Quotes About Character

You are the average of the 5 things you are reading today.

The way to get easy money is to have the most noble character trait of all: being risk averse.

Folks can change their ways much as they want to. But I don't care how many times you change your ways, what's in you is in you, and it's got to come out.

If you think of them as dirty, then they will be dirty- they will be dirty because you will be giving nothing

Folks,' said Florence, 'can change their ways much as they want to. But I don't care how many times you change your ways, what's in you is in you, and it's got to come out.

Perhaps he is a fool and a coward but almost everybody is one of the other and most people are both.

one of those people who, quick to laugh, are slow to anger; so that their anger, when it comes, is all the more impressive

Everything about his character and manners was forcible and violent; there never was any moderation; many a day did he fast, many a year did he refrain from wine; but when he did eat, it was voraciously; when he did drink wine, it was copiously. He could practise abstinence, but not temperance.

Level 5 leaders embody a paradoxical mix of personal humility and professional will. They are ambitious, to be sure, but ambitious first and foremost for the company, not themselves.

Even though many people think that being a great leader means being ambitious and having a certain reputation, this is not true at all.

Self-effacing, quiet, reserved, even shy—these leaders are a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will. They are more like Lincoln and Socrates than Patton or Caesar.

Discipline is the greatest thing in the world. Where there is no discipline, there is no character. And without character, there is no progress. . . . Adversity gives us opportunities to grow. And we usually get what we work for. If we have problems and overcome them, we grow tall in character, and the qualities that bring success.

First, at the top levels of your organization, you absolutely must have the discipline not to hire until you find the right people. The single most harmful step you can take in a journey from good to great is to put the wrong people in key positions. Second, widen your definition of "right people" to focus more on the character attributes of the person and less on specialized knowledge. People can learn skills and acquire knowledge, but

they cannot learn the essential character traits that make them right for your organization.

Darwin Smith stands as a classic example of what we came to call a Level 5 leader—an individual who blends extreme personal humility with intense professional will.

Discipline is the greatest thing in the world. Where there is no discipline, there is no character. And without character, there is no progress. . . .

I'm saying that some men are saints. Some are happy being meek and humble and unambitious. Some men are born content to be second-best.

Patience is important for a man, vital for a leader

But generally there's good in evil people and evil in good people. You must choose the good and get rid of the evil without sacrificing the good. There's no waste in my domains to be cast away lightly.

why swear at him, even to yourself? He hasn't sworn at you. Swearing's for the weak, or for fools. Isn't it?

Money means nothing to a real man.

Distinctions were being drawn between officers who were battle-minded and those whose savage instincts were reserved for advancing their own careers. Qualities that got you ahead in peacetime were yielding to skills equally ageless, but prized only in desperate times: a glint in the eye, a forward-leaning, balls-of-the-feet bearing, a constitutional aspect of professionalized aggression.

Envy thou not the oppressor, And choose none of his ways. —Proverbs 3:31

that dog is more to be trusted than many a Christian man; for he never forgets a friend, and loves the hand that gives him bread.