Character

Quotes about integrity, values, and who we are

31 quotes Random
All of the significant battles are waged within the self.
If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him Sheldon Kopp
Hurry is not just a disordered schedule. Hurry is a disordered heart.
The Life You've Always Wanted John Ortberg
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
Three Methods Of Reform (1900) Leo Tolstoy
A ready person never needs to get ready - he is ready. Think of the time we waste trying to get ready once God has called!
My Utmost for His Highest (April 18) Oswald Chambers
If we have the idea that we have to put on our "spiritual face" before we can come near to God, then we will never come near to Him. We must come as we are.
The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation Oswald Chambers
Discovering the truth about ourselves is a lifetime's work, but it's worth the effort.
The World According to Mister Rogers Fred Rogers
Know thyself.
Inscription at Temple of Apollo, Delphi Ancient Greek saying
It is as hard to see oneself as to look backwards without turning around.
Henry David Thoreau
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
Memories, Dreams, Reflections Carl Jung
He who knows others is clever, but he who knows himself is enlightened.
Tao Te Ching, Chapter 33 Lao-tzu
No man is free who is not master of himself.
Fragment #35 (Stobaeus) Epictetus
To be nobody-but-yourself—in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody but yourself—means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting.
A Poet's Advice to Students (1955) e.e. cummings
A man's true estate of power and riches is to be in himself; not in his dwelling or position or external relations, but in his own essential character.
Henry Ward Beecher
A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true.
Selma, Alabama sermon (March 8, 1965) Martin Luther King, Jr.
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.
Attributed to Aristotle
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.
Jim Rohn
The degree of anger and hostility that characterizes so many people in Christian groups is heartbreaking.
Spotify interview (1:14:25) Dallas Willard
Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.
Carol Burnett
You're a good man with a good heart. And it is hard for a good man to be king.
Black Panther (2018 film) T'Chaka
Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.
Lao Tzu
The serum amplifies everything that is inside, so good becomes great; bad becomes worse. This is why you were chosen. Because the strong man who has known power all his life may lose respect for that power, but a weak man knows the value of strength, and knows... compassion.
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011 film) Abraham Erskine
There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth.
War and Peace Leo Tolstoy
Who you are inside is what helps you make and do everything in life.
The World According to Mister Rogers Fred Rogers
Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
Attributed (commonly misattributed to Oscar Wilde) Unknown
To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.
Academy of Achievement interview (January 22, 1997) Maya Angelou
To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose one's self.
Søren Kierkegaard
So early in life, I had learned that if you want something, you had better make some noise.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965) Malcolm X
What one does is what counts, not what one had the intention of doing.
Picasso Speaks, The Arts (1923) Pablo Picasso
Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.
Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years / Maxims and Reflections Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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"There is one quality that trumps all, evident in virtually every great entrepreneur, manager, and leader. That quality is self-awareness. The best thing leaders can do to improve their effectiveness is to become more aware of what motivates them and their decision making."
Heart, Smarts, Guts, and Luck Anthony Tjan
"Work culture is defined by the worst behavior tolerated."
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"A fondness for power is implanted in most men, and it is natural to abuse it when acquired."
The Farmer Refuted (February 23, 1775) Alexander Hamilton
"The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse."
Speech on the Middlesex Electors (1771) Edmund Burke
"Lasting change is a series of compromises. And compromise is alright, as long as your values don't change."
World Summit on Sustainable Development interview (August 2002) Jane Goodall
"Your children will become what you are; so be what you want them to be."
David Bly
"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them."
Fifth Avenue, Uptown: A Letter from Harlem, Nobody Knows My Name (1961) James Baldwin
"Every choice moves us closer to or farther away from something. Where are your choices taking your life? What do your behaviors demonstrate that you are saying yes or no to in life?"
Wake-Up Calls Eric Allenbaugh
"I know of nothing more despicable and pathetic than a man who devotes all the hours of the waking day to the making of money for money's sake."
Never Enough by Andrew Wilkinson John D. Rockefeller
"Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter."
Francis Chan
"You rarely have time for everything you want in this life, so you need to make choices. And hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are."
The World According to Mister Rogers Fred Rogers
"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."
The Soul of Man under Socialism (1891) Oscar Wilde
"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it."
Long Walk to Freedom Nelson Mandela
"Opposition is a natural part of life. Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition—such as lifting weights—we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity."
Stephen R. Covey
"You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them."
Letter to My Daughter (2008) Maya Angelou
"We can ask ourselves daily what we have done to make the world a better place, to make someone smile, to help someone to feel more secure, etc. It's the simple things which have the greatest effect. We must never underestimate the strength of a smile or act of kindness."
Leo Buscaglia
"There isn't anyone you couldn't love once you've heard their story."
More Random Acts of Kindness (1994) Mary Lou Kownacki
"Goodness makes greatness truly valuable, and greatness makes goodness much more serviceable."
Matthew Henry
"The real issue in life is not how many blessings we have, but what we do with our blessings. Some people have many blessings and hoard them. Some people have few and give everything away."
The World According to Mister Rogers Fred Rogers
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
Richard Evans' Quote Book (1971), commonly misattributed to Maya Angelou Carl W. Buehner
"I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver."
Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now (1993) Maya Angelou
"All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone."
Pensées Blaise Pascal
"We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions."
The Speed of Trust Stephen M. R. Covey
"Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day."
Conversation in The Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg Dallas Willard
"It is only with gratitude that life becomes rich."
Letters and Papers from Prison Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"Angry people are not always wise."
Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 45 Jane Austen
"Happiness cannot come from without. It must come from within. It is not what we see and touch or that which others do for us which makes us happy; it is that which we think and feel and do, first for the other fellow and then for ourselves."
Light in My Darkness (1994) Helen Keller
"When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."
Maya Angelou