Quotes by Thomas Carlyle with world

Thomas Carlyle

Thomas Carlyle

Scottish writer and historicus

Lived from: 1795 - 1881

Category: History and sociology | Writers (Contemporary) Country: FlagUnited Kingdom

Born: 4 december 1795 Died: 5 february 1881

  • All men, if they work not as in the great taskmaster's eye, will work wrong, and work unhappily for themselves and for you.
  • The first duty of man is to conquer fear; he must get rid of it, he cannot act till then.
  • To reform a world, to reform a nation, no wise man will undertake; and all but foolish men know, that the only solid, though a far slower reformation, is what each begins and perfects on himself.
  • Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of man you are.
  • If a book comes from the heart it will contrive to reach other hearts. All art and author craft are of small account to that.
  • The tragedy of life is not so much what men suffer, but rather what they miss.
  • True humor springs not more from the head than from the heart. It is not contempt; its essence is love. It issues not in laughter, but in still smiles, which lie far deeper.
  • That there should one Man die ignorant who had capacity for Knowledge, this I call a tragedy.
  • I grow daily to honor facts more and more, and theory less and less. A fact, it seems to me, is a great thing - a sentence printed, if not by God, then at least by the Devil.
  • Good breeding differs, if at all, from high breeding only as it gracefully remembers the rights of others, rather than gracefully insists on its own rights.
  • 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.
  • The person who cannot laugh is not only ready for treason, and deceptions, their whole life is already a treason and deception.
  • Man is a tool-using animal. Without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all.
  • Reform is not pleasant, but grievous; no person can reform themselves without suffering and hard work, how much less a nation.
  • What are your historical Facts; still more your biographical? Wilt thou know a man by stringing-together beadrolls of what thou namest Facts?
  • No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of great men.
  • We call it a Society; and go about professing openly the totalest separation, isolation. Our life is not a mutual helpfulness; but rather, cloaked under due laws-of-war, named ''fair competition'' and so forth, it is a mutual hostility.
  • Not our logical faculty, but our imaginative one is king over us. I might say, priest and prophet to lead us to heaven-ward, or magician and wizard to lead us hellward.
  • Men do less than they ought unless they do all that they can.
  • The end of man is an action and not a thought, though it were the noblest.
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Quotes 1 till 11 of 11.

  • Cash-payment never was, or could except for a few years be, the union-bond of man to man. Cash never yet paid one man fully his deserts to another; nor could it, nor can it, now or henceforth to the end of the world.
    ― Thomas Carlyle
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  • Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure there is one less rascal in the world.
    ― Thomas Carlyle
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  • No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of great men.
    ― Thomas Carlyle
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  • Not brute force but only persuasion and faith are the kings of this world.
    ― Thomas Carlyle
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  • Popular opinion is the greatest lie in the world.
    ― Thomas Carlyle
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  • Real good breeding, as the people have it here, is one of the finest things now going in the world. The careful avoidance of all discussion, the swift hopping from topic to topic, does not agree with me; but the graceful style they do it with is beyond that of minuets!
    ― Thomas Carlyle
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  • The greatest event for the world is the arrival of a new and wise person.
    ― Thomas Carlyle
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  • The history of the world is but the biography of great men.
    ― Thomas Carlyle
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  • The world is a republic of mediocrities, and always was.
    ― Thomas Carlyle
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  • To reform a world, to reform a nation, no wise man will undertake; and all but foolish men know, that the only solid, though a far slower reformation, is what each begins and perfects on himself.
    ― Thomas Carlyle
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  • No man lives without jostling and being jostled; in all ways he has to elbow himself through the world, giving and receiving offence.
    ― Thomas Carlyle
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What are the most famous quotes from Thomas Carlyle?

The two most famous quotes from Thomas Carlyle are:

  • "Cash-payment never was, or could except for a few years be, the union-bond of man to man. Cash never yet paid one man fully his deserts to another; nor could it, nor can it, now or henceforth to the end of the world."
  • "Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure there is one less rascal in the world."

When did Thomas Carlyle live?

Thomas Carlyle was born in 1795 and died in the year 1881.