'Heaven helps those who help themselves' is a well tired maxim, embodying in a small compass the results of a 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.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Self-help is the foundation of personal growth and national strength, despite being a common saying.
- In plain terms
- Helping yourself is key to growing as a person and a nation.
- What can you take from it?
- Self-reliance is the root of growth.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Why is self-reliance important?
- How do you help yourself?
Another view
Overemphasizing self-help can ignore systemic barriers people face.
More from Samuel Smiles
No laws, however stringent, can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken sober.
Permalink to quote #4 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 mist…
Permalink to quote #6 Sow a thought, and you reap an act; Sow an act, and you reap a habit; Sow a habit, and you reap a character; Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.
Permalink to quote #3
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