Samuel Smiles Quotes - Page 5

The great leader attracts to himself men of kindred character, drawing them towards him as the loadstone draws iron.

Enthusiasm..the sustaining power of all great action

To set a lofty example is the richest bequest a man can leave behind.

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

Good sense, disciplined by experience and inspired by goodness, issues in practical wisdom.

Woman, above all other educators, educates humanly. Man is the brain, but woman is the heart, of humanity.

The crown and glory of life is character. It is the noblest possession of a man, constituting a rank in itself, and an estate in the general good-will; dignifying every station, and exalting every position in society. It exercises a greater power than wealth, and secures all the honor without the jealousies of fame. It carries with it an influence which always tell; for it is the result of proved honor, rectitude, and consistency-qualities which, perhaps more than any other, command the general confidence and respect of mankind.

No good thing is ever lost. Nothing dies, not even life which gives up one form only to resume another. No good action, no good example dies. It lives forever in our race. While the frame moulders and disappears, the deed leaves an indelible stamp, and molds the very thought and will of future generations.

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

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.

Cecil's dispatch of business was extraordinary, his maxim being, "The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once."

Make good thy standing place, and move the world.

The truest politeness comes of sincerity.

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

Example teaches better than precept. It is the best modeler of the character of men and women. To set a lofty example is the richest bequest a man can leave behind him.

Whatever is done for men takes away from the stimulus and necessity of doing things for themselves. The value of legislative as an agent in human advancement has been much over-estimated. No laws, however stringent, can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident or the drunken sober.

Those who have most to do, and are willing to work, will find the most time.

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

Stothard learned the art of combining colors by closely studying butterflies wings; he would often say that no one knew what he owed to these tiny insects. A burnt stick and a barn door served Wilkie in lieu of pencil and canvas.

The great high-road of human welfare lies along the old highway of steadfast, well-doing; and they who are the most persistent, and work in the truest spirit, will invariably be the most successful; success treads on the heels of every right effort.

Honorable industry always travels the same road with enjoyment and duty, and progress is altogether impossible without it.

Commonplace though it may appear, this doing of one's duty embodies the highest ideal of life and character. There may be nothing heroic about it; but the common lot of men is not heroic.

The principal industrial excellence of the English people lay in their capacity of present exertion for a distant object.

All experiences of life seems to prove that the impediments thrown in the way of the human advancement may for the most part be overcome by steady good conduct, honest zeal, activity, perseverance and above all, by a determined resolution to surmount.

Men often discover their affinity to each other by the mutual love they have for a book.