Samuel Smiles Quotes - Page 3

Quotes about:

• Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh to -day as when they first passed through their authors' minds ages ago.

  Samuel Smiles

  Time, Mind, Age

  "Character".

  7 Copy quote

• Childhood is like a mirror, which reflects in afterlife the images first presented to it. The first thing continues forever with the child. The first joy, the first sorrow, the first success, the first failure, the first achievement, the first misadventure, paint the foreground of his life.

  Samuel Smiles

  Children, Mirrors, Afterlife

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.34

  7 Copy quote

• Though an inheritance of acres may be bequeathed, an inheritance of knowledge and wisdom cannot. The wealthy man may pay others for doing his work for him; but it is impossible to get his thinking done for him by another, or to purchase any kind of self-culture.

  Samuel Smiles

  Men, Thinking, Self

  Samuel Smiles (1873). “Self-help; with Illustrations of Character, Conduct, and Perseverance”, p.35

  20 Copy quote

• Luck lies in bed, and wishes the postman would bring him news of a legacy; labor turns out at six, and with busy pen or ringing hammer lays the foundation of a competence.

  Samuel Smiles

  Lying, Luck, Wish

  Samuel Smiles (1800). “Thrift”, p.176

  19 Copy quote

• Commit a child to the care of a worthless, ignorant woman, and no culture in after-life will remedy the evil you have done.

  Samuel Smiles

  Children, Women, Evil

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.41

  6 Copy quote

• Home is the first and most important school of character. It is there that every human being receives his best moral training, or his worst; for it is there that he imbibes those principles of conduct which endure through manhood, and cease only with life.

  Samuel Smiles

  Home, School, Character

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.31

  6 Copy quote

• The path of success in business is invariably the path of common-sense. Nothwithstanding all that is said about "lucky hits," the best kind of success in every man's life is not that which comes by accident. The only "good time coming" we are justified in hoping for is that which we are capable of making for ourselves.

  Samuel Smiles

  Success, Men, Common Sense

  Samuel Smiles (1861). “Self-help: With Illustrations of Character and Conduct”, p.255

  11 Copy quote

• Luck whines; labor whistles.

  Samuel Smiles

  Luck, Labor

  Samuel Smiles (1800). “Thrift”, p.176

  17 Copy quote

• For want of self-restraint many men are engaged all their lives in fighting with difficulties of their own making, and rendering success impossible by their own cross-grained ungentleness; whilst others, it may be much less gifted, make their way and achieve success by simple patience, equanimity, and self-control.

  Samuel Smiles

  Life, Success, Fighting

  Samuel Smiles (1910). “Character. Repr”

  11 Copy quote

• He who never made a mistake, never made a discovery.

  Samuel Smiles

  Inspirational, Motivational, Smile

  1859 Self-Help, ch.11.

  14 Copy quote

• Childhood is like a mirror, which reflects in after life the images first presented to it.

  Samuel Smiles

  Children, Mirrors, Childhood

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.34

  20 Copy quote

• Progress, of the best kind, is comparatively slow

  Samuel Smiles

  Moving, Progress, Kind

  Samuel Smiles (1861). “Self-help: With Illustrations of Character and Conduct”, p.74

  8 Copy quote

• Obedience, submission, discipline, courage--these are among the characteristics which make a man.

  Samuel Smiles

  Men, Discipline, Obedience

  Samuel Smiles (1881). “Duty, with Illustrations of Courage, Patience, and Endurance”

  25 Copy quote

• Cheerfulness is also an excellent wearing quality. It has been called the bright weather of the heart.

  Samuel Smiles

  Heart, Weather, Quality

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.219

  7 Copy quote

• The great lesson of biography is to show what man can be and do at his best. A noble life put fairly on record acts like an inspiration to others.

  Samuel Smiles

  Inspiration, Men, Noble

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.269

  6 Copy quote

• So much does the moral health depend upon the moral atmosphere that is breathed, and so great is the influence daily exercised by parents over their children by living a life before their eyes, that perhaps the best system of parental instruction might be summed up in these two words: 'Improve thyself.'

  Samuel Smiles

  Children, Character, Eye

  Samuel Smiles (1859). “Self-help; with illustrations of character and conduct”, p.295

  7 Copy quote

• Riches do not constitute any claim to distinction. It is only the vulgar who admire riches as riches.

  Samuel Smiles

  Riches, Claims, Distinction

  Samuel Smiles (1800). “Thrift”, p.314

  10 Copy quote

• With will one can do anything.

  Samuel Smiles

  Inspirational, Motivation, Can Do

  Samuel Smiles (1866). “Self-help: With Illustrations of Charakter, Conduct and Perseverance”, p.7

  16 Copy quote

• There is no act, however trivial, but has its train of consequences.

  Samuel Smiles

  Train, Consequence

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.9

  7 Copy quote

• Mere political reform will not cure the manifold evils which now afflict society. There requires a social reform, a domestic reform, an individual reform.

  Samuel Smiles

  Evil, Political, Reform

  "Samuel Smiles and the Victorian Work Ethic". Book by Timothy Travers, 1987.

  5 Copy quote

• The great high-road of human welfare lies along the old highway of steadfast welldoing; and they who are the most persistent, and work in the truest spirit, will invariably be the most successful.

  Samuel Smiles

  Dream, Successful, Spirit

  "Self-help: With Illustrations of Character and Conduct".

  52 Copy quote

• Imitation is for the most part so unconscious that its effects are almost unheeded, but its influence is not the less permanent on that account. It is only when an impressive nature is placed in contact with an impressionable one that the alteration in the character becomes recognizable. Yet even the weakest natures exercise some influence upon those about them. The approximation of feeling, thought, and habit is constant, and the action of example unceasing.

  Samuel Smiles

  Character, Exercise, Feelings

  Samuel Smiles (1884). “Happy Homes and the Hearts that Make Them. Or Thrifty People and why They Thrive”

  7 Copy quote

• Opportunities ... fall in the way of every man who is resolved to take advantage of them.

  Samuel Smiles

  Fall, Opportunity, Men

  Samuel Smiles (1859). “Self-help; with illustrations of character and conduct”, p.11

  6 Copy quote

• If we opened our minds to enjoyment, we might find tranquil pleasures spread about us on every side. We might live with the angels that visit us on every sunbeam, and sit with the fairies who wait on every flower.

  Samuel Smiles

  Flower, Angel, Waiting

  Samuel Smiles (1800). “Thrift”, p.398

  21 Copy quote

• It is observed at sea that men are never so much disposed to grumble and mutiny as when least employed. Hence an old captain, when there was nothing else to do, would issue the order to "scour the anchor.

  Samuel Smiles

  Men, Order, Anchors

  Samuel Smiles (2014). “Self-Help”, p.199, Cambridge University Press

  8 Copy quote

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