The government of a nation itself is usually found to be but the reflux of the individuals composing it. The government that is ahead of the people will be inevitably dragged down to their level, as the government that is behind them will in the long run be dragged up.
Samuel SmilesMen 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 SmilesThis extraordinary metal, the soul of every manufacture, and the mainspring perhaps of civilised society. Of iron.
Samuel SmilesGood sense, disciplined by experience and inspired by goodness, issues in practical wisdom.
Samuel SmilesHe who recognizes no higher logic than that of the shilling may become a very rich man, and yet remain all the while an exceedingly poor creature; for riches are no proof whatever of moral worth, and their glitter often serves only to draw attention to the worthlessness of their possessor, as the glow-worm's light reveals the grub.
Samuel Smiles