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A mind that has seen, and suffered, and done, speaks to us of what it has tried and conquered.
Thomas Carlyle -
We have chosen Mahomet not as the most eminent Prophet; but as the one we are freest to speak of. He is by no means the truest of Prophets; but I do esteem him a true one.
Thomas Carlyle
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The soul gives unity to what it looks at with love.
Thomas Carlyle -
All men, if they work not as in the great taskmaster's eye, will work wrong, and work unhappily for themselves and for you.
Thomas Carlyle -
O thou who art able to write a Book, which once in the two centuries or oftener there is a man gifted to do, envy not him whom they name City-builder, and inexpressibly pity him whom they name Conqueror or City-burner! Thou too art a Conqueror and Victor; but of the true sort, namely over the Devil: thou too hast built what will outlast all marble and metal, and be a wonder-bringing City of the Mind, a Temple and Seminary and Prophetic Mount, whereto all kindreds of the Earth will pilgrim.
Thomas Carlyle -
What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books.
Thomas Carlyle -
For, strictly considered, what is all Knowledge too but recorded Experience, and a product of History; of which, therefore, Reasoning and Belief, no less than Action and Passion, are essential materials?
Thomas Carlyle -
The stifled hum of midnight, when traffic has lain down to rest, and the chariot wheels of Vanity, still rolling here and there through distant streets, are bearing her to halls roofed in and lighted to the due pitch for her; and only vice and misery, to prowl or to moan like night birds, are abroad.
Thomas Carlyle
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Freedom is the one purport, wisely aimed at, or unwisely, of all man's struggles, toilings and sufferings, in this earth.
Thomas Carlyle -
If a book comes from the heart, it will contrive to reach other hearts; all art and author-craft are of small amount to that.
Thomas Carlyle -
Thought, true labor of any kind, highest virtue itself, is it not the daughter of Pain?
Thomas Carlyle -
In the long-run every Government is the exact symbol of its People, with their wisdom and unwisdom; we have to say, Like People like Government.
Thomas Carlyle -
The secret of business is to know something that nobody else knows. The greatest of faults, I should say is to be conscious of none.
Thomas Carlyle -
Reform is not pleasant, but grievous; no person can reform themselves without suffering and hard work, how much less a nation.
Thomas Carlyle
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He who cannot withal keep his mind to himself cannot practice any considerable thing whatsoever.
Thomas Carlyle -
Taste, if it mean anything but a paltry connoisseurship, must mean a general susceptibility to truth and nobleness, a sense to discern, and a heart to love and reverence all beauty, order, goodness, wheresoever, or in whatsoever forms and accompaniments they are to be seen. This surely implies, as its chief condition, not any given external rank or situation, but a finely-gifted mind, purified into harmony with itself, into keenness and justness of vision; above all, kindled into love and generous admiration.
Thomas Carlyle