“It is part of the American character to consider nothing as desperate -- to surmount every difficulty by resolution and contrivance.”
“What you possess in the world will be found at the day of your death to belong to someone else. But what you are will be yours forever.”
“If you create an act, you create a habit. If you create a habit, you create a character. If you create a character, you create a destiny.”
“Honor is the inner garment of the Soul; the first thing put on by it with the flesh, and the last it layeth down at its separation from it.”
“Therefore keep in the midst of life. Do not isolate yourself. Be among men and things, and among troubles, and difficulties, and obstacles.”
“It is fortunate to be of high birth, but it is no less so to be of such character that people do not care to know whether you are or are not.”
“You can't go around hoping that most people have sterling moral characters. The most you can hope for is that people will pretend that they do.”
“The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back.”
“Too often the strong, silent man is silent only because he does not know what to say, and is reputed strong only because he has remained silent.”
“Faced with crisis, the man of character falls back on himself. He imposes his own stamp of action, takes responsibility for it, makes it his own.”
“The four cornerstones of character on which the structure of this nation was built are: initiative, imagination, individuality, and independence.”
“The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by formal education.”
“Gross and obscure natures, however decorated, seem impure shambles; but character gives splendor to youth, and awe to wrinkled skin and gray hairs.”
“I have only got down on to paper, really, three types of people: the person I think I am, the people who irritate me, and the people I'd like to be.”
“Reputation is only a candle, of wavering and uncertain flame, and easily blown out, but it is the light by which the world looks for and finds merit.”
“Not to be cheered by praise, not to be grieved by blame, but to know thoroughly ones own virtues or powers are the characteristics of an excellent man.”
“Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of a man you are. It shows me what your ideal of manhood is, and what kind of a man you long to be.”
“Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconcious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character,”
“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”
“The man who cannot believe in himself cannot believe in anything else. The basis of all integrity and character is whatever faith we have in our own integrity.”
“A man with a so-called character is often a simple piece of mechanism; he has often only one point of view for the extremely complicated relationships of life.”
“Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character.”
“Sound character provides the power with which a person may ride the emergencies of life instead of being overwhelmed by them. Failure is... the highway to success.”
“Character isn't something you were born with and can't change, like your fingerprints. It's something you weren't born with and must take responsibility for forming.”
“Property may be destroyed and money may lose its purchasing power; but, character, health, knowledge and good judgment will always be in demand under all conditions.”
“Good character is like a rubber ball -- thrown down hard -- it bounces right back. Good reputation is like a crystal ball -- thrown for gain -- shattered and cracked.”
“To be fond of learning is near to wisdom; to practice with vigor is near to benevolence; and to be conscious of shame is near to fortitude. He who knows these three things”
“An excellent man, like precious metal, is in every way invariable; A villain, like the beams of a balance, is always varying, upwards and downwards, himself his own dungeon.”
“The hell to be endured hereafter, of which theology tells, is no worse than the hell we make for ourselves in this world by habitually fashioned our characters in the wrong way.”
“He that has light within his own clear breast may sit in the center, and enjoy bright day: But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts benighted walks under the mid-day sun;”