Character & Virtue quotes for UPSC & State PCS

Habit is a second nature.

One may be humble out of pride.

The supreme vice is shallowness.

Character is the virtue of hard times.

A golden bit does not make a better horse.

As a rule it is circumstances that make men.

The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.

One must be something in order to do something.

Children (nay, and men too) do most by example.

He was as great as a man can be without morality.

When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.

More glorious to merit a sceptre than to possess one.

A man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself.

He who is too busy doing good finds no time to be good.

Fortunate is he who does not carry envy as a companion.

Behaviour is a mirror in which everyone shows his image.

In general, pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes.

We come nearest to the great when we are great in humility.

I have no idea. People who boast about their IQ are losers.

There never was a bad man that had ability for good service.

Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.

Righteousness cannot be born until self-righteousness is dead.

How many worthy men have we seen survive their own reputation!

It is easy to be nice, even to an enemy — from lack of character.

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.

All mortals tend to turn into the thing they are pretending to be.

I find that the best virtue I have has in it some tincture of vice.

A talent is formed in stillness, a character in the world's torrent.

Situation seems to be the mould in which men's characters are formed.

Only a man's character is the real criterion of worth. (22 August 1944)

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

A noble person attracts noble people, and knows how to hold on to them.

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

Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy.

We make a ladder of our vices, if we trample those same vices underfoot.

Few are those who wish to be endowed with virtue rather than to seem so.

It is no use to preach to [children] if you do not act decently yourself.

Every human perfection is linked to an error which it threatens to become.

Only the person who has faith in himself is able to be faithful to others.

Those who are humane achieve glory. Those who are inhumane suffer disgrace.

Beauty doesn't need ornaments. Softness can't bear the weight of ornaments.

A man's worth is not measured by his wealth but by his character and deeds.

Try to become not a man of success, but try rather to become a man of value.

No matter what anyone says or does, my task is to be good. (Hays translation)

He who receives a benefit with gratitude, repays the first installment of it.

Everyone feels benevolent if nothing happens to be annoying him at the moment.

There is no greater wealth than Virtue, And no greater loss than to forget it.

It is not titles that make men illustrious, but men who make titles illustrious.

Nothing but the most exemplary morals can give dignity to a man of small fortune.

I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.

Gratitude is a fruit of great cultivation; you do not find it among gross people.

The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves!

Fame is something which must be won; honor, only something which must not be lost.

All through life, be sure and put your feet in the right place, and then stand firm.

The being of all virtues, and chiefly of temperance, depends on the practice of them.

You can tell the character of every man when you see how he gives and receives praise.

In War: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance. In Victory: Magnanimity. In Peace: Good Will.

However, he who makes himself a worm cannot complain afterwards that he gets stepped on.

How we hate this solemn Ego that accompanies the learned, like a double, wherever he goes.

We want deeper sincerity of motive, a greater courage in speech and earnestness in action.

Difficulty attracts a man of character, for it is by embracing it that he fulfills himself.

Seek first the virtues of the mind; and other things either will come, or will not be wanted.

In the last analysis, what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do.

I don't know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.

Thou sufferest justly: for thou choosest rather to become good to-morrow than to be good to-day.

Noble be man, Helpful and good! For that alone Sets hims apart From every other creature On earth.

Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit and lost without deserving.

Be warned in time, James, and remain, as I do, incomprehensible: to be great is to be misunderstood.

Virtue is a state of war, and to live in it means one always has some battle to wage against oneself.

Character is higher than intellect...A great soul will be strong to live, as well as strong to think.

Frugality may be termed the daughter of Prudence, the sister of Temperance and the parent of Liberty.

There is no power on earth, that can neutralize the influence of a high, pure, simple and useful life.

The only kind of dignity which is genuine is that which is not diminished by the indifference of others.

Our virtues and our failings are inseparable, like force and matter. When they separate, man is no more.

Virtue is harder to be got than knowledge of the world; and, if lost in a young man, is seldom recovered.

I have ever deemed it more honorable and profitable, too, to set a good example than to follow a bad one.

The second half of a man's life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half.

The lotus’ stem is as long as the depth of water, So men’s height is just as great as their inner strength.

What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.

Therefore only an utterly senseless person can fail to know that our characters are the result of our conduct.

The things people say of a man do not alter a man. He is what he is. Public opinion is of no value whatsoever.

It is so easy a thing to give—only great men have the courage and courtesy and, yes, the generosity to receive.

The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.

