Welcome to our collection of inspirational quotes by Samuel Smiles! Samuel Smiles, a Scottish author, and reformer, is best known for his influential works on self-help and achieving success through perseverance and hard work. Born in 1812, Smiles dedicated his life to advocating for self-improvement and individual responsibility, firmly believing that anyone can achieve their goals with determination and effort.
Throughout his lifetime, Samuel Smiles penned numerous books and articles that encouraged readers to take control of their destinies and strive for personal excellence. His most famous work, Self-Help, published in 1859, remains a timeless classic in the field of self-improvement literature, offering practical advice and motivational insights for individuals seeking to better themselves. Smiles’ philosophy emphasizes the power of self-reliance, resilience, and optimism in overcoming life’s challenges and achieving success.
Admiration of great men, living or dead, naturally evokes imitation of them in a greater or less degree. Samuel Smiles
The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once. Samuel Smiles
The duty of helping one’s self in the highest sense involves the helping of one’s neighbors. Samuel Smiles
The wise man… if he would live at peace with others, he will bear and forbear. Samuel Smiles
Knowledge conquered by labor becomes a possession – a property entirely our own. Samuel Smiles
He who never made a mistake, never made a discovery. Samuel Smiles
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. Samuel Smiles
It is energy – the central element of which is will – that produces the miracle that is enthusiasm in all ages. Everywhere it is what is called force of character and the sustaining power of all great action. Samuel Smiles
Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us. Samuel Smiles
It is idleness that is the curse of man – not labour. Idleness eats the heart out of men as of nations, and consumes them as rust does iron. Samuel Smiles
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 Smiles
Progress, 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. Samuel Smiles
He who labours not, cannot enjoy the reward of labour. Samuel Smiles
Character is property. It is the noblest of possessions. Samuel Smiles
Wisdom and understanding can only become the possession of individual men by travelling the old road of observation, attention, perseverance, and industry. Samuel Smiles
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. Samuel Smiles
The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual. Samuel Smiles
Life will always be to a large extent what we ourselves make it. Samuel Smiles
Simple honesty of purpose in a man goes a long way in life, if founded on a just estimate of himself and a steady obedience to the rule he knows and feels to be right. Samuel Smiles
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. Samuel Smiles
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. Samuel Smiles
Man cannot aspire if he looked down; if he rise, he must look up. Samuel Smiles
The best-regulated home is always that in which the discipline is the most perfect, and yet where it is the least felt. Moral discipline acts with the force of a law of nature. Samuel Smiles
Length of years is no proper test of length of life. A man’s life is to be measured by what he does in it and what he feels in it. Samuel Smiles
Enthusiasm… the sustaining power of all great action. Samuel Smiles
Work is one of the best educators of practical character. 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
I’m as happy a man as any in the world, for the whole world seems to smile upon me! Samuel Smiles
The reason why so little is done, is generally because so little is attempted. Samuel Smiles
Idleness of the mind is much worse than that of the body: wit, without employment, is a disease – the rust of the soul, a plague, a hell itself. Samuel Smiles
Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others. Samuel Smiles
Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone forever. Samuel Smiles
A place for everything, and everything in its place. Samuel Smiles
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. Samuel Smiles
Labor is still, and ever will be, the inevitable price set upon everything which is valuable. Samuel Smiles
The apprenticeship of difficulty is one which the greatest of men have had to serve. Samuel Smiles
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. Samuel Smiles
An intense anticipation itself transforms possibility into reality; our desires being often but precursors of the things which we are capable of performing. Samuel Smiles
Labour may be a burden and a chastisement, but it is also an honour and a glory. Without it, nothing can be accomplished. Samuel Smiles
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. Samuel Smiles
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. Samuel Smiles
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. Samuel Smiles
The very greatest things – great thoughts, discoveries, inventions – have usually been nurtured in hardship, often pondered over in sorrow, and at length established with difficulty. Samuel Smiles
