Opportunities fall in the way of every man who is resolved to take advantage of them.
SAMUEL SMILESThe 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.
More Samuel Smiles Quotes
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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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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.
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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.
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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 women of the poorer classes make sacrifices, and run risks, and bear privations, and exercise patience and kindness to a degree that the world never knows of, and would scarcely believe even if it did know.
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No laws, however stringent, can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken sober.
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Childhood is like a mirror, which reflects in after life the images first presented to it.
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Wisdom and understanding can only become the possession of individual men by travelling the old road of observation, attention, perseverance, and industry.
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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.
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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.
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Even happiness itself may become habitual. There is a habit of looking at the bright side of things, and also of looking at the dark side.
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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.
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The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual.
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He who labours not, cannot enjoy the reward of labour.
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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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Self-control is only courage under another form. It may also be regarded as the primary essence of character.
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The best school of discipline is home. Family life is God’s own method of training the young, and homes are very much as women make them.
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Life is of little value unless it be consecrated by duty.
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Any number of depraved units cannot form a great nation.
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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.
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Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.
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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.
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There is no act, however trivial, but has its train of consequences.
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Labor is still, and ever will be, the inevitable price set upon everything which is valuable.
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Enthusiasm, the sustaining power of all great action.
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Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone forever.
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