# Quote — Samuel Smiles, Self-Help: With Illustrations of Conduct and Perseverance

> The crown and glory of life is Character. It is the noblest possession of a man, constituting a rank in itself, and an estate in the general goodwill; dignifying every station, and exalting every position in society. It exercises a greater power than wealth, and secures all the honour without the jealousies of fame. It carries with it an influence which always tells; for it is the result of proved honour, rectitude, and consistency — qualities which, perhaps more than any other, command the general confidence and respect of mankind.

- Author: [Samuel Smiles](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-smiles.md)
- Book: [Self-Help: With Illustrations of Conduct and Perseverance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-smiles/self-help-with-illustrations-of-conduct-and-perseverance.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Smiles#Self-Help%3B_with_Illustrations_of_Character_and_Conduct_(1859)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-smiles/self-help-with-illustrations-of-conduct-and-perseverance/the-crown-and

## More from this book

> "Heaven helps those who help themselves" is a well-tried maxim, embodying in a small compass the results of vast human experience. 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. Whatever is done for men or classes, to a certain extent takes away the stimulus and necessity of doing for themselves; and where men are subjected to over-guidance and over-government, the inevitable tendency is to render them comparatively helpless.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-smiles/self-help-with-illustrations-of-conduct-and-perseverance/heaven-helps-those.md)

> The greatest slave is not he who is ruled by a despot, great though that evil be, but he who is in the thrall of his own moral ignorance, selfishness, and vice.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-smiles/self-help-with-illustrations-of-conduct-and-perseverance/the-greatest-slave.md)

> Even happiness itself may become habitual. There is a habit of looking at the bright side of things, and also of looking at the dark side. Dr. Johnson has said that the habit of looking at the best side of a thing is worth more to a man than a thousand pounds a year. And we possess the power, to a great extent, of so exercising the will as to direct the thoughts upon objects calculated to yield happiness and improvement rather than their opposites.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-smiles/self-help-with-illustrations-of-conduct-and-perseverance/even-happiness-itself.md)