Inspirational and Insightful Quotations #29--- Excuses

An alibi is a slip cover.

—Paul Petty, Spartanburg Herald, Spartanburg, S.C., Sept. 1, 1974.

A manufactured alibi is a screen behind which a coward tries to hide.

—Phil Conley, The Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, Miss., Aug. 11, 1948.

You cannot make enough excuses to compensate for a failure.

—Phil Conley, The Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, Miss., July 3, 1948.

If all the inventive genius wasted on excuses were exerted along more practical lines, an extension would have to be built on the patent office.

---E.W. “Ed” Howe, Atchison Daily Globe, Atchison, Kan., Feb. 18, 1910.

The poorest excuse you ever offered is the one who offered in defense of your worthlessness.

---Carl J.G. Brown, Atchison Daily Globe, Atchison, Kan., March 5, 1937.

Even the best excuses don’t accomplish as much as the poorest effort.

---Carl J.G. Brown, Atchison Daily Globe, Atchison, Kan., Dec. 5, 1928.

There are only two kinds of people in the world. One kind accomplishes something. The other kind puts out alibis.

---Carl J.G. Brown, Atchison Daily Globe, Atchison, Kan., Feb. 15, 1926.

When some men make a palpable mistake, how quickly they invent a ridiculous excuse!

---Eugene Alexander “Gene” Howe, Atchison Daily Globe, Atchison, Kan., Oct. 29, 1920.

The poorest excuse for a mistake is that other men make the same mistake.

---Eugene Alexander “Gene” Howe, Atchison Daily Globe, Atchison, Kan., Jan. 6, 1920.

Most of us have inventive genius when it comes to inventing excuses.

---Eugene Alexander “Gene” Howe, Atchison Daily Globe, Atchison, Kan., Jan. 29, 1923.

The shortness of the day excuses no man from greatness of endeavor.

---Henry F. Cope, Los Angeles Herald, Los Angeles, Calif., Oct. 6, 1907.

A fast pace is responsible for lame excuses.

‑‑‑Benjamin Arstein, San Antonio Express, San Antonio, Texas, Feb. 4, 1911.

Your reasons would be excuses if they were the other fellow’s.

---W.C. Batchelor, Waycross Journal-Herald, Waycross, Ga., June 3, 1937.

The man who is good at making excuses will be a failure at making good.

---John L. Brown, Aurora Daily Star, Aurora, Ill., May 22, 1922.

We call a man gifted when we need an excuse for not working as hard as he does.

—Bill Copeland, Beaver County Times, Beaver, Pa., July 20, 1974.

There’s a lot of folks who start talking with no excuse at all, and wouldn’t quit if they had the best excuse in the world.

---Liston Dickson Elkins, Waycross Journal-Herald, Waycross, Ga., July 11, 1940.

No matter how good the alibi, it still must be considered an excuse for failing.

‑‑‑John Mooney, Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, Utah, Oct. 18, 1956.

If we begin to invent alibis we soon lose all sense of humor.

---Roy L. Smith, Tampa Morning Tribune, Tampa, Fla., April 21, 1934.

If we begin to make excuses we soon have ourselves convinced.

---Roy L. Smith, Tampa Morning Tribune, Tampa, Fla., April 21, 1934.

Most men are fooled by their own excuses.

---Roy L. Smith, Tampa Morning Tribune, Tampa, Fla., April 12, 1938.

The world is too busy to listen to long alibis.

---Roy L. Smith, Buffalo Courier-Express, Buffalo, N.Y., Dec. 29, 1927.

Strength comes from the tasks we attempted, not the alibis we present.

---Roy L. Smith, Buffalo Courier-Express, Buffalo, N.Y., Oct. 16, 1928.

The habit of inventing alibis is one of the greatest strains on character.

---Roy L. Smith, Buffalo Courier-Express, Buffalo, N.Y., April 30, 1930.

Better to make excuses for other people than for yourself.

---Roy L. Smith, Buffalo Courier-Express, Buffalo, N.Y., Oct. 27, 1931.

As soon as people begin to make excuses they begin to fool themselves.

---Roy L. Smith, Buffalo Courier-Express, Buffalo, N.Y., Sept. 22, 1932.

Nothing is more foolish than the excuses of the man who has no excuse.

---Roy L. Smith, Buffalo Courier-Express, Buffalo, N.Y., April 22, 1933.

If we begin to make excuses we soon have ourselves convinced.

