Quotes about character

I can resist everything except temptation.

What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.

Spoken by Lord Henry, the novel's charming corrupter — not Wilde's advice.

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.

Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.

No longer talk at all about the kind of man that a good man ought to be, but be such.

Popularly shortened to "Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one."

The best way of avenging thyself is not to become like the wrong doer.

Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.

To see what is right, and not to do it, is want of courage.

He who knows other men is discerning; he who knows himself is intelligent.

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

The key word is "foolish" — he is not against consistency as such.

Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.

There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.

To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's.

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.

This above all: to thine own self be true.

Polonius is a windbag; Shakespeare puts this wisdom in a fool's mouth.

Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously.

Every man carries the entire form of the human condition.

Character is destiny.

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.

Ye were not made to live like unto brutes, but for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.

We all have strength enough to endure the misfortunes of others.

Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.

When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.

Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.

Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.

Two souls, alas, are dwelling in my breast.

I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.

Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)

Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.

Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.

One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.