Quote Atlassourced quotes & context
Source identified
This was, in truth the secret of his success
Read & copy the quotation
“This was, in truth the secret of his success”

Samuel Smiles

Download image (JPG)

Source
Men of Invention and Industry
Date
1884
Meaning

Meaning of “This was, in truth the secret of his…”

Smiles uses Bianconi’s minute-conscious working habits to illustrate how disciplined use of time contributed to practical business success.

Source context

Where does it come from?

Men of Invention and Industry, Chapter IX, “Charles Bianconi: A Lesson of Self-Help in Ireland”; Project Gutenberg #725. This excerpt is Smiles’s narrative conclusion immediately after an anecdote about saving time.

Primary / edition source ↗

Customize your imageTen designs · Square or portrait · Preview and share
Themes

Ideas connected with this quotation

BusinessCalmDiscipline Quotes About Habits, Practice & ConsistencyEffortHabitsInspirational Quotes About Hope, Courage & PossibilityMotivational Quotes for Action, Effort & PersistencePatiencePeaceProductivityResponsibilitySelf-Control Quotes About Restraint & JudgmentShortSuccessTimeEntrepreneurMotivation For WorkWork Ethic
Related quotations

Continue through nearby ideas

Source identified
Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure.
Read & copy

“Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack · 18th century
Meaning & context

Leisure is easier to protect when working time is used deliberately, linking time management with freedom rather than treating organization as an end in itself.

Source details

Poor Richard’s Almanack; the maxim connects disciplined use of working time with the ability to gain leisure.

↓ Download image (JPG)

Source identified
The master-word is Work
Read & copy

“The master-word is Work”

William Osler · The Master-Word in Medicine · 1903
Meaning & context

Osler makes sustained work the organizing principle of his address to medical students, emphasizing disciplined practice over brilliance without application.

Source details

The Master-Word in Medicine, address delivered October 1, 1903 at the opening of the new buildings of the University of Toronto Medical Faculty; reviewed against the represented 1903 John Murphy pamphlet, Internet Archive identifier b28060805. ‘The master-word is Work’ is Osler’s organizing refrain and is followed by his appeal to write the word on the heart and forehead. This remains historical professional rhetoric rather than an endorsement of unsafe working hours or workaholism.

↓ Download image (JPG)

Source identified
Drive thy business, or it will drive thee.
Read & copy

“Drive thy business, or it will drive thee.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack · 1740s
Meaning & context

Work becomes harder to control when it is left unmanaged; the maxim favors deliberate direction, priorities, and active stewardship over reactive pressure.

Source details

Poor Richard’s Almanack; a compact maxim about managing work before accumulated demands begin managing you.

↓ Download image (JPG)

Source identified
Never leave that till tomorrow, which you can do to-day.
Read & copy

“Never leave that till tomorrow, which you can do to-day.”

Benjamin Franklin · The Way to Wealth · 1758
Voice: Authorial persona / framed maxim · Poor Richard maxim, repeated through Father Abraham
Meaning & context

The maxim turns prompt action into a habit: work that can reasonably be completed now should not be needlessly transferred to an uncertain tomorrow.

Source details

The Way to Wealth; a Poor Richard maxim on delay and useful employment of time.

↓ Download image (JPG)

Source identified
Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
Read & copy

“Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.”

Benjamin Franklin · Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin · 1791
Meaning & context

Resolution becomes useful only when followed by execution; the maxim links deliberate standards with the habit of carrying them through.

Source details

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Part II, thirteen-virtue table: Resolution. Project Gutenberg #148 (Charles W. Eliot / Harvard Classics, 1909) preserves the represented wording; the reviewed direct locator is Wikisource Section Thirty Six.

↓ Download image (JPG)