---Roy L. Smith, Buffalo Courier-Express, Buffalo, N.Y., April 13, 1934.

We often excuse our failures on the basis of ignorance, but seldom on the basis of our stupidity.

---Roy L. Smith, Buffalo Courier-Express, Buffalo, N.Y., May 5, 1936.

We often excuse ignorance, but we seldom excuse incompetence.

---Roy L. Smith, Buffalo Courier-Express, Buffalo, N.Y., May 5, 1936.

It is not enough to make glowing promises if we expect to fulfill them with alibis.

---Roy L. Smith, Buffalo Courier-Express, Buffalo, N.Y., May 20, 1936.

One distinguishing characteristic of every real failure is his perfect alibis.

---Roy L. Smith, Buffalo Courier-Express, Buffalo, N.Y., June 12, 1937.

The more frequent the alibi, the less frequent the results.

---Roy L. Smith, Buffalo Courier-Express, Buffalo, N.Y., Oct. 13, 1937.

The same excuse, when used more than twice, is always a flat failure.

—Bert Moses, Lake Charles American-Press, Lake Charles, La., Dec. 22, 1928.

The man who makes good is noted for not making excuses.

‑‑‑Bert Moses, Lake Charles American Press, Lake Charles, La., June 25, 1937.

Excuses lift no mortgages.

‑‑‑Bert Moses, Lake Charles American Press, Lake Charles, La., Feb. 14, 1938.

When caught up in a stew, the hardest thing to cook up is a quick excuse.

---Carey Williams, Beaumont Enterprise, Beaumont, Texas, May 22, 1958.

An excuse which will not hold water usually brings a flood of protests.

---Carey Williams, Waycross Journal-Herald, Waycross, Ga., March 17, 1937.

About the only overworked thing nowadays is an excuse.

---Carey Williams, Waycross Journal-Herald, Waycross, Ga., March 16, 1938.

Excuse: A lie wrapped in a skin of reason.

—Paul H. Gilbert, El Paso Times, El Paso, Texas, May 23, 1959.

It takes a man a long time to learn that you can do a thing in one-tenth the time you have to use in making excuses for not doing it.

---James S. Hastings, Milwaukee Sentinel, Milwaukee, Wis., June 7, 1921.

A lot of men might make good except for their uncanny skill in the art of making excuses.

---Robert Quillen, Spartanburg Herald, Spartanburg, S.C., May 15, 1922.

Probably no cripple gets as little sympathy as a lame excuse.

---Howard N. Hildreth Milwaukee Sentinel, Milwaukee, Wis., Nov. 5, 1921.

Some people seem to think a good excuse or explanation is almost as good as actually doing the job.

---John Merrill Chilcote, St. Joseph News-Press, St. Joseph, Mo., Feb. 28, 1963.

Sometimes we think it’s too bad there isn’t some kind of a prize offered for the best new excuses for being late to work.

---John Merrill Chilcote, St. Joseph News-Press, St. Joseph, Mo., Feb. 19, 1966.

Don't count on your excuses before they are hatched.

‑‑‑Amboy News, Amboy, Ill., Aug. 2, 1912.

Lots of times a lame excuse is offered in the effort to cover up the fact that a fellow hasn't put his best foot forward.

-‑‑Ashland City Times, Ashland City, Tenn., March 11, 1948.

So many of us forget than an excuse is never more than an excuse.

---The Christian Science Monitor, Boston, Mass., Sept. 15, 1926.

An excuse seldom does.

---The Christian Science Monitor, Boston, Mass., Sept. 8, 1932.

When it comes to making excuses, it is better never than late.

‑‑‑Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, May 20, 1903.

An excuse is merely something we can't think of when we want it.

‑‑‑Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, Feb. 28, 1915.

People hunting trouble sometimes find an excuse.

---Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah, Sept. 2, 1909.

A lame excuse is usually a lying excuse.

‑‑‑Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah, Feb. 1, 1911.

A lame excuse is said in a halting manner.

‑‑‑Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah, Jan. 26, 1914.

It takes no great genius to invent an excuse.

‑‑‑Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah, March 3, 1916.

Too many men, in attempting to alibi their failures, confuse bad judgment with bad luck.

-‑‑Ephraim Enterprise, Ephraim, Utah, April 29, 1938.

Some people make their excuses before they make their failures.

‑‑‑Galveston Daily News, Galveston, Texas, May 25, 1895.

The pessimist always wants to know why they left the "e" out of the second syllable of alibi.

