The end of man is an action, and not a thought, though it were the noblest.
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Quotes by Thomas Carlyle
Explore 51 verified and sourced quotes attributed to Thomas Carlyle. Open any quote for its dedicated page, source details and related topics.
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Selected quotes by Thomas Carlyle
What is done is done; has already blended itself with the boundless, ever living, ever working universe, and will also work there for good or evil, openly or secretly, throughout all time.
For one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity.
Efforts to be permanently useful must be uniformly joyous, a spirit all sunshine, graceful from very gladness, beautiful because bright.
Let him who gropes painfully in darkness or uncertain light, and prays vehemently that the dawn may ripen into day, lay this precept well to heart: "Do the duty which lieth nearest to thee," which thou knowest to be a duty! Thy second duty will already have become clearer.
Our grand business is, not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.
Blessed is the man who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness. Know thy work, and do it; and work at it like Hercules. One monster there is in the world, the idle man.
The older I grow—and I now stand upon the brink of eternity—the more comes back to me that sentence in the Catechism which I learned when a child, and the fuller and deeper its meaning becomes, "What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever."
Piety does not mean that a man should make a sour face about things, and refuse to enjoy in moderation what his Maker has given.
Here are no fabulous joys and woes; no hollow, fantastic sentimentalities; no wire-drawn refinings, either in thought or feeling; the passion that is traced before us has glowed in a living heart; the opinion he utters has risen in his own understanding, and been a light to his own steps.
It seems to me a great truth, that human things cannot stand on selfishness, mechanical utilities, economies, and law courts; that if there be not a religious element in the relations of men, such relations are miserable, and doomed to ruin.
Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.
A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge.
He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything.
Wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness, and its power of endurance - the cheerful man will do more in the same time, will do it; better, will preserve it longer, than the sad or sullen.
There are good and bad times, but our mood changes more often than our fortune.
The old cathedrals are good, but the great blue dome that hangs over everything is better.
Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment.
The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
Music is well said to be the speech of angels.
I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom.
Nothing stops the man who desires to achieve. Every obstacle is simply a course to develop his achievement muscle. It's a strengthening of his powers of accomplishment.
Endurance is patience concentrated.
If you look deep enough you will see music; the heart of nature being everywhere music.
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