Samuel Smiles Quotes, Thoughts and images

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

Where there is a will there is a way.

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

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. But all play and no work makes him something worse.

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

Politeness goes far, yet costs nothing.

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

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

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

Help from without is often enfeebling in its effects, but help from within invariably invigorates.

The best school of discipline is home. Family life is God's own method of training the young, and homes are very much as women make them.

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.

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

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

Character is itself a fortune.

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.

Men whose acts are at variance with their words command no respect, and what they say has but little weight.

There are many counterfeits of character, but the genuine article is difficult to be mistaken.

Commit a child to the care of a worthless, ignorant woman, and no culture in after-life will remedy the evil you have done.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

Self-control is only courage under another form. It may also be regarded as the primary essence of character.

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.

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