“Persons with comparatively moderate powers will accomplish much, if they apply themselves wholly and indefatigably to one thing at a time.”

This extraordinary metal, the soul of every manufacture, and the mainspring perhaps of civilised society. Of iron.

Men must necessarily be the active agents of their own well-being and well-doing they themselves must in the very nature of things be their own best helpers.

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.

Men who are resolved to find a way for themselves will always find opportunities enough; and if they do not find them, they will make them.

The most influential of all the virtues are those which are the most in request for daily use. They wear the best, and last the longest.

Labour may be a burden and a chastisement, but it is also an honour and a glory. Without it, nothing can be accomplished.

The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once.

No laws, however stringent, can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken sober.

Great men are always exceptional men; and greatness itself is but comparative. Indeed, the range of most men in life is so limited that very few have the opportunity of being great.

Those who have most to do, and are willing to work, will find the most time.

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.

Help from without is often enfeebling in its effects, but help from within invariably invigorates.

Good sense, disciplined by experience and inspired by goodness, issues in practical wisdom.

Great men stamp their mind upon their age and nation.

Woman, above all other educators, educates humanly. Man is the brain, but woman is the heart, of humanity.

Like men, nations are purified and strengthened by trials.

A girl can wait for the right man to come along but in the meantime that still doesn’t mean she can’t have a wonderful time with all the wrong ones.

No one is given time to spend on what they love, they take it.

The lives of most men are patchwork quilts. Or at best one matching outfit with a closet and laundry bag full of incongruous accumulations. A lifetime of training for just ten seconds.

No law can possibly meet the convenience of every one: we must be satisfied if it be beneficial on the whole and to the majority.

One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.

For in every ill-turn of fortune the most unhappy sort of unfortunate man is the one who has been happy

The entire world shall be populous with that action which saves one soul from despair.

But helpless Pieces of the Game He plays Upon this Checker-board of Nights and Days; Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays, And one by one back in the Closet lays.