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 SMILESGreat men stamp their mind upon their age and nation.
More Samuel Smiles Quotes
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The possession of a library, or the free use of it, no more constitutes learning, than the possession of wealth constitutes generosity.
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Purposes, like eggs, unless they be hatched into action, will run into rottenness.
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The reason why so little is done, is generally because so little is attempted.
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Enthusiasm, the sustaining power of all great action.
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Life is of little value unless it be consecrated by duty.
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There are many counterfeits of character, but the genuine article is difficult to be mistaken.
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Although genius always commands admiration, character most secures respect. The former is more the product of the brain, the latter of heart-power; and in the long run it is the heart that rules in life.
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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.
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Mere political reform will not cure the manifold evils which now afflict society. There requires a social reform, a domestic reform, an individual reform.
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There is no act, however trivial, but has its train of consequences.
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Those who aren’t making mistakes probably aren’t making anything.
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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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Character is itself a fortune.
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The Romans rightly employed the same word (virtus) to designate courage, which is, in a physical sense, what the other is in a moral; the highest virtue of all being victory over ourselves.
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Politeness goes far, yet costs nothing.
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Opportunities fall in the way of every man who is resolved to take advantage of them.
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Great men stamp their mind upon their age and nation.
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Cecil’s dispatch of business was extraordinary, his maxim being, “The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once.”
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Progress, of the best kind, is comparatively slow.
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The greatest slave is not he who is ruled by a despot, great though that evil be, but he who is in the thrall of his own moral ignorance, selfishness, and vice.
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Self-respect is the noblest garment with which a man can clothe himself, the most elevating feeling with which the mind can be inspired.
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Woman is the heart of humanity, its grace, ornament, and solace.
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The great and good do no die even in this world. Embalmed in books, their spirits walk abroad. The book is a living voice. It is an intellect to which one still listens.
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The highest culture is not obtained from the teacher when at school or college, so much as by our ever diligent self-education when we become men.
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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.
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The brave man is an inspiration to the weak, and compels them, as it were, to follow him.
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