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CHARACTEr quotes
He who acts wickedly in private life, can never be expected to show himself noble in public conduct. He that is base at home, will not acquit himself with honor abroad; for it is not the man, but only the place that is changed.
Character is a diamond that scratches every other stone.
It is not what a man gets, but what a man is, that he should think of.—He should think first of his character, and then of his condition: for if he have the former, he need have no fears about the latter.—Character will draw condition after it.—Circumstances obey principles.
A man's character is the reality of himself.—His reputation is the opinion others have formed of him.—Character is in him;—reputation is from other people—that is the substance, this is the shadow.
A man may be outwardly successful all his life long, and die hollow and worthless as a puff-ball; and he may be externally defeated all his life long, and die in the royalty of a kingdom established within him.—A man's true estate of power and riches, is to be in himself; not in his dwelling, or position, or external relations, but in his own essential character.—That is the realm, in which he is to live, if he is to live as a Christian man.
Nothing can work me damage, except myself.—The harm that I sustain I carry about me, and never am a real sufferer but by my own fault.
Boardman, George Dana
Let us not say, Every man is the architect of his own fortune; but let us say, Every man is the architect of his own character.
As the sun is best seen at his rising and setting, so men's native dispositions are clearest seen when they are children, and when they are dying.
To judge human character rightly a man may sometimes have very small experience provided he has a very large heart.
No amount of ability is of the slightest avail without honor.
The great hope of society is in individual character.
There is no single royal road to character—a variety of routes will always need to be used. The development of right character in youth is too important to risk disregarding any promising line of attack.
As there is much beast and some devil in man, so is there some angel and some God in him. The beast and the devil may be conquered, but in this life never destroyed.
The Due de Chartres used to say, that no man could less value character than himself, and yet he would gladly give twenty thousand pounds for a good character, because, he could, at once, make double that sum by it.
Truthfulness is a cornerstone in character, and if it be not firmly laid in youth, there will ever after be a weak spot in the foundation.
The best characters are made by vigorous and persistent resistance to evil tendencies; whose amiability has been built upon the ruins of ill-temper, and whose generosity springs from an overmastered and transformed selfishness. Such a character, built up in the presence of enemies, has far more attraction than one which is natively pleasing.
Characters do not change.—Opinions alter, but characters are only developed.
Character is higher than intellect. . . , A great soul will be strong to live as well to think.
Do what you know and perception is converted into character.
Taste and habits change progressively. In the old days the lady with a past repented and died; today she repents and lives happily ever after.
You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge one for yourself.
Our character is but the stamp on our souls of the free choices of good and evil we have made through life.
There is nothing so fatal to character as half-finished tasks.
Talents are best nurtured in solitude; character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world.
If you would create something, you must be something.
A tree will not only lie as it falls, but it will fall as it leans.
A good character is; in all cases, the fruit of personal exertion. It is not inherited from parents; it is not created by external advantages; it is no necessary appendage of birth, wealth, talents, or station; but it is the result of one's own endeavors—the fruit and reward of good principles manifested in a course of virtuous and honorable action.
The character is like white paper; if once blotted, it can hardly ever be made to appear white as before.
There is a broad distinction between character and reputation, for one may be destroyed by slander, while the other can never be harmed save by its possessor. Reputation is in no man's keeping. You and I cannot determine what other men shall think and say about us. We can only determine what they ought to think of us and say about us.
Character must stand behind and back up everything—the sermon, the poem, the picture, the play. None of them is worth a straw without it.
The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving.
Character is the result of two things: Mental attitude and the way we spend our time.
What others say of me matters little, what I myself say and do matters much.
Only what we have wrought into our character during life can we take away with us.
The character that needs law to mend it, is hardly worth the tinkering.
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch, if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, if all men count with you, but none too much: if you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds' worth of distance run, yours is the earth and everything that's in it, and—which is more—you'll be a man, my son.
