Samuel Smiles Quotes (42 Quotes)

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

Labor is still, and ever will be, the inevitable price set upon everything which is valuable.

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.

The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once.

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.

The duty of helping one's self in the highest sense involves the helping of one's neighbors.

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.

The shortest way to do many things at once is to do them one at a time.

Hope is the companion of power, and mother of success for who so hopes strongly has within him the gift of miracles.

The reason why so little is done, is generally because so little is attempted.

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.

Wisdom and understanding can only become the possession of individual men by travelling the old road of observation, attention, perseverance, and industry.

All experiences of life seems to prove that the impediments thrown in the way of the human advancement may for the most part be overcome by steady good conduct, honest zeal, activity, perseverance and above all, by a determined resolution to surmount

No laws, however stringent, can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken sober.

Life will always be to a large extent what we ourselves make it.

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

Man cannot aspire if he looked down; if he rise, he must look up.

Men must necessarily be the active agents of their own well-being and well-doing they themselves must in the very nature of things be their own best helpers.

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

It is not ease, but effort-not facility, but difficulty, makes men. There is, perhaps, no station in life in which difficulties have not to be encountered and overcome before any decided measure of success can be achieved.

It will generally be found that men who are constantly lamenting their ill luck are only reaping the consequences of their own neglect, mismanagement, and improvidence, or want of application.

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 work of many of the greatest men, inspired by duty, has been done amidst suffering and trial and difficulty. They have struggled against the tide, and reached the shore exhausted.

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.

The wise man... if he would live at peace with others, he will bear and forbear.

Where there is a will there is a way'.' is an old true saying. He who resolves upon doing a thing, by that very resolution often scales the barriers to it, and secures its achievement. To think we are able, is almost to be so to determine upon attainment is frequently attainment itself.

Man cannot aspire if he looks down if he rises, he must look up.

Knowledge conquered by labor becomes a possession - a property entirely our own.

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.

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

I'm as happy a man as any in the world, for the whole world seems to smile upon me!

The apprenticeship of difficulty is one which the greatest of men have had to serve.

'Where there is a will there is a way,' is an old and true saying. He who resolves upon doing a thing, by that very resolution often scales the barriers to it, and secures its achievement.

Persons with comparatively moderate powers will accomplish much, if they apply themselves wholly and indefatigably to one thing at a time.

Time is of no account with great thoughts. They are as fresh today as when they first passed through their authors minds, ages ago.

The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual.

No pains, no gains.

A place for everything, and everything in its place.

Enthusiasm... the sustaining power of all great action.

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.

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 possible that the scrupulously honest man may not grow rich so fast as the unscrupulous and dishonest one but the success will be of a truer kind, earned without fraud or injustice. And even though a man should for a time be unsuccessful, still he must be honest better lose all and save character. For character is itself a fortune....