Last Word

By Christine S. Tian | Monday, April 21, 2008

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
—Abraham Lincoln

The more things a man is ashamed of, the more respectable he is.
—George Bernard Shaw

Many a man’s reputation would not know his character if they met on the street.
—Elbert Hubbard

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
—Count Leo Tolstoy

Personality can open doors, but only character can keep them open.
—Elmer G. Letterman

The day is for honest men, the night for thieves.
—Euripedes

A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

There are two modes of establishing our reputation: to be praised by honest men, and to be abused by rogues. It is best, however, to secure the former, because it will invariably be accompanied by the latter.
—Charles Caleb Colton

Character is much easier kept than recovered.
—Thomas Paine

The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

A man’s character is his fate.
—Heraclitus

In looking for people to hire, look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence and energy. And if they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.
—Warren Buffet

Be not ashamed of thy virtues; honor’s a good brooch to wear in a man’s hat at all times.
—Ben Jonson

The best measure of a man’s honesty isn’t his income tax return. It’s the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.
—Arthur C. Clarke

Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.
—Oscar Levant

If you don’t have enemies, you don’t have character.
—Paul Newman

Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct.
—Thomas Carlyle

Character is much easier kept than recovered.
—Thomas Paine

Guard your honor. Let your reputation fall where it will. And outlive the bastards.
—Lois McMaster Bujold

You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.
—Samuel Johnson

Where is there dignity unless there is honesty?
—Cicero

But rules cannot substitute for character.
—Alan Greenspan

HONORABLE, adj. Afflicted with an impediment in one’s reach. In legislative bodies it is customary to mention all members as honorable; as, “the honorable gentleman is a scurvy cur.”
—Ambrose Bierce

Character is an essential tendency. It can be covered up, it can be messed with, it can be screwed around with, but it can’t be ultimately changed. It’s the structure of our bones, the blood that runs through our veins.
—Sam Shepard

What is left when honor is lost?
—Publilius Syrus

I tried to screw my courage up today.
—Plautus

Last Word

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