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.
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![Portrait by Sir [[George Reid (Scottish artist)|George Reid]], 1877](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Samuel_Smiles_by_Sir_George_Reid.jpg)
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.
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