Commonplace though it may appear, this doing of one's duty embodies the highest ideal of life and character. There may be nothing… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
Energy enables a man to force his way through irksome drudgery and dry details and caries him onward and upward to every… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
Men who are resolved to find a way for themselves will always find opportunities enough; and if they do not find them,… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
Men must necessarily be the active agents of their own well-being and well-doing they themselves must in the very nature of things… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
The great lesson of biography is to show what man can be and do at his best. A noble life put fairly… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
Self-respect is the noblest garment with which a man can clothe himself, the most elevating feeling with which the mind can be… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
Woman, above all other educators, educates humanly. Man is the brain, but woman is the heart, of humanity. — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
It is not ease, but effort-not facility, but difficulty, makes men. There is, perhaps, no station in life in which difficulties have… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
For want of self-restraint many men are engaged all their lives in fighting with difficulties of their own making, and rendering success… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
Men cannot be raised in masses as the mountains were in he early geological states of the world. They must be dealt… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
Biographies of great, but especially of good men are most instructive and useful as helps, guides, and incentives to others. Some of… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
He who recognizes no higher logic than that of the shilling may become a very rich man, and yet remain all the… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
Nothing of real worth can be obtained without courageous working. Man owes his growth chiefly to the active striving of the will,… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
Though an inheritance of acres may be bequeathed, an inheritance of knowledge and wisdom cannot. The wealthy man may pay others for… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
The knowledge and experience which produce wisdom can only become a man's individual possession and property by his own free action; and… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
It is possible that the scrupulously honest man may not grow rich so fast as the unscrupulous and dishonest one; but the… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
It is natural to admire and revere really great men. They hallow the nation to which they belong, and lift up not… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
It is not eminent talent that is required to ensure success in any pursuit, so much as purpose-not merely the power to… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
Genius, without work, is certainly a dumb oracle, and it is unquestionably true that the men of the highest genius have invariably… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
Biographies of great, but especially of good men are most instructive and useful as helps, guides, and incentives to others. Some of the best… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share
The women of the poorer classes make sacrifices, and run risks, and bear privations, and exercise patience and kindness to a degree that the… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share
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 Copy Share
The experience gathered from books, though often valuable, is but of the nature of learning; whereas, the experience gained from actual life is of… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share
The apprenticeship of difficulty is one which the greatest of men have had to serve. — Samuel Smiles Copy Share
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… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share
The wise man... if he would live at peace with others, he will bear and forbear. — Samuel Smiles Copy Share
Those who are the most persistent, and work in the true spirit, will invariably be the most successful. — Samuel Smiles Copy Share
The iron rail proved a magicians' road. It virtually reduced England to a sixth of its size. It brought the country nearer to the… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share
This extraordinary metal, the soul of every manufacture, and the mainspring perhaps of civilised society. Of iron. — Samuel Smiles Copy Share
The life of a good man is at the same time the most eloquent lesson of virtue and the most severe reproof of vice. — Samuel Smiles Copy Share
It is a grand old name, that of gentleman, and has been recognized as a rank and power in all stages of society. To… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share
“Many are the lives of men unwritten, which have nevertheless as powerfully influenced civilization and progress as the more fortunate Great whose names are… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share
