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.

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.

Character is property. It is the noblest of possessions.

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

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

The wise man... if he would live at peace with others, he will bear and forbear.

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.

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.

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 reason why so little is done, is generally because so little is attempted.

A place for everything, and everything in its place.

He who labours not, cannot enjoy the reward of labour.

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.

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

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.

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.

Man cannot aspire if he looked down; if he rise, he must look up.

Work is one of the best educators of practical character.

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.

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