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Audiobook edition · 15 h 50 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if steady effort matters more than brilliance, wealth, or the rank you are born into?
In Self Help; with Illustrations of Conduct and Perseverance, Samuel Smiles draws lessons from engineers, potters, painters, scientists, merchants and statesmen. James Watt studies and repairs as he develops his work on the steam engine. Bernard Palissy pursues a white enamel for earthenware. Their efforts bring Smiles's central question into focus: how do people turn difficulty into progress?
Against a Victorian world of changing factories, railways and cities, Smiles argues that improvement begins with the individual. He asks you to consider patience, thrift, courage and honest dealing as habits to practise, not qualities to admire from afar. His short life stories make a forceful case for character over rank, and steady application over flashes of talent.
What you’ll discover
- Patience at the workbench Follow Watt and Palissy as Smiles explores the effort behind invention and craft.
- Effort beyond quick brilliance Consider why Smiles values sustained application more highly than talent alone.
- Small chances worth noticing Explore his argument that an alert mind finds opportunity in ordinary things.
- Money with a purpose Examine thrift alongside warnings against greed and the hunger for quick wealth.
- Character before social rank Meet an ideal of worth grounded in honesty, kindness, courage and consideration.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you love real lives, from inventors and artists to soldiers and reformers, and want practical encouragement on work, money, learning and character that you can use this week.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Strong nations are built from self-helping people
- Humble beginnings are no barrier to achievement
- Inventors succeed through patience, and often suffer for it
- Perseverance beats talent when talent will not work
- Opportunity favours those who watch and prepare
- Excellence in art comes from labour and care
- Energy, courage and honest business build a life
- Spend less than you earn and avoid debt
- Character grows from habit, example and gentleness
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Selbsthilfe; mit Beispielen für Lebensführung und Ausdauer
by Samuel Smiles · 1859
A barber, a weaver's son and a cobbler turn poverty into invention, art and science through sheer effort.
Challenging10–20 hours to readDeutsch
Excellent
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In short
What do a barber, a blacksmith's son, a cobbler and a potter have in common? According to Samuel Smiles, each rose by their own effort.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Strong nations are built from self-helping people
Smiles opens with an old maxim: heaven helps those who help themselves. He argues that help from outside often weakens people, while help from within strengthens them. A nation, he says, is only the sum of its citizens, so its laws will rise or fall to match their character.
He points out that no law can make the idle industrious or the drunk sober. Votes and institutions matter less than habits formed at home and at work. Even a good government cannot lift people who will not lift themselves.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 10 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1859
- Language
- Deutsch
- Reading time
- 10 h 15 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Smiles, Samuel. Self Help; with Illustrations of Conduct and Perseverance. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/self-help-with-illustrations-of-conduct-and-perseverance.
Smiles, S. (2026). Self help; with illustrations of conduct and perseverance. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/self-help-with-illustrations-of-conduct-and-perseverance (Original work published 1859)
Smiles, Samuel. Self Help; with Illustrations of Conduct and Perseverance. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/self-help-with-illustrations-of-conduct-and-perseverance.
@book{smiles2026self,
author = {Smiles, Samuel},
title = {Self Help; with Illustrations of Conduct and Perseverance},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/self-help-with-illustrations-of-conduct-and-perseverance},
note = {First published 1859}
}
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What is Self Help by Samuel Smiles about?
It argues that individuals and nations improve through their own effort, and it backs this with many short life stories of inventors, artists, scientists, soldiers and reformers who rose from humble beginnings.
When was Self Help written and who was it for?
The first edition appeared in 1859, built from talks given to young men in an evening class. It was written to encourage working people to educate themselves and build character.
Does the title mean the book praises selfishness?
No. Smiles explains in his preface that helping oneself, in the highest sense, includes helping one's neighbours. Self-reliance is meant to support honest work and service to others.
The author
Samuel Smiles
1812–1904 · Scottish writer and journalist
Samuel Smiles was a Scottish writer and journalist born in Haddington in 1812. He trained as a doctor and later worked in journalism and railway administration. He published Self-Help in 1859 and A Boy’s Voyage Round the World in 1871. He lived in Leeds and London, where he died in 1904.
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