Actions, looks, words, steps, form the alphabet by which you may spell characters: some are mere letters, some contain entire words, lines, pages, which at once decipher the life of a man. One such genuine uninterrupted page may be your key to all the rest; but first be certain that he wrote it all alone, and without thinking of publisher or reader.
Character is built out of circumstances.—From exactly the same materials one man builds palaces, while another builds hovels.
I would like to see a state of society in which every man and woman preferred the old Scottish Sunday to the modern French one. We should then find solid and eternal foundations of character and self-command.
Should one tell you that a mountain had changed its place, you are at liberty to doubt it; but if any one tells you that a man has changed his character, do not believe it.
As they, who for every slight infirmity take physio to repair their health, do rather impair it; so they, who for every trifle are eager to vindicate their character, do rather weaken it.
There is not a man or woman, however poor they may be, but have it in their power, by the grace of God, to leave behind them the grandest thing on earth, character; and their children might rise up after them and thank God that their mother was a pious woman, or their father a pious man.
If I take care of my character, my reputation will take care of itself.
Character is perfectly educated will.
The harder you throw down a football and a good character, the higher they rebound; but a thrown reputation is like an egg.
In the destiny of every moral being there is an object more worthy of God than happiness.—It is character.—And the grand aim of man's creation is the development of a grand character—and grand character is, by its very nature, the product of probationary discipline.
A Persian carpet or piece of Sheraton makes a distinguished end and bears itself with dignity to the last—as aristocrats before the guillotine. But a Brussels or bit of mid-Victorian will be found to grovel, show its unlovely wounds and scream for pity.
No more fatal error can be cherished than that any character can be complete without the religious element. The essential factors in character building are religion, morality, and knowledge.
Never does a man portray his own character more vividly, than in his manner of portraying another.
Make but few explanations. The character that cannot defend itself is not worth vindicating.
The most important thing for a young man is to establish a credit—a reputation, character.
Character building begins in our infancy and continues until death.
Men best show their character in trifles, where they are not on their guard.—It is in insignificant matters, and in the simplest habits, that we often see the boundless egotism which pays no regard to the feelings of others, and denies nothing to itself.
We shall never wander from Christ while we make character the end and aim of all our intellectual discipline; and we shall never misconceive character while we hold fast to Christ, and keep him first in our motto and our hearts.
To be worth anything, character must be capable of standing firm upon its feet in the world of daily work, temptation, and trial; and able to bear the wear and tear of actual life. Cloistered virtues do not count for much.
Good character is human nature in its best form.—It is moral order embodied in the individual.—Men of character are not only the conscience of society, but in every well governed state they are its best motive power; for it is moral qualities which, in the main, rule the world.
The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world, is to be in reality what we would appear to be; all human virtues increase and strengthen themselves by the practice and experience of them.
Not education, but character, is man's greatest need and man's greatest safeguard.
Give us a character on which we can thoroughly depend, which we know to be based on principle and on the fear of God, and it is wonderful how many brilliant and popular and splendid qualities we can safely and gladly dispense with.
A good heart, benevolent feelings, and a balanced mind, lie at the foundation of character. Other things may be deemed fortuitous; they may come and go; but character is that which lives and abides, and is admired long after its possessor has left the earth.
The miracle, or the power, that elevates the few is to be found in their industry, application, and perseverance under the promptings of a brave, determined spirit.
Every man, as to character, is the creature of the age in which he lives.— Very few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of their times.
Character and personal force are the only investments that are worth anything.
Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
We want the spirit of America to be efficient; we want American character to be efficient; we want American character to display itself in what I may, perhaps, be allowed to call spiritual efficiency— clear disinterested thinking and fearless action along the right lines of thought.
The noblest contribution which any man can make for the benefit of posterity, is that of a good character. The richest bequest which any man can leave to the youth of his native land, is that of a shining, spotless example.
It is not money, nor is it mere intellect, that governs the world; it is moral character, and intellect associated with moral excellence.
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