Quotation by

Samuel Smiles

Practical wisdom is only to be learned in the school of experience. Precepts and instruction are useful so far as they go, but, without the discipline of real life, they remain of the nature of theory only.

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Understanding this quote AI Analysis

Samuel Smiles is saying that true understanding and good judgment come only from living through real situations, not just from hearing advice or reading rules. He emphasizes that lessons and guidelines have limited value unless they are tested and shaped by actual life challenges.

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It evolved from my experience in the fifties, growing up during the McCarthy era, and hearing a lot of assumptions that America was wonderful and Communism was terrible.
I feel responsible that everyone has a really wonderful experience and to do the best work possible, and to always know my lines and to always be on time and to bring a level to the show in terms of …
Acting is not a mystery. There's nothing that I know that other actors don't know. We all act, we're all actors, we all know the same thing. The only thing that separates us is experience.

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Many children are natural fantasists, I think, perhaps because their imaginations have yet to be clobbered into submission by experience.
I got pregnant at 40 by surprise. It's funny, because when we found out we were pregnant, I said, 'Okay, let's experience that.' You just have to just go with it because it's rare.