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For want of self-restraint many men are engaged all their lives in fighting with difficulties of their own making.

Samuel Smiles

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Samuel Smiles
Age: 91 †
Born: 1812
Born: December 23
Died: 1904
Died: April 16
Author
Biographer
Journalist
Philosopher
Writer
Haddington
East Lothian
Self
Willpower
Many
Restraint
Men
Difficulties
Engaged
Difficulty
Fighting
Making
Lives
Equanimity

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Although genius always commands admiration, character most secures respect. The former is more the product of the brain, the latter of heart-power and in the long run it is the heart that rules in life.
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The great lesson of biography is to show what man can be and do at his best. A noble life put fairly on record acts like an inspiration to others.
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No laws, however stringent, can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken sober.
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The duty of helping one's self in the highest sense involves the helping of one's neighbors.
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All life is a struggle.... Under competition the lazy man is put under the necessity of exerting himself and if he will not exert himself, he must fall behind. If he do not work, neither shall he eat.
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It is possible that the scrupulously honest man may not grow rich so fast as the unscrupulous and dishonest one but the success will be of a truer kind, earned without fraud or injustice. And even though a man should for a time be unsuccessful, still he must be honest: better lose all and save character. For character is itself a fortune. . . .
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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.
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He who never made a mistake, never made a discovery.
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Make good thy standing place, and move the world.
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Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.
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To set a lofty example is the richest bequest a man can leave behind.
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No good thing is ever lost. Nothing dies, not even life which gives up one form only to resume another. No good action, no good example dies. It lives forever in our race. While the frame moulders and disappears, the deed leaves an indelible stamp, and molds the very thought and will of future generations.
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All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. But all play and no work makes him something worse.
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The great high-road of human welfare lies along the old highway of steadfast welldoing and they who are the most persistent, and work in the truest spirit, will invariably be the most successful.
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Persons with comparatively moderate powers will accomplish much, if they apply themselves wholly and indefatigably to one thing at a time.
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Marriage like government is a series of compromises. One must give and take, repair and restrain, endure and be patient.
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Labor is still, and ever will be, the inevitable price set upon everything which is valuable.
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Energy of will may be defined to be the very central power of character in a man.
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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.
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Necessity, oftener than facility, has been the mother of invention and the most prolific school of all has been the school of difficulty.
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