Sow a thought, and you reap an act; Sow an act, and you reap a habit; Sow a habit, and you reap a character; Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.
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.
Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone forever.
Life will always be to a large extent what we ourselves make it.
Labour may be a burden and a chastisement, but it is also an honour and a glory. Without it, nothing can be accomplished.
Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.
Character is itself a fortune.
No laws, however stringent, can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken sober.
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.
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.
The reason why so little is done, is generally because so little is attempted.
With will one can do anything.
We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. 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.
If we opened our minds to enjoyment, we might find tranquil pleasures spread about us on every side. We might live with the angels that visit us on every sunbeam, and sit with the fairies who wait on every flower.
Obedience, submission, discipline, courage – these are among the characteristics which make a man.
The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual; and, exhibited in the lives of many, it constitutes the true source of national vigour and strength. Help from without is often enfeebling in its effects, but help from within invariably invigorates.
The possession of a library, or the free use of it, no more constitutes learning, than the possession of wealth constitutes generosity.