There is no use of simply acquiring titles or amassing wealth if one has no self-respect and scientific knowledge.

True character stands the test of emergencies. Do not be mistaken, it is weakness from which the awakening is rude.

You don't have to think about doing the right thing. If you're for the right thing, then you do it without thinking.

He who would not be frustrate of his hope to write well hereafter in laudable things ought himself to be a true poem.

Should you find a wise critic to point out your faults, follow him as you would a guide to hidden treasure. (Verse 76)

It's silly to try to escape other people's faults. They are inescapable. Just try to escape your own. (Hays translation)

Translation: This vice [Pride] does not measure happiness so much by its own conveniences, as by the miseries of others.

In the course of my life I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet.

Humility is just as much the opposite of self-abasement as it is of self exaltation. To be humble is not to make comparisons.

Great work requires great and persistent effort for a long time. … Character has to be established through a thousand stumbles.

Watch people do their most common actions; these are indeed the things that will tell you the real character of a great person.

To live each day as though one's last, never flustered, never apathetic, never attitudinizing – here is perfection of character.

Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man; but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity.

Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the wise man, gathering it little by little, fills himself with good. (Verse 122)

It is the patient building of character, the intense struggle to realize the truth, which alone will tell in the future of humanity.

Idleness and Pride Tax with a heavier Hand than Kings and Parliaments; If we can get rid of the former we may easily bear the Latter.

It is with narrow-souled people as with narrow necked bottles: the less they have in them, the more noise they make in pouring it out.

The vanities of all others may gradually die out, but the vanity of a saint regarding his sainthood is hard indeed to wear away. (110)

When thou callest another a fool, as thou must, sometimes, yet do not forget that thou thyself hast been the supreme fool in humanity.

If a man does not have an ideal and try to live up to it, then he becomes a mean, base, and sordid creature, no matter how successful.

Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.

But true good fortune is what you make for yourself. Good fortune: good character, good intentions, and good actions. (Hays translation)

For what is there more hideous than avarice, more brutal than lust, more contemptible than cowardice, more base than stupidity and folly?

The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained to liberation from the self.

Perhaps a man's character was like a tree, and his reputation like its shadow; the shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

The truly good and wise man will bear all kinds of fortune in a seemly way, and will always act in the noblest manner that the circumstances allow.

A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.

If thou shouldst say, 'It is enough, I have reached perfection,' all is lost. For it is the function of perfection to make one know one's imperfection.

If you want to be respected by others the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by self-respect will you compel others to respect you.

But both courses are to be avoided; you should not copy the bad simply because they are many, nor should you hate the many because they are unlike you.

‘There is none like to me!' says the Cub in the pride of his earliest kill; But the jungle is large and the Cub he is small. Let him think and be still.

The vices respectively fall short of or exceed what is right in both passions and actions, while virtue both finds and chooses that which is intermediate.

When a person doesn't have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude.

Treat people with respect, whoever they are, and expect your governments to treat everybody with respect. And if you do that, then you’re going to be okay.

The man of perfect virtue is cautious and slow in his speech. When a man feels the difficulty of doing, can he be other than cautious and slow in speaking?

An arrogant person considers himself perfect. This is the chief harm of arrogance. It interferes with a person's main task in life—becoming a better person.

Character, courage, industry and perseverance are the four pillars on which the whole edifice of human life can be built and failure is a word unknown to me.

I am not concerned that I have no place; I am concerned how I may fit myself for one. I am not concerned that I am not known; I seek to be worthy to be known.

Does the light of a lamp shine and keep its glow until its fuel is spent? Why shouldn't your truth, justice, and self-control shine until you are extinguished?

One cannot attain divine knowledge till one gets rid of pride. Water does not stay on the top of a mound; but into low land it flows in torrents from all sides.

What the world wants is character. The world is in need of those whose life is one burning love, selfless. That love will make every word tell like a thunderbolt.

Our actual enemy is not any force exterior to ourselves, but our own crying weaknesses, our cowardice, our selfishness, our hypocrisy, our purblind sentimentalism.

I propose to value them according to their character, and not according to their duties. Each man acquires his character for himself, but accident assigns his duties.

Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.

There is no worse sickness for the soul, O you who are proud, than this pretense of perfection. The heart and eyes must bleed a lot before self-complacency falls away.

If you act externally with men in conformity with your rank, you should recognize, by a more secret but truer thought, that you have nothing naturally superior to them.

