Samuel Smiles

The practice of writing down thoughts and facts for the purpose of holding them fast and preventing their escape into the dim region of forgetfulness…

Ambrose Paré, the great French surgeon, was another illustrious instance of close observation, patient application, and indefatigable perseverance.…

This idea took firm possession of his mind, and he could talk and think of nothing else. At canal boards, at sheep-shearings, at county meetings, and…

He next determined to trace out the strata through districts as remote from Bath as his means would enable him to reach. For years he journeyed to…

The late John Brown, the eminent English geologist, was, like Miller, a stonemason in his early life, serving an apprenticeship to the trade at…

Sir Joshua Reynolds was such a believer in the force of industry, that he held that artistic excellence, “however expressed by genius, taste, or…

Nor have the most distinguished artists of our own country been born in a position of life more than ordinarily favourable to the culture of artistic…

Like Sir Joshua Reynolds, Michael Angelo was a great believer in the force of labour; and he held that there was nothing which the imagination…

Titian, also, was an indefatigable worker. His celebrated “Pietro Martire” was eight years in hand, and his “Last Supper” seven. In his letter to…

No matter how generous nature has been in bestowing the gift of genius, the pursuit of art is nevertheless a long and continuous labour. Many artists…

Richard Wilson, when a mere child, indulged himself with tracing figures of men and animals on the walls of his father’s house, with a burnt stick.…

Sir Joshua Reynolds, when a boy, forgot his lessons, and took pleasure only in drawing, for which his father was accustomed to rebuke him. The boy…

To reach Rome, the capital of the fine arts, is usually the highest ambition of the art student. But the journey to Rome is costly, and the student…

Still more romantic and adventurous was the career of Benvenuto Cellini, the marvellous gold worker, painter, sculptor, engraver, engineer, and…

His father still insisting on his becoming a flute-player, Benvenuto continued to practise on the instrument, though he detested it. His chief…

During his second residence in Rome, Cellini met with extensive patronage, and he was taken into the Pope’s service in the double capacity of…

Working in this spirit, it is not so wonderful that Cellini should have been able to accomplish so much. He was a man of indefatigable activity,…

Cellini was remarkable for his readiness and dexterity in handicraft. One day a surgeon entered the shop of Raffaello del Moro, the goldsmith, to…

Among the statues executed by Cellini, the most important are the silver figure of Jupiter, executed at Paris for Francis I., and the Perseus,…

Cellini had purchased and laid in several loads of pine-wood, in anticipation of the process of casting, which now began. The furnace was filled with…

Sending across to a neighbour for a load of young oak which had been more than a year in drying, he soon had the fire blazing again and the metal…

The divine fury of genius in which Cellini rushed to his kitchen and stripped it of its utensils for the purposes of his furnace, will remind the…

Much less turbulent was the career of Nicolas Poussin, a man as pure and elevated in his ideas of art as he was in his daily life, and…

At Paris a new world of art opened before him, exciting his wonder and stimulating his emulation. He worked diligently in many studios, drawing,…

Thus twelve years passed, years of obscurity and toil, of failures and disappointments, and probably of privations. At length Poussin succeeded in…

During all this time he remained very poor, satisfied to be continually improving himself. He was glad to sell his pictures for whatever they would…

The reputation of Poussin, however, grew but slowly. He was of a retiring disposition and shunned society. People gave him credit for being a thinker…

Annoyed by the enemies his success had provoked and whom he was unable to conciliate, he determined, at the end of less than two years’ labour in…

Like all youthful efforts, his first designs were crude. The proud father one day showed some of them to Roubilliac the sculptor, who turned from…

The kind Mr. Matthews invited him to his house, where his wife explained Homer and Milton to him. They helped him also in his self-culture—giving him…

Patiently and happily the affectionate couple plodded on during five years in their humble little home in Wardour Street, always with the long…

At length Flaxman and his wife having accumulated a sufficient store of savings, set out for Rome. Arrived there, he applied himself diligently to…

When the members of the Royal Academy heard of Flaxman’s return, and especially when they had an opportunity of seeing and admiring his…

After a long, peaceful, and happy life, Flaxman found himself growing old. The loss which he sustained by the death of his affectionate wife Ann, was…

John Gibson was another artist full of a genuine enthusiasm and love for his art, which placed him high above those sordid temptations which urge…

Noel Paton, the well-known painter, began his artistic career at Dunfermline and Paisley, as a drawer of patterns for table-cloths and muslin…

It would be beside our purpose to enter upon any criticism of “The Forge” as an engraving; its merits having been already fully recognised by the art…

Such is a brief outline of the career of a self-taught musician, whose life affords but another illustration of the power of self-help, and the force…

WE have already referred to some illustrious Commoners raised from humble to elevated positions by the power of application and industry; and we…

The father of Richard Foley, the founder of the family, was a small yeoman living in the neighbourhood of Stourbridge in the time of Charles I.…

Richard Foley, having ascertained this much, determined to make himself master of the new process. He suddenly disappeared from the neighbourhood…

It happened that one day, whilst passing through the crooked streets of old Boston, he overheard some sailors talking to each other of a wreck…

Being too poor, however, to undertake such an enterprise without powerful help, he set sail for England in the hope that he might there obtain it.…

Phipps then set sail to find the Spanish ship and fish up the treasure. He reached the coast of Hispaniola in safety; but how to find the sunken ship…

Returned to London, Phipps reported the result of his voyage to the Admiralty, who professed to be pleased with his exertions; but he had been…

Phipps throughout the latter part of his career, was not ashamed to allude to the lowness of his origin, and it was matter of honest pride to him…

Not less remarkable was the rise to the same distinguished office of Lord Chief Justice, of the rugged Kenyon and the robust Ellenborough; nor was he…

Such are a few of the distinguished men who have honourably worked their way to the highest position, and won the richest rewards of their profession…

Nothing that is of real worth can be achieved without courageous working. Man owes his growth chiefly to that active striving of the will, that…

It is will,—force of purpose,—that enables a man to do or be whatever he sets his mind on being or doing. A holy man was accustomed to say, “Whatever…

“Where there is a will there is a way,” is an old and true saying. He who resolves upon doing a thing, by that very resolution often scales the…

When John III. of Portugal resolved to plant Christianity in the Indian territories subject to his influence, Bobadilla was first selected as his…

The career of John Howard was throughout a striking illustration of the same power of patient purpose. His sublime life proved that even physical…

Wherever a philanthropic work was to be done in London, be sure that Jonas Hanway’s hand was in it. One of the first Acts for the protection of…

About that time (1767), the personal liberty of the Englishman, though cherished as a theory, was subject to grievous infringements, and was almost…

In the mean time other cases occurred of the kidnapping of negroes in London, and their shipment to the West Indies for sale. Wherever Sharp could…

It is unnecessary further to follow the career of Granville Sharp. He continued to labour indefatigably in all good works. He was instrumental in…

During several years Clarkson conducted a correspondence with upwards of four hundred persons, travelling more than thirty-five thousand miles during…

HAZLITT, in one of his clever essays, represents the man of business as a mean sort of person put in a go-cart, yoked to a trade or profession;…

It has, however, been a favourite fallacy with dunces in all times, that men of genius are unfitted for business, as well as that business…