CHARACTER

Related States & Conditions | Syntonic | Dystonic

Put more trust in nobility of character than in an oath.
Solon
c. 638-c. 559 BCE, Athenian Statesman, Reformer, Poet

Wealth stays with us a little moment if at all: only our characters are steadfast, not our gold.
Euripedes
c. 485-406 BCE, Greek Dramatist, Poet

No one can leave his character behind him when he goes on a journey.
Yoruba (Southern Nigeria) Saying

To compose our character is our duty, not to compose books, and to win, not battles and provinces, but order and tranquillity in our conduct. Our great and glorious masterpiece is to live appropriately.
Montaigne
1533-1592, French Essayist, Moralist
"Experience," Essays , Charles Cotton, tr.

I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable title, the character of an Honest Man.
George Washington
1732-1799, American Militarist, Statesman, 1st US President

Character is much easier kept than recovered.
Thomas Paine
1737-1809, English-American Political Theorist, Pamphleteer

Talent is formed in quiet retreat,
Character in the headlong rush of life.
Goethe
1749-1832, German Poet, Novelist, Dramatist, Philosopher, Scientist
Torquato Tasso , 1790

Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
1803-1882, American Poet, Essayist, Philosopher

What you are thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary.
Emerson

We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
1807-1882, American Poet, Writer

Every man has three characters – that which he exhibits, that which he has, and that which he thinks he has.
Alphonse Karr
1808-1890, French Writer, Editor

Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.
Abraham Lincoln
1809-1865, 16th US President

It is possible that the scrupulously honest man may not grow rich so fast as the unscrupulous and dishonest one; but the success will be of a truer kind, earned without fraud or injustice. And even though a man should for a time be unsuccessful, still he must be honest: better lose all and save character. For character is itself a fortune.
Samuel Smiles
1812-1904, Scottish Writer

You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself into one.
James Froude
1818-1894, English Historian, Scholar

Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones.
Phillips Brooks
1835-1893, American Episcopal Cleric

I forgot that every little action of the common day makes or unmakes character, and that therefore what one has done in the secret chamber one has some day to cry aloud on the housetops.
Oscar Wilde
1856-1900, Irish Poet, Dramatist, Critic, Wit
De Profundis

Character, not circumstances, makes the man.
Booker T. Washington
1856-1915, African-American Educator

Character is a by-product; it is produced in the great manufacture of daily duty.
Woodrow Wilson
1856-1924, 28th US President
Speech, 1915

If you think about what you ought to do for other people, your character will take care of itself.
Wilson

You cannot believe in honor until you have achieved it. Better keep yourself clean and bright: you are the window through which you must see the world.
George Bernard Shaw
1856-1950, Irish Writer, Dramatist, Literary Critic, 1925 Nobel Laureate
Maxims for Revolutionists

If you really want to judge the character of a man, look not at his great performances. Every fool may become a hero at one time or another. Watch a man do his most common actions; these are indeed the things which will tell you the real character of a great man.
Vivekananda
1863-1902, Indian Guru, Writer
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 1984-1987 , 1:29

Life is a series of experiences, each of which makes us bigger, even though it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grief which we endure, help us in our marching onward.
Henry Ford
1863-1947, American Industrialist, Inventor, Philanthropist

As a splendid palace deserted by its inmates looks like a ruin, so does a man without character, all his material belongings notwithstanding.
Mahatma Gandhi
1869-1948, Indian Spiritual Leader

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved.
Helen Keller
1880-1968, American Writer, Educator

Sports do not build character. They reveal it.
Heywood Broun
1888-1939, American Journalist

Character builds slowly, but it can be torn down with incredible swiftness.
Faith Baldwin
1893-1978, American Writer, Poet
Harvest of Hope , 1962

The test of character is the amount of strain it can bear.
Charles Houston
1895-1950, African-American Lawyer, Civil Rights Activist

When a man says to his character, "Stay here and wait for me," scarcely has he turned his back than his character is close on his heels.
Birago Diop
1906-1989, Senegalese Poet, Writer
Tales of Amadou Koumba , 1966

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
John Wooden
1910-, American Basketball Coach

Character makes life immortal. It survives even death. Some say knowledge is power, but this is not true. Character is power.
Sai Baba
1926-, Indian Guru

Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.
Anne Frank
1929-1945, Dutch Jewish Diarist
The Diary of a Young Girl

Character – the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life – is the source from which self-respect springs.
Joan Didion
1934-, American Essayist, Writer

Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.
Norman Schwarzkopf
1934-, American Militarist

In the defiance of fashion is the beginning of character.
Les Murray
1938-, Australian Poet
The Boy Who Stole the Funeral , 1979

The only thing that endures is character. Fame and wealth – all that is illusion. All that endures is character.
O. J. Simpson
1947-, African-American Footballer
in The Guardian , 1995 October 30

Everyone tries to define this thing called Character. It's not hard. Character is doing what's right when nobody's looking.
J. C. Watts
1957-, American Legislator

Keep your soul free. What matters most in life is not knowledge, but character.
Antonin Sertillanges
Writer, Religious Philosopher
The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods , Mary Ryan, tr., 1987

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Wisdom for The Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing, © 2004