A man may be outwardly successful all his life long, and die hollow and worthless as a puffball; and he may be externally defeated all his life long, and die in the royalty of a kingdom established within him. A man’s true estate of power and riches, is to be in himself; not in his […]
Character Quotes
Industry, thrift and self-control are not sought because they create wealth, but because they create character.
The formation of character in young people is educationally a different task from, and a prior task to, the discussion of the great, difficult, ethical controversies of the day. First things first. And planting the ideas of virtue, of good traits in the young, comes first. In the moral life, as in life itself, we […]
Character is the only secure foundation of the state.
It is our character that supports the promise of our future – far more than particular government programs or policies.
What we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do. We all know it. There are people we trust absolutely because we know their character. Whether they’re eloquent or not, whether they have the human relations techniques or not, we trust them, and we work successfully with them.
People of good character are not all going to come down on the same side of difficult political and social issues. Good people – people of character and moral literacy – can be conservative, and good people can be liberal. We must not permit our disputes over thorny political questions to obscure the obligation we […]
No man knows his true character until he has run out of gas, purchased something on the installment plan and raised an adolescent.
These are the times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not for the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is […]
Some day, in years to come, you will be wrestling with the great temptation, or trembling under the great sorrow of your life. But the real struggle is here, now, in these quiet weeks. Now it is being decided whether, in the day of your supreme sorrow or temptation, you shall miserably fail or gloriously […]
