Quotes by Thomas Carlyle

The end of man is an action, and not a thought, though it were the noblest.

— 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.

— Thomas Carlyle

  ​ For one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity.

— Thomas Carlyle

Efforts to be permanently useful must be uniformly joyous, a spirit all sunshine, graceful from very gladness, beautiful because bright.

— Thomas Carlyle

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.

— Thomas Carlyle

  ​ Our grand business is, not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.

— Thomas Carlyle

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.

— Thomas Carlyle