山姆尔‧史迈尔斯 (1812–1904) 为苏格兰人，著有一系列的修身励志书籍，以《自我改善》(Self-Help) 最为知名，另著有《品格》、《节俭》、《责任》、《自信》等 20 本著作，被誉为「西方成功学之父」、「卡内基精神导师」

1.The battle of life is, in most cases, fought uphill; and to win it without a struggle were perhaps to win it without honor. If there were no difficulties there would be no success; if there were nothing to struggle for, there would be nothing to be achieved.

2.Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.

3.Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone forever.

4.Wisdom and understanding can only become the possession of individual men by travelling the old road of observation, attention, perseverance, and industry.

5.The very greatest things - great thoughts, discoveries, inventions - have usually been nurtured in hardship, often pondered over in sorrow, and at length established with difficulty.

6.The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual.

7.It is a mistake to suppose that men succeed through success; they much oftener succeed through failures. Precept, study, advice, and example could never have taught them so well as failure has done.

8.I'm as happy a man as any in the world, for the whole world seems to smile upon me!

9.The work of many of the greatest men, inspired by duty, has been done amidst suffering and trial and difficulty. They have struggled against the tide, and reached the shore exhausted.

10.Progress, of the best kind, is comparatively slow. Great results cannot be achieved at once; and we must be satisfied to advance in life as we walk, step by step.

11.The experience gathered from books, though often valuable, is but the nature of learning; whereas the experience gained from actual life is one of the nature of wisdom.

12.We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.

在他的《斯迈尔斯的拯救方针》著作用有这样一句话：

有些时候，来自于他人或外界的帮助——即便出于友善的目的，恰恰削弱了我们进取的激情和动手冲动。也许我们不能改变世界，但是我们能够支配我们自已的行动，这些行动加起来，构成了我们性格的基础，也影响了日后的生活轨迹。

虽然我们不能选择富贵与贫穷，但我们可以决定自己的人生价值，可以选择是高尚地活着还是卑劣地死去。水中的浮萍只能随波逐流，不过我们不是浮萍——我们是能够主宰自己行动的人。即使身处逆境也要迎难而上。