Self-respect will keep a man from being abject when he is in the power of enemies, and will enable him to feel that he may be in the right when the world is against him.

...be tolerant with others and strict with yourself. Remember, nothing belongs to you but your flesh and blood—and nothing else is under your control. (Hays translation)

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones.

Make compassion the cotton, contentment the thread, modesty the knot and truth the twist. This is the sacred thread of the soul; if you have it, then go ahead and put it on me.

Trained mules are excellent, and so are thoroughbred horses from the Sindh, and so are great battle elephants, but more excellent than them all is a disciplined man. (Verse 322)

The hell to be endured hereafter, of which theology tells, is no worse than the hell we make for ourselves in this world by habitually fashioning our characters in the wrong way.

Whatever is in any way beautiful hath its source of beauty in itself, and is complete in itself; praise forms no part of it. So it is none the worse nor the better for being praised.

I have lived as plain Mr. Jinnah and I hope to die as plain Mr. Jinnah. I am very much averse to any title or honours and I will be more than happy if there was no prefix to my name.

For us, with the rule of right and wrong given us by Christ, there is nothing for which we have no standard. And there is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.

Sobriety, as opposed to inebriety and gluttony, is of admirable use in teaching men that nature is satisfied with a little, and enabling them to content themselves with simple and frugal fare.

Independence I have long considered as the grand blessing of life, the basis of every virtue; and independence I will ever secure by contracting my wants, though I were to live on a barren heath.

They cannot degrade Frederick Douglass. The soul that is within me no man can degrade. I am not the one that is being degraded on account of this treatment, but those who are inflicting it upon me…

Moderation, in the pursuit of honors or riches, is the only security against disappointment and vexation. A wise man, therefore, will prefer the simplicity of rustic life to the magnificence of courts.

Virtue refuses facility for her companion ... the easy, gentle, and sloping path that guides the footsteps of a good natural disposition is not the path of true virtue. It demands a rough and thorny road.

All a man has is pride. Sometimes you have it so much it is a sin. We have all done things for pride that we knew were impossible. We didn't care. But a man must implement his pride with intelligence and care.

No doubt the reason is that character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.

We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone. Every smallest stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its never so little scar. ...Nothing we ever do is, in strict scientific literalness, wiped out.

Do not conceive that fine Clothes make fine Men, any more than fine feathers make fine Birds—A plain genteel dress is more admired and obtains more credit than lace & embroidery in the Eyes of the judicious and sensible.

I learned the lesson that great men cultivate love, and that only little men cherish a spirit of hatred. I learned that assistance given to the weak makes the one who gives it strong; and that oppression of the unfortunate makes one weak.

Personal independence is a virtue and it is the soul out of which comes the sturdiest manhood. But there can be no independence without a large share of self-dependence, and this virtue cannot be bestowed. It must be developed from within.

No one saves us but ourselves, No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path Buddhas merely teach the way. By ourselves is evil done, By ourselves is pain endured, By ourselves we cease from wrong, By ourselves become we pure.

Self-confidence is not pride. Just the contrary: only a person or a nation that is self-confident, in the best sense of the word, is capable of listening to others, accepting them as equals, forgiving its enemies and regretting its own guilt.

Revolutionary morality does not fall from the sky. It is developed and consolidated through persevering daily struggle and effort. Like jade, the more it is polished the more it shines. Like gold, it grows ever purer as it foes into the melting pot.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige and even his life for the welfare of others.

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.

If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realise that one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.

Character, not circumstances, makes the man. It is more important that we be prepared for voting than that we vote, more important that we be prepared to hold office than that we hold office, more important that we be prepared for the highest recognition than that we be recognized.

Above all things, lose no occasion of exercising your dispositions to be grateful, to be generous, to be charitable, to be humane, to be true, just, firm, orderly, courageous, &c. Consider every act of this kind, as an exercise which will strengthen your moral faculties and increase your worth.

The greatest minds are marked by nothing more distinctly than an inconceivable humility, and acceptance of work or instruction in any form, and from any quarter. They will learn from everybody, and do anything that anybody asks, so long as it involves only toil, or what other men would think degradation.

Three years ago he was an honest, self-denying youth, ready to devote himself to every good cause; now he was a corrupt and refined egotist, given over to personal enjoyment. ... And all this terrible transformation took place in him only because he ceased to have faith in himself, and began to believe in others.

No one can be happy without virtue.

Virtuous men alone possess friends.

How use doth breed a habit in a man!

All savageness is a sign of weakness.

