Samuel Smiles quotes

Samuel Smiles was a Scottish author and social reformer, best known for his book "Self-Help." His writings emphasized the importance of hard work, perseverance, and self-improvement. He inspired generations to believe in the power of individual effort and moral character. Here are 53 of his quotes:

A place for everything, and everything in its place. (Samuel Smiles)
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. View quote
Samuel Smiles
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. View quote
Samuel Smiles
Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us. View quote
Samuel Smiles
The battle of life is, in most cases, fought uphill; and to win it without a struggle were perhaps to win it without honor. If there were no difficulties there would be no success; if there were nothing to struggle for, there would be nothing to be achieved. View quote
Samuel Smiles
Life will always be to a large extent what we ourselves make it. View quote
Samuel Smiles
The very greatest things - great thoughts, discoveries, inventions - have usually been nurtured in hardship, often pondered over in sorrow, and at length established with difficulty. View quote
Samuel Smiles
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. View quote
Samuel Smiles
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. View quote
Samuel Smiles
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. View quote
Samuel Smiles
No laws, however stringent, can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken sober. (Samuel Smiles)
Mere political reform will not cure the manifold evils which now afflict society. There requires a social reform, a domestic reform, an individual reform. View quote
Samuel Smiles
Good actions give strength to ourselves, and inspire good actions in others. View quote
Samuel Smiles
He who never made a mistake, never made a discovery. View quote
Samuel Smiles
Progress however, of the best kind, is comparatively slow. Great results cannot be achieved at once; and we must be satisfied to advance in life as we walk, step by step. View quote
Samuel Smiles
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. View quote
Samuel Smiles
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. View quote
Samuel Smiles
"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. View quote
Samuel Smiles
An intense anticipation itself transforms possibility into reality; our desires being often but precursors of the things which we are capable of performing. View quote
Samuel Smiles
Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone forever. View quote
Samuel Smiles
The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual. (Samuel Smiles)
The duty of helping one's self in the highest sense involves the helping of one's neighbors. View quote
Samuel Smiles
The apprenticeship of difficulty is one which the greatest of men have had to serve. View quote
Samuel Smiles
Practical wisdom is only to be learned in the school of experience. Precepts and instruction are useful so far as they go, but, without the discipline of real life, they remain of the nature of theory only. View quote
Samuel Smiles
It is a mistake to suppose that men succeed through success; they much oftener succeed through failures. Precept, study, advice, and example could never have taught them so well as failure has done. View quote
Samuel Smiles