Necessity, oftener than facility, has been the mother of invention; and the most prolific school of all has been the school of difficulty.
SAMUEL SMILESHope… is the companion of power, and the mother of success; for who so hopes has within him the gift of miracles.
More Samuel Smiles Quotes
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He who never made a mistake, never made a discovery.
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The noble people will be nobly ruled, and the ignorant and corrupt ignobly.
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One might almost fear,” writes a thoughtful woman, “seeing how the women of to-day are lightly stirred up to run after some new fashion or faith, that heaven is not so near to them as it was to their mothers and grandmothers.
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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.
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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.
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There is no act, however trivial, but has its train of consequences.
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The healthy spirit of self-help created among working people would, more than any other measure, serve to raise them as a class; and this, not by pulling down others, but by levelling them up to a higher and still advancing standard of religion, intelligence, and virtue.
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Men cannot be raised in masses as the mountains were in he early geological states of the world. They must be dealt with as units; for it is only by the elevation of individuals that the elevation of the masses can be effectively secured.
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Energy enables a man to force his way through irksome drudgery and dry details and caries him onward and upward to every station in life.
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Riches do not constitute any claim to distinction. It is only the vulgar who admire riches as riches.
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The great leader attracts to himself men of kindred character, drawing them towards him as the loadstone draws iron.
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Good sense, disciplined by experience and inspired by goodness, issues in practical wisdom.
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The tiniest bits of opinion sown in the minds of children in private life afterwards issue forth to the world, and become its public opinion; for nations are gathered out of nurseries.
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Like men, nations are purified and strengthened by trials.
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Fortune has often been blamed for her blindness; but fortune is not so blind as men are. Those who look into practical life will find that fortune is usually on the side of the industrious, as the winds and waves are on the side of the best navigators.
SAMUEL SMILES