230 Quotes by Samuel Smiles

With will one can do anything.

Purposes, like eggs, unless they be hatched into action, will run into rottenness.

It will generally be found that men who are constantly lamenting their ill luck are only reaping the consequences of their own neglect, mismanagement, and improvidence, or want of application.

Character is itself a fortune.

Sow a thought, and you reap an act; Sow an act, and you reap a habit; Sow a habit, and you reap a character; Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.

It is the close observation of little things which is the secret of success in business, in art, in science, and in every pursuit of life.

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.

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.

The duty of helping one’s self in the highest sense involves the helping of one’s neighbors.