Top 15 Thomas Carlyle Quotes

Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher (1795–1881)

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Thomas Carlyle (December 4 1795 – February 5 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher of great prominence during the Victorian era. His wife was Jane Welsh Carlyle.

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Alternative Names: The Sage of Chelsea

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If Jesus Christ were to come today, people would not even crucify him. They would ask him to dinner, and hear what he had to say, and make fun of it.

I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom.

All that mankind has done, thought, gained, or been; it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of books.

Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you'll be able to see further.

A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge.

"My books are friends that never fail me."

(Letter to his mother, Margaret A. Carlyle; 17 March 1817)

Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct.

Tell a man he is brave, and you help him to become so.

Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure that there is one less scoundrel in the world.

Popular opinion is the greatest lie in the world.

Every man is my superior in that I may learn from him.

The tragedy of life is not so much what
men suffer, but rather what they miss.

A good book is the purest essence of a human soul.

Silence is deep as Eternity, speech is shallow as Time.

The lies (Western slander) which well-meaning zeal has heaped round this man (Muhammad) are disgraceful to ourselves only.