Quotes About Character

Do not feel qualms or despondency or discomfiture if thou dost not invariably succeed in acting from right principles; but when thou art foiled, come back again to them, and rejoice if on the whole thy conduct is worthy of a man, and love the course to which thou returnest.

Let no one have the chance to accuse you, with any truth, of not being sincere or a good man: make sure that anyone taking this view of you is a liar. This is wholly up to you- who is there to prevent you being good and sincere? You must just decide to live no longer if you won't have these qualities. And reason too abandons the man who won't. p102

Whatsoever any man either doth or saith, thou must be good; not for any man's sake, but for thine own nature's sake; as if either gold, or the emerald, or purple, should ever be saying to themselves, Whatsoever any man either doth or saith, I must still be an emerald, and I must keep my colour.

Make it not any longer a matter of dispute or discourse, what are the signs and properties of a good man, but really and actually be such.

A man should be upright, not be kept upright.

When you start to lose your temper, remember: There's nothing manly about rage. It's courtesy and kindness that define a human being- and a man. That's who possesses strength and nerves and guts, not the angry whiners.

Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.

Put an end once for all to this discussion of what a good man should be, and be one.

The best revenge is to be unlike your enemy.

Nothing happens to anybody which he is not fitted by nature to bear.

Waste no time arguing what a good man should be; Be one.

Such as you are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind; for your soul is dyed through the thoughts.

become aware of the fact that I needed amendment and training for my character;

This is the mark of a perfect character, to pass through each day as if it were the last, without agitation, without torpor, without pretence.

For if a man fix his mind upon certain things as really and unquestionably good, such as wisdom, temperance, justice, manliness, with this preconception in his mind he could no longer bear to listen to the poet's, By reason of his wealth of goods; for it would not apply. But, if a man first fix his mind upon the things which appear good to the multitude, he will listen and readily accept as aptly added the quotation from the Comic Poet.

we must not think as all men think, but only as those who live a life accordant with nature. As for those who live otherwise, he remembers always how they act at home and abroad, by night and by day, and how and with whom they are found in company. And so he cannot esteem the praise of such, for they enjoy not their own approbation.

Consider constantly what manner of men they are whose approbation you desire, and what may be the character of their souls.

As for others whose lives are not so ordered, he reminds himself constantly of the characters they exhibit daily and nightly at home and abroad, and of the sort of society they frequent; and the approval of such men, who do not even stand well in their own eyes, has no value for him.

Što god itko u?ini ili kaže, ja moram biti dobar ?ovjek. Kao da smaragd, ili zlato, ili purpur, neprekidno govore: ''Što god itko u?ini ili kaže, moram biti smaragd i o?uvati vlastitu boju.

He points beyond himself to God—to God's character and passion. This is the meaning of our christological language and our credal affirmations about Jesus: in this person we see the revelation of God, the heart of God. He is both metaphor and sacrament of God.

Ability without honor is useless.

Few are those who wish to be endowed with virtue rather than to seem so.

Everyone has the obligation to ponder well his own specific traits of character. He must also regulate them adequately and not wonder whether someone else's traits might suit him better. The more definitely his own a man's character is, the better it fits him.

When I notice how carefully arranged his hair is and when I watch him adjusting the parting with one finger, I cannot imagine that this man could conceive of such a wicked thing as to destroy the Roman constitution.