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Action(s)
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The reason why so little is done, is generally because so little is attempted.
-Samuel Smiles
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Adversity
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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
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Desires
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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
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Difficulty
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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
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The apprenticeship of difficulty is one which the greatest of men have had to serve.
-Samuel Smiles
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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
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It is not ease but effort, not facility but difficult, that makes man. There is perhaps no station in life in which difficulties do not have to be encountered and overcome before any decided means of success can be achieved.
-Samuel Smiles
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Enthusiasm
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Enthusiasm... the sustaining power of all great action.
-Samuel Smiles
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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
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Failure
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We learn from failure much more than from success; we often discover what we will do by finding our what we will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.
-Samuel Smiles
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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
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Help
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The duty of helping one's self in the highest sense involves the helping of one's neighbors.
-Samuel Smiles
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Hope
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Hope is the companion of power, and mother of success; for who so hopes strongly has within him the gift of miracles.
-Samuel Smiles
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Knowledge
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Knowledge conquered by labor becomes a possession -- a property entirely our own.
-Samuel Smiles
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Labor
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Labor is still, and ever will be, the inevitable price set upon everything which is valuable.
-Samuel Smiles
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Life
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Life will always be to a large extent what we ourselves make it.
-Samuel Smiles
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Mistakes
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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
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He who never made a mistake, never made a discovery.
-Samuel Smiles
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Neglect, Negligence
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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.
-Samuel Smiles
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Opportunity
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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
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Peace
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The wise man... if he would live at peace with others, he will bear and forbear.
-Samuel Smiles
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Persistence
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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
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Prophecy
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Man cannot aspire if he looked down; if he rise, he must look up.
-Samuel Smiles
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Responsibility
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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
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Success & Failure
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Where there is a will there is a way. is an old true saying. He who resolves upon doing a thing, by that very resolution often scales the barriers to it, and secures its achievement. To think we are able, is almost to be so -- to determine upon attainment is frequently attainment itself.
-Samuel Smiles
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Books by and about Samuel Smiles