We’ve sourced some of the most interesting and thought-provoking Samuel Smiles Quotes. Each of the following quotes is overflowing with creativity, and knowledge.
He who labours not, cannot enjoy the reward of labour.
Work is one of the best educators of practical character.
The apprenticeship of difficulty is one which the greatest of men have had to serve.
Labor is still, and ever will be, the inevitable price set upon everything which is valuable.
Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone forever.
Labor is still, and ever will be, the inevitable price set upon everything which is valuable.
Admiration of great men, living or dead, naturally evokes imitation of them in a greater or less degree.
I’m as happy a man as any in the world, for the whole world seems to smile upon me!
Hope… is the companion of power, and the mother of success; for who so hopes has within him the gift of miracles.
It is energy – the central element of which is will – that produces the miracle that is enthusiasm in all ages. Everywhere it is what is called force of character and the sustaining power of all great action.
Character is property. It is the noblest of possessions.
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.
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.
Wisdom and understanding can only become the possession of individual men by travelling the old road of observation, attention, perseverance, and industry.
An intense anticipation itself transforms possibility into reality; our desires being often but precursors of the things which we are capable of performing.
An intense anticipation itself transforms possibility into reality; our desires being often but precursors of the things which we are capable of performing.
It is energy – the central element of which is will – that produces the miracle that is enthusiasm in all ages. Everywhere it is what is called force of character and the sustaining power of all great action.
Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others.
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.
The wise man… if he would live at peace with others, he will bear and forbear.
Idleness of the mind is much worse than that of the body: wit, without employment, is a disease – the rust of the soul, a plague, a hell itself.
The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual.
Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.
The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once.
He who never made a mistake, never made a discovery.
Man cannot aspire if he looked down; if he rise, he must look up.
Life will always be to a large extent what we ourselves make it.
Admiration of great men, living or dead, naturally evokes imitation of them in a greater or less degree.
Character is property. It is the noblest of possessions.
Progress, 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.
A place for everything, and everything in its place.
The duty of helping one’s self in the highest sense involves the helping of one’s neighbors.
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.
Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone forever.
It is idleness that is the curse of man – not labour. Idleness eats the heart out of men as of nations, and consumes them as rust does iron.
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.
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.
Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.
A place for everything, and everything in its place.
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.
He who labours not, cannot enjoy the reward of labour.
Enthusiasm… the sustaining power of all great action.
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.
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.
Men who are resolved to find a way for themselves will always find opportunities enough; and if they do not find them, they will make them.
