Original Article: http://dartreview.com/archives/2008/04/21/last_word.php
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