Samuel Smiles Quotes

Quotes about:

• 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.

  Samuel Smiles

  Life, Success, Struggle

  Samuel Smiles (1861). “Self-help, with Illustrations of Character and Conduct”, p.312

  88 Copy quote

• It's not enough to have a dream, Unless you're willing to pursue it. It's not enough to know what's right, Unless you're strong enough to do it. It's not enough to learn the truth, Unless you also learn to live it. It's not enough to reach for love, Unless you care enough to give it 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.

  Samuel Smiles

  Dream, Courage, Strong

  62 Copy quote

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

  Samuel Smiles

  Time, Business, Medicine

  Samuel Smiles (2009). “Self-Help: With Illustrations of Character and Conduct”, p.389, The Floating Press

  74 Copy quote

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

  Samuel Smiles

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  "Self-Help: With Illustrations of Conduct and Perseverance".

  14 Copy quote

• Where there is a will there is a way.

  Samuel Smiles

  Way

  Samuel Smiles (2014). “Self-Help”, p.156, Cambridge University Press

  53 Copy quote

• For want of self-restraint many men are engaged all their lives in fighting with difficulties of their own making.

  Samuel Smiles

  Fighting, Men, Self

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.239

  7 Copy quote

• 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.

  Samuel Smiles

  Inspirational, Wisdom, Mistake

  1859 Self-Help, ch.11.

  14 Copy quote

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

  Samuel Smiles

  Inspirational, Life, Success

  57 Copy quote

• A fig-tree looking on a fig-tree becometh fruitful," says the Arabian proverb. And so it is with children; their first great instructor is example.

  Samuel Smiles

  Children, Tree, Example

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.33

  6 Copy quote

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

  Samuel Smiles

  Inspirational, Life, Smart

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.371

  44 Copy quote

• A great deal of what passes by the name of patriotism in these days consists of the merest bigotry and narrow-mindedness; exhibiting itself in national prejudice, national conceit, and national hatred. It does not show itself in deeds, but in boastings--in howlings, gesticulations, and shrieking helplessly for help--in flying flags and singing songs--and in perpetual grinding at the hurdy-gurdy of long-dead grievances and long-remedied wrongs. To be infested by such a patriotism as this is perhaps among the greatest curses that can befall any country.

  Samuel Smiles

  Country, Song, Names

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.27

  51 Copy quote

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

  Samuel Smiles

  Done, Littles, Reason Why

  Samuel Smiles (18??). “Self-help”, p.113, St Pauls BYB

  31 Copy quote

• 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.

  Samuel Smiles

  Adversity, Discovery, Sorrow

  Samuel Smiles (2009). “Self-Help: With Illustrations of Character and Conduct”, p.480, The Floating Press

  36 Copy quote

• Woman is the heart of humanity ... its grace, ornament, and solace.

  Samuel Smiles

  Women, Heart, Grace

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.38

  6 Copy quote

• Good character is property. It is the noblest of all possessions.

  Samuel Smiles

  Character, Good Character, Possession

  27 Copy quote

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

  Samuel Smiles

  Inspirational, Hope, Motivation

  Samuel Smiles (1861). “Self-help, with Illustrations of Character and Conduct”, p.67

  62 Copy quote

• Self-respect is the noblest garment with which a man can clothe himself, the most elevating feeling with which the mind can be inspired.

  Samuel Smiles

  Self Esteem, Men, Self Respect

  Samuel Smiles (1871). “Self-help: With Illustrations of Characters, Conduct, and Perseverance”, p.362

  33 Copy quote

• 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.

  Samuel Smiles

  Determination, Business, Opportunity

  8 Copy quote

• The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual; and, exhibited in the lives of many, it constitutes the true source of national vigour and strength. Help from without is often enfeebling in its effects, but help from within invariably invigorates

  Samuel Smiles

  Self, Roots, Growth

  Samuel Smiles (1861). “Self-help: With Illustrations of Character and Conduct”, p.15

  30 Copy quote

• Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh to -day as when they first passed through their authors' minds ages ago.

  Samuel Smiles

  Time, Mind, Age

  "Character".

  6 Copy quote

• It is possible that the scrupulously honest man may not grow rich so fast as the unscrupulous and dishonest one; but the success will be of a truer kind, earned without fraud or injustice. And even though a man should for a time be unsuccessful, still he must be honest: better lose all and save character. For character is itself a fortune. . . .

  Samuel Smiles

  Success, Honesty, Character

  Samuel Smiles (2005). “Self-Help: With Illustrations of Conduct and Perseverance”, p.287, Cosimo, Inc.

  31 Copy quote

• 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.

  Samuel Smiles

  Motivational, Positive, Success

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.352

  39 Copy quote

• No laws, however stringent, can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken sober.

  Samuel Smiles

  Law, Sober, Idle

  Samuel Smiles (2009). “Self-Help: With Illustrations of Character and Conduct”, p.5, The Floating Press

  37 Copy quote

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

  Samuel Smiles

  May, Glory, Burden

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.88

  8 Copy quote

• Even happiness itself may become habitual. There is a habit of looking at the bright side of things, and also of looking at the dark side. Dr. Johnson has said that the habit of looking at the best side of a thing is worth more to a man than a thousand pounds a year. And we possess the power, to a great extent, of so exercising the will as to direct the thoughts upon objects calculated to yield happiness and improvement rather than their opposites.

  Samuel Smiles

  Exercise, Dark, Men

  Samuel Smiles (1868). “Self-Help; with Illustrations of Character, Conduct, and Perseverance by Samuel Smiles”, p.391

  20 Copy quote

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