[Picture: Cover (somewhat battered)] SELF HELP WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF CONDUCT AND PERSEVERANCE. * * * * * BY SAMUEL SMILES, LL.D., AUTHOR OF “LIVES OF THE ENGINEERS,” ETC. * * * * * “This above all,—To thine own self be true; And it must follow, as the night the day, Then canst not then be false to any man.” SHAKESPEARE. “Might I give counsel to any young man, I would say to him, try to frequent the company of your betters. In books and in life, that is the most wholesome society; learn to admire rightly; the great pleasure of life is that. Note what great men admired; they admired great things; narrow spirits admire basely and worship meanly.”—W. M. THACKERAY. * * * * * POPULAR EDITION. * * * * * LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1897. PREFACE. THIS is a revised edition of a book which has already been received with considerable favour at home and abroad. It has been reprinted in various forms in America; translations have appeared in Dutch and French, and others are about to appear in German and Danish. The book has, doubtless, proved attractive to readers in different countries by reason of the variety of anecdotal illustrations of life and character which it contains, and the interest which all more or less feel in the labours, the trials, the struggles, and the achievements of others. No one can be better aware than the author, of its fragmentary character, arising from the manner in which it was for the most part originally composed,—having been put together principally from jottings made during many years,—intended as readings for young men, and without any view to publication. The appearance of this edition has furnished an opportunity for pruning the volume of some superfluous matter, and introducing various new illustrations, which will probably be found of general interest.