Back ሳሙኤል ስማይልስ Amharic صموئيل سمايلز Arabic صموئيل سمايلز ARZ Samuel Smiles Catalan Samuel Smiles Czech Samuel Smiles German Samuel Smiles Spanish Samuel Smiles Finnish Samuel Smiles Hungarian Samuel Smiles Italian
Samuel Smiles | |
|---|---|
 Portrait by Sir George Reid, 1877 | |
| Born | 23 December 1812 Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland |
| Died | 16 April 1904 (age 91) Kensington, London, England |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh |
| Known for | Biographies and self-help books |
| Notable work | Self-Help |
Samuel Smiles (23 December 1812 – 16 April 1904) was a British author and government reformer. Although he campaigned on a Chartist platform, he promoted the idea that more progress would come from new attitudes than from new laws. His primary work, Self-Help (1859), promoted thrift and claimed that poverty was caused largely by irresponsible habits, while also attacking materialism and laissez-faire government. It has been called "the bible of mid-Victorian liberalism" and had lasting effects on British political thought.