Quotes from Robert Baden-Powell

It is risky to order a boy not to do something; it immediately opens to him the adventure of doing it.

O God, help me to win, but in thy wisdom if thou willest me not to win, then O God, make me a good loser.

The Scoutmaster teaches boys to play the game by doing so himself.

When you want a thing done, 'Don't do it yourself' is a good motto for Scoutmasters.

See things from the boy's point of view.

Show me a poorly uniformed troop and I'll show you a poorly uniformed leader.

Loyalty is a feature in a boy's character that inspires boundless hope.

A man carries out suggestions the more wholeheartedly when he understands their aim.

The spirit is there in every boy; it has to be discovered and brought to light.

To the man who reads 'Scouting for Boys' superficially, there is a disappointing lack of religion in the book. But to him who tries it in practice, the basic religion underlying it soon becomes apparent.

One of the powerful temptations is that of the cinema palace. The cinema has undoubtedly an enormous attraction for boys, and people are constantly cudgelling their brains how to stop it. But it is one of those things which would be very difficult to stop even if it were altogether desirable.

A Scout is never taken by surprise; he knows exactly what to do when anything unexpected happens.

A man who risks his life in shooting big game in order to secure good specimens for natural history collections, or to rid a district of a man-eater or other dangerous neighbor, is a sportsman in the true sense.

The knowledge that we have brother scouts working in the same uniform, to the same ends, in the same way, in all corners of the Empire, cannot but make scouts proud of their brotherhood, and cannot fail to bring them into closer sympathy.

One of the finest statesmen of the present time is also a first-class scout, and that is Mr. Roosevelt, the late President of the United States of America.

No man is much good unless he believes in God and obeys His laws.

Football in itself is a grand game for developing a lad physically and also morally, for he learns to play with good temper and unselfishness, to play in his place and 'play the game,' and these are the best of training for any game of life.

The uniform makes for brotherhood, since when universally adopted it covers up all differences of class and country.

Look wide, beyond your immediate surroundings and limits, and you see things in their right proportion. Look above the level of things around you and see a higher aim and possibility to your work.

Happiness is not mere pleasure, not the outcome of wealth. It is the result of active work rather than passive enjoyment of pleasure.

It is often useful, if an enemy happens to see you, to pretend that you have not seen him. Or it may sometimes be useful to pretend that you have other men with you. I did this once in the Boer War when, having crept up a donga to look at a Boer fort, I was seen by the enemy, and they came out to capture me.

One of the first duties of a Scout is obedience to authority. He must obey his orders in the first place and put his own amusement or desires in the second.

The study of Nature brings into a harmonious whole the questions of the Infinite, the Historic, and the Microscopic as part of the Great Creator's work.

Juvenile crime is not naturally born in the boy, but is largely due either to the spirit of adventure that is in him, to his own stupidity, or to his lack of discipline, according to the nature of the individual.