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
Necessity is always the first stimulus to industry, and those who conduct it with prudence, perseverance and energy will rarely fail. Viewed… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
The tiniest bits of opinion sown in the minds of children in private life afterwards issue forth to the world, and become… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
The government of a nation itself is usually found to be but the reflux of the individuals composing it. The government that… — Samuel Smiles Copy Share Image
It is idleness that is the curse of man - not labour. Idleness eats the heart out of men as of nations,… — 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
England was nothing, compared to continental nations until she had become commercial... until about the middle of the last century, when a… — 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
