There are many counterfeits of character, but the genuine article is difficult to be mistaken. — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
Self-control is only courage under another form. It may also be regarded as the primary essence of character. — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
If character be irrecoverably lost, then indeed there will be nothing left worth saving. — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
Energy of will may be defined to be the very central power of character in a man. — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
The most influential of all the virtues are those which are the most in request for daily use. They wear the best,… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
Character is undergoing constant change, for better or for worse--either being elevated on the one hand, or degraded on the other. — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
There are many persons of whom it may be said that they have no other possession in the world but their character,… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
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
The life of a good man is at the same time the most eloquent lesson of virtue and the most severe reproof… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
The great leader attracts to himself men of kindred character, drawing them towards him as the loadstone draws iron. — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
Experience serves to prove that the worth and strength of a state depend far less upon the form of its institutions than… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
What we are accustomed to decry as great social evils, will, for the most part, be found to be only the out-growth… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
The influence of woman is the same everywhere. Her condition influences the morals, manners, and character of the people of all countries.… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
It is a grand old name, that of gentleman, and has been recognized as a rank and power in all stages of… — 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
“Many are the lives of men unwritten, which have nevertheless as powerfully influenced civilization and progress as the more fortunate Great whose… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
The crown and glory of life is character. It is the noblest possession of a man, constituting a rank in itself, and… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
It is energy - the central element of which is will - that produces the miracle that is enthusiasm in all ages.… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
The Romans rightly employed the same word (virtus) to designate courage, which is, in a physical sense, what the other is in… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
Example teaches better than precept. It is the best modeler of the character of men and women. To set a lofty example… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
Although genius always commands admiration, character most secures respect. The former is more the product of the brain, the latter of heart-power;… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
So much does the moral health depend upon the moral atmosphere that is breathed, and so great is the influence daily exercised… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
The healthy spirit of self-help created among working people would, more than any other measure, serve to raise them as a class;… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
Imitation is for the most part so unconscious that its effects are almost unheeded, but its influence is not the less permanent… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
Home is the first and most important school of character. It is there that every human being receives his best moral training,… — 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
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
The apprenticeship of difficulty is one which the greatest of men have had to serve. — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
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 Image
The wise man... if he would live at peace with others, he will bear and forbear. — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
Those who are the most persistent, and work in the true spirit, will invariably be the most successful. — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
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 Image
This extraordinary metal, the soul of every manufacture, and the mainspring perhaps of civilised society. Of iron. — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
