Samuel Smiles Quotes & Sayings (Page 4)

“The apprenticeship of difficulty is one which the greatest of men have had to serve.”

“Labor is still, and ever will be, the inevitable price set upon everything which is valuable.”

“Character is property. It is the noblest of possessions.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Knowledge conquered by labor becomes a possession - a property entirely our own.”

“Admiration of great men, living or dead, naturally evokes imitation of them in a greater or less degree.”

“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.”