Virtue is debased by self-justification.

Ask counsel of him who rules himself well.

A man should be upright, not kept upright.

Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.

There is no disease so destructive as lust.

Man can embody truth but he cannot know it.

The plague of man is boasting of his knowledge.

Society doesn't have values. People have values.

Who vaunts his race, lauds what belongs to others.

Any man that tries to rob me of my dignity will lose.

Benevolence is the characteristic element of humanity.

From Antisthenes: It is royal to do good and be abused.

As our acts and our thoughts are, so will our lives be.

...there are more things to admire in men than to despise.

It is only as we govern ourselves that we are well-governed.

Endurance is nobler than strength, and patience than beauty.

Example, whether it be good or bad, has a powerful influence.

Man is created free, and is free, Though he be born in chains.

The memory of benefits is a frail defence against ingratitude.

Before a man can do things there must be things he will not do.

If one doesn't know his mistakes, he won't want to correct them.

You can have no dominion greater or less than that over yourself.

The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none.

The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.

Nature forms us for ourselves, not for others; to be, not to seem.

He who pursues fame at the risk of losing his self is not a scholar.

It is not truth that makes man great, but man that makes truth great.

A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.

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

We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people.

Be not careless in deeds, nor confused in words, nor rambling in thought.

There is nothing small in God's eyes; let there be nothing small in thine.

The roots below the earth claim no rewards for making the branches fruitful.

A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.

Tell him to live by yes and no — yes to everything good, no to everything bad.

The more you obey your conscience, the more your conscience will demand of you.

In painting as in eloquence, the greater your strength, the quieter your manner.

A superior who works on his own development sets an almost irresistible example.

Dr. Rajendra Prasad was a true Bodhisatva. His humility brought tears to my eyes.

There are victories of the soul and spirit. Sometimes, even if you lose, you win.

Wickedness is always easier than virtue; for it takes the short cut to everything.

None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license.

Only after Winter comes do we know that the pine and the cypress are the last to fade.

One of the sure signs of maturity is the ability to rise to the point of self criticism.

I have never regarded any man as my superior, either in my life outside or inside prison.

People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.

All mortals are equal; it is not their birth, But virtue itself that makes the difference.

Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice.

How can a rational being be ennobled by anything that is not obtained by its own exertions?

Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live.

Purity, patience, and perseverance are the three essentials to success and, above all, love.

I do think unpunctuality is a vile habit, and all my life I have tried to break myself of it.

Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstances...Strong men believe in cause and effect.

The dignity of mankind is in your hands; protect it! It sinks with you! With you it will ascend.

There's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self.

Look within. Within is the fountain of the good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.

He was a man who looked at what ought to be done, not to the reputation which is got by a man's acts.

A few heart-whole, sincere, and energetic men and women can do more in a year than a mob in a century.

Courage, not cleverness; not even inspiration, is the grain of mustard that grows up to be a great tree.

In a valiant suffering for others, not in a slothful making others suffer for us, did nobleness ever lie.

The more we come out and do good to others, the more our hearts will be purified, and God will be in them.

I insist that the object of all true education is not to make men carpenters, it is to make carpenters men.

One is not called noble who harms living beings. By not harming living beings one is called noble. (Verse 270)

Understand however that every man is worth just so much as the things are worth about which he busies himself.

That's what I consider true generosity. You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.

I would permit no man, no matter what his colour might be, to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.

All those who try to go it sole alone, Too proud to be beholden for relief, Are absolutely sure to come to grief.

It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time.

Every great study is not only an end in itself, but also a means of creating and sustaining a lofty habit of mind.

A fly, Sir, may sting a stately horse and make him wince; but one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still.

The man of virtue makes the difficulty to be overcome his first business, and success only a subsequent consideration.

Great undertakings are always fraught with many obstacles. It is these obstacles which knock and shape great characters.

Those who conduct themselves with morality, integrity and consistency need not fear the forces of inhumanity and cruelty.

Don't say things. What you are stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary.

Courage is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue that it is always respected, even when it is associated with vice.

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.

Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.

Prison itself is a tremendous education in the need for patience and perseverance. It is above all a test of one's commitment.

To love truth for truth's sake is the principal part of human perfection in this world, and the seed-plot of all other virtues.

True glory strikes root, and even extends itself; all false pretensions fall as do flowers, nor can anything feigned be lasting.

Admire the diamond that can bear the hits of a hammer. Many deceptive preachers, when critically examined, turn out to be false.

