Herbert Kaufman

Kaufman is the author of several books, including:

• The Stolen Throne (c. 1907; co-authored with May Isabel Fisk and illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy and Herman Rountree)
• The Winning Fight (c. 1910) being perhaps his most popular work
• Do Something! Be Something! (c. 1912)
• The Efficient Age (c. 1913)
• The Song of Guns (1914, reissued in 1915 as "The Hell-Gate of Soissons And Other Poems")
• The Clock that Had No Hands (c. 1912; a compilation of essays on the value of advertising)
• Neighbors (c. 1914)

Kaufman is known for his essays on success, war poetry, and "Kaufmanisms." A "Kaufmanism" is the persuasive rhetorical juxtaposition of words that reverses the subject and object of a phrase often meant to change its context and meaning, typically used to add additional emphasis to both nouns.

Select Kaufmanisms:

• "A coward can't conquer anything, because he can't conquer himself."
• "The man who won't go through to the finish has finished at the start."
• "They who fight in the dark do not shine in the light."
• "Mind your own business and in time you'll have a business of your own to mind."

• "The Stainless Banner", Everybody's Magazine, June 1909.
• "America (pm)" Everybody's Magazine, January 1910.
• "The Song of the Man", Hampton's, August 1910.
• "The Living Dead", Everybody's Magazine, November 1911.
• "Fool's Gold", Everybody's Magazine, March 1913.
• "To Wilhelm the Mad", Nash's Magazine, September 1914.
• "Scum O' The Melting Pot", McClure's Magazine, April 1920

• Works by Herbert Kaufman at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Herbert Kaufman at the Internet Archive
• Index entry for Herbert Kaufman at Poets' Corner
• Online text of "The Hell-Gate of Soissons" at the Wayback Machine (archived July 10, 2010)