No laws, however stringent, can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken sober. Such reforms can only be effected by means of individual action, economy and self-denial; by better habits, rather than by greater rights.
SAMUEL SMILESOne 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.
More Samuel Smiles Quotes
-
-
Childhood is like a mirror, which reflects in after life the images first presented to it.
SAMUEL SMILES -
Good sense, disciplined by experience and inspired by goodness, issues in practical wisdom.
SAMUEL SMILES -
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.
SAMUEL SMILES -
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. But all play and no work makes him something worse.
SAMUEL SMILES -
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.
SAMUEL SMILES -
Men often discover their affinity to each other by the mutual love they have for a book.
SAMUEL SMILES -
Obedience, submission, discipline, courage–these are among the characteristics which make a man.
SAMUEL SMILES -
The brave man is an inspiration to the weak, and compels them, as it were, to follow him.
SAMUEL SMILES -
Self-control is only courage under another form. It may also be regarded as the primary essence of character.
SAMUEL SMILES -
Great men stamp their mind upon their age and nation.
SAMUEL SMILES -
Hope… is the companion of power, and the mother of success; for who so hopes has within him the gift of miracles.
SAMUEL SMILES -
There are many counterfeits of character, but the genuine article is difficult to be mistaken.
SAMUEL SMILES -
Life will always be to a large extent what we ourselves make it.
SAMUEL SMILES -
The government of a nation itself is usually found to be but the reflux of the individuals composing it. The government that is ahead of the people will be inevitably dragged down to their level, as the government that is behind them will in the long run be dragged up.
SAMUEL SMILES -
When typhus or cholera breaks out, they tell us that Nobody is to blame. That terrible Nobody! How much he has to answer for. More mischief is done by Nobody than by all the world besides.
SAMUEL SMILES






