Samuel Smiles Quotes

The experience gathered from books, though often valuable,is but the nature of learning whereas the experience gained from actual life is of the nature of wisdom

Sow a thought, and you reap an act;
Sow an act, and you reap a habit;
Sow a habit, and you reap a character;
Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.

An easy and luxurious existence does not train men to effort or encounter with difficulty; nor does it awaken that consciousness of power which is so necessary for energetic and effective action in life.

Self-respect is the noblest garment with which a man may clothe himself, the most elevating feeling with which the mind can be inspired.

Many are the lives of men unwritten, which have nevertheless as powerfully influenced civilization and progress as the more fortunate Great whose names are recorded in biography. Even the humblest person, who sets before his fellows an example of industry, sobriety, and upright honesty of purpose in life, has a present as well as a future influence upon the well-being of his country; for his life and character pass unconsciously into the lives of others, and propagate good example for all time to come.

Help from without is often enfeebling in its effects, but help from within invariably invigorates (p.9).

We learn wisdom from failure much more than success. We often discover what we will do, by finding out what we will not do.

may be of comparatively little consequence how a man is governed from without, whilst everything depends upon how he governs himself from within. The greatest slave is not he who is ruled by a despot, great though that evil be, but he who is the thrall of his own moral ignorance, selfishness, and vice. Nations who are thus enslaved at heart cannot be freed by any mere changes of masters

Truthfulness is at the foundation of all personal excellence.

Žmogų visada galima pažinti iš jo skaitomų knygų.

Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.

An intense anticipation itself transforms possibility into reality; our desires being often but precursors of the things which we are capable of performing.

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.

Simple honesty of purpose in a man goes a long way in life, if founded on a just estimate of himself and a steady obedience to the rule he knows and feels to be right.

The experience gathered from books, though often valuable, is but the nature of learning whereas the experience gained form actual life is of the nature of wisdom.