"Positive anything is better than negative…

“Positive anything is better than negative nothing” is an inspirational saying that has been printed on many posters. American writer and philosopher Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) was credited with the line in The Cosmopolitan of July 1902.

Wikipedia: Elbert Hubbard
Elbert Green Hubbard (June 19, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher. Raised in Hudson, Illinois, he met early success as a traveling salesman with the Larkin Soap Company. Today Hubbard is mostly known as the founder of the Roycroft artisan community in East Aurora, New York, an influential exponent of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Among his many publications were the nine-volume work Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great and the short story A Message to Garcia. He and his second wife, Alice Moore Hubbard, died aboard the RMS Lusitania, which was sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland on May 7, 1915.

Google Books
July 1902, The Cosmopolitan, “Men, Women and Events,” pg. 350, col. 1:
Positive anything is better than negative nothing.
ELBERT HUBBARD

Google Books
A Dozen & Two Pastelles in Prose:
Being Impressions of the Wanamaker Stores Written in as Many Moods
By Elbert Hubbard
East Aurora, NY: Published by the author
1907
Pg. 25:
Positive anything is better than negative nothing.

Google Books
A Thousand & One Epigrams: Selected from the Writings of Elbert Hubbard
By Elbert Hubbard
East Aurora, NY: The Roycrofters
1911
Pg. 94:
Positive anything is better than negative nothing.

Google Books
20,000 Quips & Quotes
By Evan Esar
New York, NY: Barnes & Noble Books
1995, ©1968
Pg. 619:
Positive anything is better than negative nothing. -Elbert Hubbard

Virgin.com
9 March 2015
My top 10 quotes on positivity
By Richard Branson
(...)
2. Positive anything is better than negative nothing. – Elbert Hubbard

New York (NY) Times
De Blasio, at Rikers, Unveils a Plan to Reduce Violence and Smuggling
By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ and MICHAEL WINERIP
MARCH 12, 2015
(...)
The new unit where the mayor spoke had a fresh coat of paint and inspirational slogans on the wall like, “Positive anything is better than negative nothing.” It is still unoccupied. Eventually, officials said, it will be one of several new enhanced supervision units that will be able to hold up to 250 men.