Samuel Smiles Quotes

Habits change into character.

No laws, however stringent, can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken sober

God desires to change us from the inside out. Renewing our minds, starving our self-destructive tendencies, and teaching us to form new habits.

I try to be a good person. I know what my downfalls are, so that's a good thing.

It's unfortunate, you know, that you can't change people's - habits, their personal habits.

Good habits are hard to develop but easy to live with; bad habits are easy to develop but hard to live with. The habits you have and the habits that have you will determine almost everything you achieve or fail to achieve.

For self is the lord of self, self is the refuge of self; therefore curb thyself as the merchant curbs a good horse.

When self control is lacking in small things, the ability to apply it to matters of importance withers away. Every day in which one does not at least deny himself some trifle is badly spent and a threat to the day following.

If you are self-motivated, wow, this world is tailored for you. The boundaries are all gone. But if you're not self-motivated, this world will be a challenge because the walls, ceilings and floors that protected people are also disappearing. That is what I mean when I say "it is a 401(k) world." Government will do less for you. Companies will do less for you. Unions can do less for you. There will be fewer limits, but also fewer guarantees. Your specific contribution will define your specific benefits much more. Just showing up will not cut it.

Self-respect leads to self-discipline.

Reform, like charity, must begin at home.

By oneself the evil is done, and it is oneself who suffers: by oneself the evil is not done, and by one's Self one becomes pure.

I think it is in the nature of individuals and individual entities not to self-correct.

Responsibility to yourself means that you don't fall for shallow and easy solutions-it means that you refuse to sell your talents and aspirations short.

I see what you mean. It must be a huge relief, and an easy way out, to think the devil is always outside of us. (…) we would stop looking for Sheitan outside and instead focus on ourselves. What we need is sincere self-examination. Not being on the watch for the faults of others.” (p. 257).

Assume a virtue, if you have it not. That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat, Of habits devil, is angel yet in this, That to the use of actions fair and good He likewise gives a frock or livery That aptly is put on. Refrain tonight, And that shall lend a kind of easiness To the next abstinence; the next more easy; For use almost can change the stamp of nature.

Where character forbids self-indulgence, transcendence still hovers around.

Excuses are the explanations we use for hanging on to behaviors we don't like about ourselves; they are self-defeating behaviors we don't know how to change. InExcuses Begone! I review 18 of the most common excuses people use, such as "I'm too busy, too old, too fat, too scared or it's going to take too long or be too difficult."

A private victory leads to a public victory and a corporate blessing, because God turns His face toward those who will demonstrate character when no one is looking.

Remember that your character is the sum total of your habits.

Habits are where our lives and careers and bodies are made.

We cannot, in a moment, get rid of habits of a lifetime.

You have to build systems to protect against your lesser self.

Self-responsibility is the core quality of the fully mature, fully functioning, self-actualizing individual.