WIST

The Courage we desire and prize is not the Courage to die decently, but to live manfully.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
“Boswell’s Life of Johnson” (1832), Critical and Miscellaneous Essays (1849)

The thoughts they had were the parents of the actions they did; their feelings were the parents of their thoughts.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
“The Hero as Divinity,” On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1841)

The purse is any Highwayman’s who might meet me with a loaded pistol, but the Self is mine and God my Maker’s; it is not yours; and I will resist you to the death.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
“The Hero as King,” On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1841)

The tragedy of life is not so much what men suffer, but rather what they miss.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
(Attributed)

The block of granite which was an obstacle in the path of the weak, becomes a steppingstone in the path of the strong.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
(Attributed)

Our grand business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
(Attributed)

Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure that there is one rascal less in the world.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
(Attributed)
This can also be found quoted as "one less rascal" and "one less scoundrel." I cannot find an original source for it.

His religion at best is an anxious wish — like that of Rabelais, a great Perhaps.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Edinburgh Review, “Burns” (1828)

In every object there is inexhaustible meaning; the eye sees in it what the eye brings means of seeing.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
History of the French Revolution, Vol. I (1837)

The fine arts once divorcing themselves from truth are quite certain to fall mad, if they do not die.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Latter Day Pamphlet, No. 8 (1850)

The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
London and Westminster Review, “Varnhagen von Ense’s Memoirs” (1838)

Every new opinion, at its starting, is precisely in a minority of one.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History (1840)

The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History, “The Heroic in History: (1840)

Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man; but for one man who can stand prosperity there are a hundred that will stand adversity.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History, Lecture V, “The Hero as a Man of Letters” (1840)

No iron chain, or outward force of any kind, could ever compel the soul of man to believe or disbelieve.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History, “The Hero as Priest” (1841)

Democracy means despair of ever finding any heroes to govern you, and contentedly putting up with the want of them.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Past and Present (1843)

Tell a man he is brave, and you help him to become so.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Past and Present (1843)

Every noble work is at first impossible.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Past and Present, ch. 11 “Labour” (1843)

Trust not the heart of that man for whom old clothes are not venerable.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Sartor Resartus (1833)

Conviction … is worthless until it converts itself into Conduct.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Sartor Resartus, 2.9 (1835)

The end of Man is an Action and not a Thought, though it were the noblest.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Sartor Resartus, Book 2, ch. 6 (1836)

I do not believe in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
The Age of Reason, “The Author’s Profession of Faith”

O poor mortals, how ye make this earth bitter for each other.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
The French Revolution: A History (1837)

Poor mortals, how ye make this earth bitter for each other.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
The French Revolution: A History, 1.5.5 (1837)

Can there be a more horrible object in existence than an eloquent man not speaking the truth?

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Address as Lord Rector of Edinburgh University (1866)

The beginning of all is to have done with falsity — to eschew falsity as death eternal.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Journal (23 Jun 1870)

I grow daily to honor facts more and more, and theory less and less.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Letter to Emerson (29 Apr. 1836)

Manhood begins when we have in any way made truce with Necessity; begins even when we have surrendered to Necessity, as the most part only do; but begins joyfully and hopefully only when we have reconciled ourselves to Necessity; and thus, in reality, triumphed over it, and felt that in Necessity we are free.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
“Burns” (book review), Edinburgh Review, #96 (1828)