Quotes by Scottish authors

"Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us"

"They all in general had putrid gums, the spots and lassitude, with weakness of their knees"

"The other was the best recovered in his condition; and being now pretty well, was appointed nurse to the rest of the sick. Next to oranges, I thought the cyder had the best effects"

"It was indeed not very sound. However, those who had taken it, were in a fairer way of recovery than the others at the end of the fortnight, which was the length of time all these different courses were continued, except the oranges"

"There are all sorts of cute puppy dogs, but it doesn't stop people from going out and buying Dobermans"

"After I convinced them that I was a harmless novelist, I actually got them to give me a tour of the harem - which is usually off limits for tourists"

"The awful importance of this life is that it determines eternity"

"When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure"

"The work of many of the greatest men, inspired by duty, has been done amidst suffering and trial and difficulty. They have struggled against the tide, and reached the shore exhausted"

"Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone forever"

"It is energy - the central element of which is will - that produces the miracle that is enthusiasm in all ages. Everywhere it is what is called force of character and the sustaining power of all great action"

"The duty of helping one's self in the highest sense involves the helping of one's neighbors"

"The battle of life is, in most cases, fought uphill; and to win it without a struggle were perhaps to win it without honor. If there were no difficulties there would be no success; if there were nothing to struggle for, there would be nothing to be achieved"

"Men 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"

"It is a mistake to suppose that men succeed through success; they much oftener succeed through failures. Precept, study, advice, and example could never have taught them so well as failure has done"

"I'm as happy a man as any in the world, for the whole world seems to smile upon me!"

"Hope... is the companion of power, and the mother of success; for who so hopes has within him the gift of miracles"

"He who never made a mistake, never made a discovery"

"An intense anticipation itself transforms possibility into reality; our desires being often but precursors of the things which we are capable of performing"

"A place for everything, and everything in its place"

"The experience gathered from books, though often valuable, is but the nature of learning; whereas the experience gained from actual life is one of the nature of wisdom"

"Progress however, of the best kind, is comparatively slow. Great results cannot be achieved at once; and we must be satisfied to advance in life as we walk, step by step"

"Practical wisdom is only to be learned in the school of experience. Precepts and instruction are useful so far as they go, but, without the discipline of real life, they remain of the nature of theory only"

"Life will always be to a large extent what we ourselves make it"

"The wise man... if he would live at peace with others, he will bear and forbear"

"The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual"

"Enthusiasm... the sustaining power of all great action"

"The very greatest things - great thoughts, discoveries, inventions - have usually been nurtured in hardship, often pondered over in sorrow, and at length established with difficulty"

"We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery"

"The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once"