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Samuel Smiles
11 quotes
“England was nothing, compared to continental nations until she had become commercial…until about the middle of the last century, when a number of ingenious and inventive men, without apparent relation to each other, arose in various parts of the kingdom, succeeded in giving an immense impulse to all the branches of the national industry; the result of which has been a harvest of wealth and prosperity, perhaps without a parallel in the history of the world.”
Samuel Smiles (1812–1904) first seen 1862 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lives of the Engineers (1862)
“A place for everything, and everything in its place.”
Samuel Smiles (1812–1904) first seen 1875 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Thrift (1875)
“Good actions give strength to ourselves, and inspire good actions in others.”
Samuel Smiles (1812–1904) first seen 1880 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Duty: With Illustrations of Courage, Patience, and Endurance (1880), Ch. 2, p. 49
“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 (1812–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Samuel Smiles and the Victorian Work Ethic (1987) by Timothy Travers, p. 162
“The greatest slave is not he who is ruled by a despot, great though that evil be, but he who is in the thrall of his own moral ignorance, selfishness, and vice.”
Samuel Smiles (1812–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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 (1812–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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 (1812–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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 goodwill; dignifying every station, and exalting every position in society. It exercises a greater power than wealth, and secures all the honour without the jealousies of fame. It carries with it an influence which always tells; for it is the result of proved honour, rectitude, and consistency — qualities which, perhaps more than any other, command the general confidence and respect of mankind.”
Samuel Smiles (1812–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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 (1812–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Heaven helps those who help themselves" is a well-tried maxim, embodying in a small compass the results of vast human experience. 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. Whatever is done for men or classes, to a certain extent takes away the stimulus and necessity of doing for themselves; and where men are subjected to over-guidance and over-government, the inevitable tendency is to render them comparatively helpless.”
Samuel Smiles (1812–1904) first seen 1651 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. I : Self-Help — National and Individual; earlier variant of the proverb quoted: God helps them who help themselves; recorded in Jacula Prudentum (1651) by George Herbert
“Laws, wisely administered, will secure men in the enjoyment of the fruits of their labour, whether of mind or body, at a comparatively small personal sacrifice; but no laws, however stringent, can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken sober. Such reforms can only be effected by means of individual action, economy, and self-denial; by better habits, rather than by greater rights. The Government of a nation itself is usually found to be but the reflex of the individuals composing it. The Government that is ahead of the people will inevitably be dragged down to their level, as the Government that is behind them will in the long run be dragged up. In the order of nature, the collective character of a nation will as surely find its befitting results in its law and government, as water finds its own level. The noble people will be nobly ruled, and the ignorant and corrupt ignobly. Indeed all experience serves to prove that the worth and strength of a State depend far less upon the form of its institutions than upon the character of its men. For the nation is only an aggregate of individual conditions, and civilization itself is but a question of the personal improvement of the men, women, and children of whom society is composed.”
Samuel Smiles (1812–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source