A. Bronson Alcott [1868}: “One’s outlook is part of his virtue.”
Louisa M. Alcott [1868]: “MY lady…had yet to learn that money cannot buy refinement of nature, that rank does not always confer nobility, and that true breeding makes itself felt in spite of external drawbacks.”
Henry W. Beecher [1866]: “The prouder a man is, the more he thinks he deserves; and the more he thinks he deserves, the less he really does deserve.”
Jacqueline Bisset [1974]: “Character contributes to beauty. It fortifies a woman as her youth fades. A mode of conduct, a standard of courage, discipline, fortitude and integrity can do a great deal to make a woman beautiful.”
Jimmy Carter [1982]: “If the misery of others leaves you indifferent and with no feeling of sorrow, then you cannot be called a human being.”
Everett Dirksen [1970]: “Life is not a static thing. The only people who do not change their minds are incompetents in asylums, who can’t, and those in cemeteries.”
Helen G. Douglas [1982]: “Character isn’t inherited. One builds it daily by the way one thinks and acts, thought by thought, action by action. If one lets fear or hate or anger take possession of the mind, they become self-forged chains.”
Ralph W. Emerson [1841]: “Pride ruined the angels.”
Ralph W. Emerson [1860]: “The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.”
W.C. Fields [1949]: “You can’t cheat an honest man.”
Benjamin Franklin [1749]: “Many Foxes grow grey, but few grow good.”
Josiah G. Gilbert [1872]: “God give us men! A time like this demands Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands.
Men whom the lust of office does not kill; Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; Men who possess opinions and a will; Men who have honor; men who will not lie.”
Elbert Hubbard [1911]: “God will not look you over for medals, degrees or diplomas, but for scars.”
Jesse Jackson [1984]: “If in my high moments, I have done some good, offered some service, shed some light, healed some wounds, rekindled some hope, or stirred someone from apathy and indifference, or in any way along the way helped somebody, then this campaign has not been in vain…”
Thomas Jefferson [1823]: “We believed…that man was a rational animal, endowed by nature with rights, and with an innate sense of justice…We believed that…wisdom and virtue were not hereditary.” [the majority views of the Constitutional Convention}
Martin Luther King, Jr. [1963]: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
Henry Kissinger, attributed to [1979}: “I know I have a first rate mind, but that’s no source of pride to me. Intelligent people are a dime a dozen. But I am proud of having character.”
Abraham Lincoln, quoted in Anthony Gross, Lincoln’s Own Stories” [1912]: ‘Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of; the tree is the real thing.”
James R. Lowell {1843]: “They are slaves who fear to speak For the fallen and the weak.”
Horace Mann [1859]: “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity>”
Dwight L. Moody, attributed to: “Character is what you are in the dark.”
Carl T. Rowan [1980]: “I learned years ago not to doze off or leave my wallet lying around in the presence of people who tell me that they are more moral than others.”
Abigail Van Buren [1974]: “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.”
George Washington, quoted in Maxims of Washington, 1942: “I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain (what I consider the most enviable of all titles) the character of an “Honest Man.”
*****note: the above is contained in “The Harper Book of American Quotations,” by G.Carruth and E.Ehrlich
*****as this is posted on January l3, 2021 – never has the value of these sentiments been more obvious, more necessary, and never more missing.
With Justice For All 