Quotes About Character

You can't build a reputation on what you intend to do.

The true worth of a man is to be measured by the objects he pursues.

What most counts is not to live, but to live aright.

Firmness of purpose is one of the most necessary sinews of character and one of the best instruments of success. Without it, genius wastes its efforts in a maze of inconsistencies.

God is what man finds that is divine in himself. God is the best way man can behave in the ordinary occasions of life, and the farthest point to which man can stretch himself.

Good and evil lie close together. Seek no artistic unity in character.

General good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocite, flatterer.

There is so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us, that it's rather hard to tell which of us ought to reform the rest of us.

Good men need no recommendation and bad men it wouldn't help.

No man deserves to be praised for his goodness unless he has the strength of character to be wicked. All other goodness is generally nothing but indolence or impotence of will.

Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever; Do noble things, not dream them all day long; And so make life, death, and that vast forever One grand, sweet song.

No one gossips about other people's secret virtues.

A friend of mine says that every man who takes office in Washington either grows or swells, and when I give a man an office, I watch him carefully to see whether he is swelling or growing.

In the long run every government is the exact symbol of its people, with their wisdom and unwisdom.

Only great men may have great faults.

It is not the strength, but the duration, of great sentiments that makes great men.

Great men too often have greater faults than little men can find room for.

It is the prerogative of great men only to have great defects.

The hoary beard is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness.

There was never a saint with red hair.

Virtue, like a dowerless beauty, has more admirers than followers.

Though language forms the preacher, 'Tis "good works" make the man.

When you're in your nineties and looking back, it's not going to be how much money you made or how many awards you've won. It's really what did you stand for. Did you make a positive difference for people?

What you become is what counts.