Samuel Smiles Quotes - Page 4

Quotes about:

• 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.

  Samuel Smiles

  Wisdom, Real, School

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.343

  7 Copy quote

• Mere political reform will not cure the manifold evils which now afflict society. There requires a social reform, a domestic reform, an individual reform.

  Samuel Smiles

  Evil, Political, Reform

  "Samuel Smiles and the Victorian Work Ethic". Book by Timothy Travers, 1987.

  5 Copy quote

• 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.

  Samuel Smiles

  Children, Mirrors, Afterlife

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.34

  7 Copy quote

• "Where there is a will there is a way" is an old true saying. He who resolves upon doing a thing, by that very resolution often scales the barriers to it and secures its achievement. To think we are able is almost to be so - to determine upon attainment is frequently attainment itself.

  Samuel Smiles

  Thinking, Achievement, Able

  Samuel Smiles (2017). “Self-Help: The Original Guide to Bootstrapping Your Success”, p.198, Courier Dover Publications

  11 Copy quote

• Enthusiasm..the sustaining power of all great action

  Samuel Smiles

  Enthusiasm For Life, Acting, Action

  12 Copy quote

• Cheerfulness is also an excellent wearing quality. It has been called the bright weather of the heart.

  Samuel Smiles

  Heart, Weather, Quality

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.219

  7 Copy quote

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

  Samuel Smiles

  Inspirational, Adversity, Men

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.350

  11 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”

  25 Copy quote

• Imitation is for the most part so unconscious that its effects are almost unheeded, but its influence is not the less permanent on that account. It is only when an impressive nature is placed in contact with an impressionable one that the alteration in the character becomes recognizable. Yet even the weakest natures exercise some influence upon those about them. The approximation of feeling, thought, and habit is constant, and the action of example unceasing.

  Samuel Smiles

  Character, Exercise, Feelings

  Samuel Smiles (1884). “Happy Homes and the Hearts that Make Them. Or Thrifty People and why They Thrive”

  7 Copy quote

• If we opened our minds to enjoyment, we might find tranquil pleasures spread about us on every side. We might live with the angels that visit us on every sunbeam, and sit with the fairies who wait on every flower.

  Samuel Smiles

  Flower, Angel, Waiting

  Samuel Smiles (1800). “Thrift”, p.398

  21 Copy quote

• With will one can do anything.

  Samuel Smiles

  Inspirational, Motivation, Can Do

  Samuel Smiles (1866). “Self-help: With Illustrations of Charakter, Conduct and Perseverance”, p.7

  16 Copy quote

• Nothing is more common than energy in money-making, quite independent of any higher object than its accumulation. A man who devotes himself to this pursuit, body and soul, can scarcely fail to become rich. Very little brains will do; spend less than you earn; add guinea to guinea; scrape and save; and the pile of gold will gradually rise.

  Samuel Smiles

  Independent, Men, Soul

  Samuel Smiles (1866). “Self-help: With Illustrations of Charakter, Conduct and Perseverance”, p.308

  7 Copy quote

• Character is undergoing constant change, for better or for worse--either being elevated on the one hand, or degraded on the other.

  Samuel Smiles

  Character, Hands, Change For The Better

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.10

  6 Copy quote

• It is a grand old name, that of gentleman, and has been recognized as a rank and power in all stages of society. To possess this character is a dignity of itself, commanding the instinctive homage of every generous mind, and those who will not bow to titular rank will yet do homage to the gentleman. His qualities depend not upon fashion or manners, but upon moral worth; not on personal possessions, but on personal qualities.

  Samuel Smiles

  Fashion, Character, Personal Qualities

  9 Copy quote

• 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

  Samuel Smiles

  Life, Success, Character

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.142

  23 Copy quote

• It is observed at sea that men are never so much disposed to grumble and mutiny as when least employed. Hence an old captain, when there was nothing else to do, would issue the order to "scour the anchor.

  Samuel Smiles

  Men, Order, Anchors

  Samuel Smiles (2014). “Self-Help”, p.199, Cambridge University Press

  8 Copy quote

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

  Samuel Smiles

  Rewards, Enjoy, Labour

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.95

  4 Copy quote

• The great high-road of human welfare lies along the old highway of steadfast welldoing; and they who are the most persistent, and work in the truest spirit, will invariably be the most successful.

  Samuel Smiles

  Dream, Successful, Spirit

  "Self-help: With Illustrations of Character and Conduct".

  52 Copy quote

• The great and good do no die even in this world. Embalmed in books, their spirits walk abroad. The book is a living voice. It is an intellect to which one still listens.

  Samuel Smiles

  Book, Voice, World

  16 Copy quote

• Nothing of real worth can be obtained without courageous working. Man owes his growth chiefly to the active striving of the will, that encounter with difficulty which he calls effort; and it is astonishing to find how often results apparently impracticable are then made possible.

  Samuel Smiles

  Real, Men, Effort

  10 Copy quote

• The government of a nation itself is usually found to be but the reflux of the individuals composing it. The government that is ahead of the people will be inevitably dragged down to their level, as the government that is behind them will in the long run be dragged up.

  Samuel Smiles

  Running, Government, Long

  Samuel Smiles (1861). “Self-help: With Illustrations of Character and Conduct”, p.17

  4 Copy quote

• Genius, without work, is certainly a dumb oracle, and it is unquestionably true that the men of the highest genius have invariably been found to be amongst the most plodding, hard-working, and intent men -- their chief characteristic apparently consisting simply in their power of laboring more intensely and effectively than others.

  Samuel Smiles

  Hard Work, Men, Dumb

  Samuel Smiles (1861). “Self-help: With Illustrations of Character and Conduct”, p.319

  6 Copy quote

• Great men are always exceptional men; and greatness itself is but comparative. Indeed, the range of most men in life is so limited that very few have the opportunity of being great.

  Samuel Smiles

  Opportunity, Greatness, Men

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.2

  8 Copy quote

• It is the close observation of little things which is the secret of success in business, in art, in science, and in every pursuit in life. Human knowledge is but an accumulation of small facts made by successive generations of men--the little bits of knowledge and experience carefully treasured up by them growing at length into a mighty pyramid.

  Samuel Smiles

  Art, Men, Pyramids

  Samuel Smiles (1861). “Self-help: With Illustrations of Character and Conduct”, p.100

  13 Copy quote

• Like men, nations are purified and strengthened by trials.

  Samuel Smiles

  Men, Trials, Nations

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

  5 Copy quote

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