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Whatever is done for men takes away from the stimulus and necessity of doing things for themselves. The value of legislative as an agent in human advancement has been much over-estimated. No laws, however stringent, can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident or the drunken sober.

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
Away
Agents
Industrious
Human
Laws
Legislative
Humans
However
Stimulus
Done
Value
Advancement
Much
Takes
Agent
Provident
Make
Law
Sober
Stringent
Things
Whatever
Idle
Estimated
Men
Values
Necessity
Drunken

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Example teaches better than precept. It is the best modeler of the character of men and women. To set a lofty example is the richest bequest a man can leave behind him.
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A woman's best qualities do not reside in her intellect, but in her affections. She gives refreshment by her sympathies, rather than by her knowledge.
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Work is one of the best educators of practical character.
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Diligence, above all, is the mother of good luck.
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Knowledge conquered by labor becomes a possession -a property entirely our own.
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Woman, above all other educators, educates humanly. Man is the brain, but woman is the heart, of humanity.
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Labour may be a burden and a chastisement, but it is also an honour and a glory. Without it, nothing can be accomplished.
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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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Self-respect is the noblest garment with which a man can clothe himself, the most elevating feeling with which the mind can be inspired.
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For want of self-restraint many men are engaged all their lives in fighting with difficulties of their own making.
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Opportunities ... fall in the way of every man who is resolved to take advantage of them.
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Self-control is only courage under another form.
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Cecil's dispatch of business was extraordinary, his maxim being, The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once.
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The brave man is an inspiration to the weak, and compels them, as it were, to follow him.
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Courage is by no means incompatible with tenderness. On the contrary, gentleness and tenderness have been found to characterize the men, no less than the women, who have done the most courageous deeds.
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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.
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The egotist is next door to a fanatic.
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Hope... is the companion of power, and the mother of success for who so hopes has within him the gift of miracles.
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Riches are oftener an impediment than a stimulus to action and in many cases they are quite as much a misfortune as a blessing.
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