Thomas Carlyle Famous Quotations

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) was a Scottish essayist, satirist, and historian whose work was highly influential during the Victorian era. These famous quotes dealing with goals, achievement, and success have been attributed to him.

A laugh, to be joyous, must flow from a joyous heart, for without kindness, there can be no true joy.
A man without a goal is like a ship without a rudder.
A man's felicity consists not in the outward and visible blessing of fortune, but in the inward and unseen perfections and riches of the mind.
Every day that is born into the world comes like a burst of music and rings the whole day through, and you make of it a dance, a dirge, or a life march, as you will.
Every noble work is at first impossible.
Everywhere in life, the true question is not what we gain, but what we do.
He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything.
History shows that the majority of people that have done anything great have passed their youth in seclusion.
I don't like to talk much with people who always agree with me. It is amusing to coquette with an echo for a little while, but one soon tires of it.
I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom.
If what you have done is unjust, you have not succeeded.
Let each become all that he was created capable of being.
Man is, properly speaking, based upon hope, he has no other possession but hope; this world of his is emphatically the place of hope.
Men do less than they ought, unless they do all that they can.
No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of great men.
None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone.
Not what I have, but what I do is my kingdom.
Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment.
Nothing stops the man who desires to achieve. Every obstacle is simply a course to develop his achievement muscle. It's a strengthening of his powers of accomplishment.
Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacle s, discouragement s, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.
Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of man you are, for it shows me what your ideal of manhood is and what kind of man you long to be.