T. Barnum.
