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.
SAMUEL SMILESCharacter is undergoing constant change, for better or for worse–either being elevated on the one hand, or degraded on the other.
More Samuel Smiles Quotes
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Cheerfulness is also an excellent wearing quality. It has been called the bright weather of the heart.
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Man cannot aspire if he looked down; if he rise, he must look up.
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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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Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.
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Persons with comparatively moderate powers will accomplish much, if they apply themselves wholly and indefatigably to one thing at a time.
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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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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.
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Men whose acts are at variance with their words command no respect, and what they say has but little weight.
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Great men stamp their mind upon their age and nation.
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The apprenticeship of difficulty is one which the greatest of men have had to serve.
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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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Riches are oftener an impediment than a stimulus to action; and in many cases they are quite as much a misfortune as a blessing.
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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.
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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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There are many counterfeits of character, but the genuine article is difficult to be mistaken.
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