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Quotes by Thomas Carlyle
The end of man is an action, and not a thought, though it were the noblest.— filed under Action
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.— filed under Action
For one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity. -— filed under Adversity
Efforts to be permanently useful must be uniformly joyous, a spirit all sunshine, graceful from very gladness, beautiful because bright. -— filed under Cheerfulness
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.— filed under Duty
Our grand business is, not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.— filed under Duty
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 Pike Hercules. One monster there is in the world, the idle man.— filed under Labor
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."— filed under Man
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.— filed under Piety
The accent of conviction is made up of a mixture of faith, power, and love combined, forming a characteristic which is at once simple, pious, and grand, redolent of inspiration and sanctity. 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.— filed under Preaching
A word spoken in season, at the right moment, is the mother of ages.— filed under Speaking For Christ
The wise man is but a clever infant, spelling letters from a hieroglyphical prophetic book, the lexicon of which lies in eternity.— filed under Wisdom
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. -— filed under Religion
Of all acts is not, for a man, repentance the most divine? The greatest of faults is to be conscious of none.— filed under Repentance