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

  81 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

  56 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

  66 Copy quote

• Where there is a will there is a way.

  Samuel Smiles

  Way

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

  47 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

  52 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

  47 Copy quote

• The knowledge and experience which produce wisdom can only become a man's individual possession and property by his own free action; and it is as futile to expect these without laborious, painstaking effort, as it is to hope to gather a harvest where the seed has not been sown.

  Samuel Smiles

  Wisdom, Men, Effort

  Samuel Smiles (1861). “Self-help: With Illustrations of Character and Conduct”, p.32

  15 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

  41 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

  17 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

  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

  55 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.

  25 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

  36 Copy quote

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

  Samuel Smiles

  Character, Good Character, Possession

  24 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

  30 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

  33 Copy quote

• The path of success in business is invariably the path of common-sense. Nothwithstanding all that is said about "lucky hits," the best kind of success in every man's life is not that which comes by accident. The only "good time coming" we are justified in hoping for is that which we are capable of making for ourselves.

  Samuel Smiles

  Success, Men, Common Sense

  Samuel Smiles (1861). “Self-help: With Illustrations of Character and Conduct”, p.255

  5 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

  34 Copy quote

• Marriage like government is a series of compromises. One must give and take, repair and restrain, endure and be patient.

  Samuel Smiles

  Marriage, Government, Giving

  16 Copy quote

• It is not ease, but effort-not facility, but difficulty, makes men. There is, perhaps, no station in life in which difficulties have not to be encountered and overcome before any decided measure of success can be achieved.

  Samuel Smiles

  Life, Men, Effort

  Samuel Smiles (1861). “Self-help: With Illustrations of Character and Conduct”, p.348

  4 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

  27 Copy quote

• Character is itself a fortune.

  Samuel Smiles

  Character, Fortune

  Samuel Smiles (1861). “Self-help: With Illustrations of Character and Conduct”, p.276

  17 Copy quote

• Luck lies in bed, and wishes the postman would bring him news of a legacy; labor turns out at six, and with busy pen or ringing hammer lays the foundation of a competence.

  Samuel Smiles

  Lying, Luck, Wish

  Samuel Smiles (1800). “Thrift”, p.176

  14 Copy quote

• Though an inheritance of acres may be bequeathed, an inheritance of knowledge and wisdom cannot. The wealthy man may pay others for doing his work for him; but it is impossible to get his thinking done for him by another, or to purchase any kind of self-culture.

  Samuel Smiles

  Men, Thinking, Self

  Samuel Smiles (1873). “Self-help; with Illustrations of Character, Conduct, and Perseverance”, p.35

  16 Copy quote

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

  Samuel Smiles

  Men, Discipline, Obedience

  Samuel Smiles (1881). “Duty, with Illustrations of Courage, Patience, and Endurance”

  15 Copy quote

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