Samuel Smiles

Individualism is an emphasized weakness.

Progress, of the best kind, is comparatively slow. Great results cannot be achieved at once; and we must be satisfied to advance in life as we walk, step by step.

Knowledge conquered by labor becomes a possession - a property entirely our own.

Conscience is that peculiar faculty of the soul which may be called the religious instinct.

It is the close observation of little things which is the secret of success in business, in art, in science, and in every pursuit of life.

Work is one of the best educators of practical character.

Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone forever.

Where men or nations have broken down, it will almost invariably be found that neglect of little things was the rock on which they split.

Hope... is the companion of power, and the mother of success; for who so hopes has within him the gift of miracles.

We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.

The wise man... if he would live at peace with others, he will bear and forbear.

It is idleness that is the curse of man - not labour. Idleness eats the heart out of men as of nations, and consumes them as rust does iron.

Men must necessarily be the active agents of their own well-being and well-doing they themselves must in the very nature of things be their own best helpers.

The battle of life is, in most cases, fought uphill; and to win it without a struggle were perhaps to win it without honor. If there were no difficulties there would be no success; if there were nothing to struggle for, there would be nothing to be achieved.

The experience gathered from books, though often valuable, is but the nature of learning; whereas the experience gained from actual life is one of the nature of wisdom.

Life will always be to a large extent what we ourselves make it.

Politeness goes far, yet costs nothing.

The truest politeness comes of sincerity.

The tiniest bits of opinion sown in the minds of children in private life afterwards issue forth to the world, and become its public opinion; for nations are gathered out of nurseries.

The apprenticeship of difficulty is one which the greatest of men have had to serve.

The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual.

The work of many of the greatest men, inspired by duty, has been done amidst suffering and trial and difficulty. They have struggled against the tide, and reached the shore exhausted.

He who labours not, cannot enjoy the reward of labour.

Progress however, of the best kind, is comparatively slow. Great results cannot be achieved at once; and we must be satisfied to advance in life as we walk, step by step.

Man cannot aspire if he looked down; if he rise, he must look up.

We learn wisdom from failure much more than success. We often discover what we will do, by finding out what we will not do.

A place for everything, and everything in its place.

Idleness of the mind is much worse than that of the body wit without employment is a disease the rust of the soul a plague a hell itself.

The great lesson of biography is to show what man can be and do at his best. A noble life put fairly on record acts like an inspiration to others.

Manners are the ornament of action.

The very greatest things great thoughts discoveries inventions have usually been nurtured in hardship often pondered over in sorrow and at length established with difficulty.

Practical wisdom is only to be learned in the school of experience. Precepts and instruction are useful so far as they go, but, without the discipline of real life, they remain of the nature of theory only.

An intense anticipation itself transforms possibility into reality; our desires being often but precursors of the things which we are capable of performing.

He who never made a mistake, never made a discovery.

Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.

The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once.

The duty of helping one's self in the highest sense involves the helping of one's neighbors.

Idleness of the mind is much worse than that of the body: wit, without employment, is a disease - the rust of the soul, a plague, a hell itself.

The best-regulated home is always that in which the discipline is the most perfect, and yet where it is the least felt. Moral discipline acts with the force of a law of nature.

Hope is the companion of power and mother of success for who so hopes strongly has within him the gift of miracles.

Wisdom and understanding can only become the possession of individual men by travelling the old road of observation, attention, perseverance, and industry.

Men must necessarily be the active agents of their own well-being and well-doing... they themselves must in the very nature of things be their own best helpers.

We often discover what will do by finding out what will not do and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.

An intense anticipation itself transforms possibility into reality our desires being often but precursors of the things which we are capable of performing.

I'm as happy a man as any in the world, for the whole world seems to smile upon me!

The very greatest things - great thoughts, discoveries, inventions - have usually been nurtured in hardship, often pondered over in sorrow, and at length established with difficulty.

Obedience, submission, discipline, courage--these are among the characteristics which make a man.

Alexander the Great valued learning so highly, that he used to say he was more indebted to Aristotle for giving him knowledge than to his father Philip for life.

We learn wisdom from failure much more than success. We often discover what we will do by finding out what we will not do.

It is a mistake to suppose that men succeed through success; they much oftener succeed through failures. Precept, study, advice, and example could never have taught them so well as failure has done.

Progress, however, of the best kind, is comparatively slow. Great results cannot be achieved at once; and we must be satisfied to advance in life as we walk, step by step.

It is energy - the central element of which is will - that produces the miracle that is enthusiasm in all ages. Everywhere it is what is called force of character and the sustaining power of all great action.

Hope is like the sun which as we journey toward it casts the shadow of our burden behind us.

Labour may be a burden and a chastisement, but it is also an honour and a glory. Without it, nothing can be accomplished.

Men who are resolved to find a way for themselves will always find opportunities enough; and if they do not find them, they will make them.

Childhood is like a mirror which reflects in afterlife the images first presented to it. The first thing continues forever with the child. The first joy the first sorrow the first success the first failure the first achievement the first misadventure paint the foreground of his life.

Purposes like eggs unless they be hatched into action will run into rottenness.

Labor is still, and ever will be, the inevitable price set upon everything which is valuable.

We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.

Length of years is no proper test of length of life. A man's life is to be measured by what he does in it and what he feels in it.

The reason why so little is done, is generally because so little is attempted.

Enthusiasm... the sustaining power of all great action.