---Garland Times, Garland, Utah, Aug. 23, 1935.

A man may be down, but he's never out of alibis.

---Humboldt Star, Winnemucca, Nev., Sept. 30, 1921.

If a man's excuses for being late were all bound up in one book it would make a nice volume of fiction.

‑‑‑Humboldt Star, Winnemucca, Nev., Jan. 28, 1944.

Many a man has a lame excuse because he got his foot in it by getting his leg pulled.

---Meriden Record, Meriden, Conn., March 27, 1929.

Necessity is the mother of invention, especially in inventing an excuse.

---Meriden Record, Meriden, Conn., May 2, 1929.

Nothing can be lamer than a lame excuse.

---Meriden Record, Meriden, Conn., Oct. 8, 1929.

Lots of excuses are not worth the trouble it takes to make them.

---Millard Country Progress, Fillmore, Utah, Nov. 5, 1915.

A lame excuse is merely one that doesn't go.

‑‑‑New York Times, New York, N.Y., Oct. 31, 1909.

If he's good at making excuses, he never is good at making good.

‑‑‑Pocatello Tribune, Pocatello, Idaho, April 23,

Alibis and excuses are the pills we use to deaden and conceal the pain of our shortcomings, failures, and frustrations.

—Douglas Lurton, Coronet, Chicago, Ill., June 1951.

They who accuse others often are only excusing themselves.

—Henry F. Cope, Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Ill., Sept. 27, 1908.

It is always easy to find excuses when we can't find reasons.

—Roy L. Smith, Christian Advocate, Chicago, Ill., Dec. 14, 1944.

Men who are clever enough to invent excuses and alibis ought to be clever enough to make good.

—Roy L. Smith, Tampa Morning Tribune, Tampa, Fla., Feb. 27, 1932.

One fancy feature about an alibi is that after you've sprung it about twice you begin to believe it is all true.

—Grantland Rice, New York Tribune, New York, N.Y., May 25, 1920.

The main trouble with an alibi is that nobody ever believes a logical and powerful one.

—Grantland Rice, New York Tribune, New York, N.Y., Aug. 20, 1924.

The alibi given in advance is generally offered to underwrite defeat.

—Grantland Rice, New York Tribune, New York, N.Y., Jan. 14, 1917.

If you had it all to do over, you’d think up better excuses for your mistakes.

—Bill Copeland, Sarasota Journal, Sarasota, Fla., May 31, 1968.

Apologies are seldom satisfactory–they usually present excuses rather than reasons.

—Tom L. Roberts, The Gazette, Farmerville, La., April 4, 1934.

Maybe there is an excuse for all of your failures, but you don't have to go around boring the world with it.

—Roberta Lyndon, The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Ga., Sept. 22, 1940.

The same excuse, when used more than twice, is always a flat failure.

—Bert Moses, Lake Charles American-Press, Lake Charles, La., Dec. 22, 1928.

It is one of life's lessons that every time we try to cook up an excuse, we get burned.

—Roy E. Gibson, Nephi Times-News, Nephi, Utah, May 22, 1952.

An ounce of discretion is worth a pound of alibi.

—Kurt Bandley, Daily Herald, Provo, Utah, Jan. 22, 1926.

Excuse: Yesterday’s good intentions.

—Paul H. Gilbert, El Paso Times, El Paso, Texas, Oct. 30, 1963.

An alibi never interests anybody except the one who offers it.

—Les Goates, Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah, Dec. 15, 1934.

Most excuses are worse than the offenses they are offered for.

—Bert Moses, Lake Charles American Press, Lake Charles, La., Jan. 3, 1944.

He who excuses his faults shows that he has no intention of quitting them.

—Earl Riney, Church Management, Cleveland, Ohio, October 1940.

Bad men excuse their faults; good men will leave them.

—Dorothy Shomaker, The Sentinel, Midvale, Utah, July 7, 1939.

The reason that Edison invented as many things as he did was because he never invented an excuse.

—The Commercial Dispatch, Columbus, Miss., April 6, 1930.

An alibi is proving you did do what you didn't do so somebody will think you didn't do what you did.

—Daily Idahonian, Moscow, Idaho, Aug. 12, 1948.

The man who never boasts of what he is going to do has fewer excuses to make.

—Great Falls Tribune, Great Falls, Mont., May 10, 1937.

To bring forward the bad actions of others to excuse our own, is like washing ourselves in mud.

—Ohio Farmer, Cleveland, Ohio, Nov. 26, 1870.