Character Quotes

He's an honest man - you could shoot craps with him over the telephone.

Good moral character is not something that we can achieve on our own. We need a culture that supports the conditions under which self-love and friendship flourish.

Greatness doesn’t come from what you do, but from who you are.

Leaders who fail to prune their pride will meet demise. That's not a guess, it's a guarantee. With pride, it's not a matter of 'if' we will fall, but 'when.' There are no exceptions.

Being that rare sort of old girl that she receives Good to her arms without a hint that it might be Better and catches light from any little spot of darkness near her.

Remember that a man, a true man, never hates. His rages and his bad moods never last beyond the present moment-like electric shocks.

Think no vice so small that you may commit it, and no virtue so small that you may over look it.

I hope you have lost your good looks, for while they last any fool can adore you, and the adoration of fools is bad for the soul.

To be under pressure is inescapable. Pressure takes place through all the world; war, siege, the worries of state. We all know men who grumble under these pressures and complain. They are cowards. They lack splendour. But there is another sort of man who is under the same pressure but does not complain, for it is the friction which polishes him. It is the pressure which refines and makes him noble

The habits we form from childhood make no small difference, but rather they make all the difference.

A character is like an acrostic or Alexandrian stanza; - read it forward, backward, or across, it still spells the same thing.

I try to find what makes even the worst, most despicable character sympathetic at his or her core.

We do not admire the man of timid peace. We admire the man who embodies victorious effort; the man who never wrongs his neighbor, who is prompt to help a friend, but who has those virile qualities necessary to win in the stern strife of actual life.

An honest man, sir, is able to speak for himself, when a knave is not.

Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions, but those who kindly reprove thy faults.

It is contended that those who have been bred at Eton, Harrow, Rugby, and Westminster, that the public sentiment within each of those schools is high-toned and manly; that, in their playgrounds, courage is universally admired, meanness despised, manly feelings and generous conduct are encouraged: that an unwritten code of honor deals to the spoiled child of rank, and to the child of upstart wealth an even-handed justice, purges their nonsense out of both, and does all that can be done to make them gentlemen.

I believe in kindness. Also in mischief. Also in singing, especially when singing is not necessarily prescribed.

Modesty is that feeling by which honorable shame acquires a valuable and lasting authority.

Great work requires great and persistent effort for a long time. ... Character has to be established through a thousand stumbles.

Courage is the first virtue that makes all other virtues possible.

I never considered myself a cowboy, because I wasn`t. But I guess when I got into cowboy gear I looked enough like one to convince people that I was.

That loss was to breed an independence, a toughness of spirit, and an awareness of adversity and discipline that have never left me,.

Look closely at those who patronize you. Half are unfeeling, half untaught.

Kindness and humbleness are really good qualities to possess. But, if you have to use the word humble, it means you're not humble. And if you're not humble to this world, this world will thrust humbleness upon you.

Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image.

You gave him an opportunity of showing greatness of character and he did not seize it. He will never forgive you for that.

The aim of a college education is to teach you to know a good man when you see one.

Discipline is training that corrects and perfects our mental faculties or molds our moral character. Discipline is control gained by enforced obedience. It is the deliberate cultivation of inner order.

The value of liberty was thus enhanced in our estimation by the difficulty of its attainment, and the worth of characters appreciated by the trial of adversity.

In men of the highest character and noblest genius there is to be found an insatiable desire for honor, command, power, and glory.

Don't give your sons money. Give them horses. Many a good son has been ruined through the acquisition of money but no good son has been ruined through the acquisition of horses. Unless they fell and broke their neck, which when taken at the gallop is a very good death to die.

Free from gross passion or of mirth of anger constant spirit, not swerving with the blood, garnish'd and deck'd in modest compliment, not working with the eye without the ear, and but in purged judgement trusting neither? Such and so finely bolted didst thou seem.

Smearing good people like Lauchlin Currie [former administrative assistant to President Roosevelt], Alger Hiss and others is, I think, unforgiveable... Anyone knowing Mr. Currie or Mr. Hiss, who are the two people whom I happen to know fairly well, would not need any denial on their part to know they are not Communists. Their records prove it.

Base yourself in loyalty and trust. Don't be companion with those who are not your moral equal. When you make a mistake, don't hesitate to correct it.

I like not fair terms and a villain's mind.

Leadership rests not only upon ability, not only upon capacity; having the capacity to lead is not enough. The leader must be willing to use it. His leadership is then based on truth and character. There must be truth in the purpose and will power in the character.

A man that don’t love a horse, there is something the matter with him.

Dreadful experiences raise the question whether he who experiences them, is not something dreadful also.

Money doesn't change men. It merely unmasks them.

When one has no character, one HAS to apply a method. Here it did wonders incontrovertibly, and I am living on the site of one of the greatest crimes in human history.

A wise man can play the part of a clown, but a clown can't play the part of a wise man.

If by chance I talk a little wild, forgive me; I had it from my father.

Selfishness has never been admired.

Pity the man who has a character to support - it is worse than a large family - he is silent poor indeed.

Men show their character in nothing more clearly than what they think laughable.

I think you're intelligent and charming, and that you're a person with a kind heart. I know that when you want to, you can look more beautiful than anyone I've ever met. You're independent, you've got a good sense of humor, and you show surprising patience with children." -Alex

Music has a power of forming the character, and should therefore be introduced into the education of the young.

You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.

In 1815, M. Charles-Francois-Bienvenu Myriel was Bishop of D—— He was an old man of about seventy-five years of age; he had occupied the see of D—— since 1806.

There is no character, howsoever good and fine, but it can be destroyed by ridicule, howsoever poor and witless. Observe the ass, for instance: his character is about perfect, he is the choicest spirit among all the humbler animals, yet see what ridicule has brought him to. Instead of feeling complimented when we are called an ass, we are left in doubt.

Every rascal is not a thief, but every thief is a rascal.

When men speak ill of thee, live so that nobody will believe them.

A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit.

Waste no words on a man who dislikes you. Actions will impress him more.

You would have imagined her at one moment a maniac, at another a queen.

Base men being in love have then a nobility in their natures more than is native to them.

Americanism is a question of principle, of idealism, of character. It is not a matter of birthplace, or creed, or line of descent.

A good disposition is invincible, if it be genuine.

Not gold, but only man can make a people great and strong; men who, for truth and honor's sake, stand fast and suffer long.

I never could be so happy as you. Till I have your disposition, your goodness, I never can have your happiness.