Remember that there is always a limit to self-indulgence but none to self-restraint, and let us daily progress in that direction.

'Know thyself' was written over the portal of the antique world. Over the portal of the new world, 'Be thyself' shall be written.

We all know that a good example is more effective than advice. So set a good example, and it won't take long for others to follow.

Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in blood of his followers and sacrifices of his friends.

Only that position can impart dignity in which we do not appear as servile tools but rather create independently within our circle.

This was one of the heaviest blows I can recall during the war....It was a bitter moment. Defeat is one thing; disgrace is another.

Let me add, that only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.

Shall I tell you the secret of the true scholar? It is this: Every man I meet is my master at some point, and in that, I learn of him.

There is a price which is too great to pay for peace, and that price can be put in one word. One cannot pay the price of self-respect.

I often find myself going back to Darwin's saying about the duration of a man's friendships being one of the best measures of his worth.

One is not a learned man by virtue of much speaking. He who is patient, without anger and fearless, he is to be called learned. (Verse 258)

Whilst shame keeps its watch, virtue is not wholly extinguished in the heart; nor will moderation be utterly exiled from the minds of tyrants.

Circus dogs jump when the trainer cracks his whip, but the really well-trained dog is the one that turns his somersault when there is no whip.

We are—proudly—a people with no sense of class or caste. We judge no man by his name or inheritance, but by what he does—and for what he stands.

Let none find fault with others; let none see the omissions and commissions of others. But let one see one’s own acts, done and undone. (Verse 50)

Hard is it to be in the world, free, yet living the life of ordinary men; but because it is hard, therefore it must be attempted and accomplished.

The real test of a man is not how well he plays the role he has invented for himself, but how well he plays the role that destiny assigned to him.

Make your ego porous. Will is of little importance, complaining is nothing, fame is nothing. Openness, patience, receptivity, solitude is everything.

No matter that we may mount on stilts, we still must walk on our own legs. And on the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.

A thing, moderately good, is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper, is always a virtue; but moderation in principle, is a species of vice.

Men do not care how nobly they live, but only how long, although it is within the reach of every man to live nobly, but within no man's power to live long.

To be fond of learning is to be near to knowledge. To practice with vigor is to be near to magnanimity. To possess the feeling of shame is to be near to energy.

Not by birth does one become an outcaste, not by birth does one become a brahman. By one's action one becomes an outcaste, by one's action one becomes a brahman.

Virtue runs no risk of becoming contemptible by being exposed to view, and it is better to be despised for simplicity than to be tormented by continual hypocrisy.

But what is liberty without wisdom, and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint.

If a traveller does not meet with one who is his better, or his equal, let him firmly keep to his solitary journey; there is no companionship with a fool. (Verse 61)

There is nothing more visible than what is secret, and nothing more manifest than what is minute. Therefore the superior man is watchful over himself, when he is alone.

A man does not become a Brahmana by his platted hair, by his family, or by birth; in whom there is truth and righteousness, he is blessed, he is a Brahmana. (Verse 393)

We are firm believers in the maxim that for all right judgment of any man or thing it is useful, nay, essential, to see his good qualities before pronouncing on his bad.

The sense of mercy is found in all men; the sense of shame is found in all men; the sense of respect is found in all men; the sense of right and wrong is found in all men.

He maintained this attitude up to the very end, and no man ever saw Socrates too much elated or too much depressed. Amid all the disturbance of Fortune, he was undisturbed.

The happiness and unhappiness of the rational, social animal depends not on what he feels but on what he does; just as his virtue and vice consist not in feeling but in doing.

We value virtue but do not discuss it. The honest bookkeeper, the faithful wife, the earnest scholar get little of our attention compared to the embezzler, the tramp, the cheat.

Envy is a horrible thing. It is unlike all other kinds of suffering in that there is no disguising it, no elevating it into tragedy. It is more than merely painful, it is disgusting.

Sincerity is the end and beginning of things; without sincerity there would be nothing. On this account, the superior man regards the attainment of sincerity as the most excellent thing.

We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change.

He that would pass the latter part of life with honour and decency, must, when he is young, consider that he shall one day be old; and remember, when he is old, that he has once been young.

The greatest danger, that of losing one's own self, may pass off as quietly as if it were nothing; every other loss, that of an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife etc., is sure to be noticed.

For it was my master who taught me not only how very little I knew but also that any wisdom to which I might ever aspire could consist only in realizing more fully the infinity of my ignorance.

There are as many perfections as there are imperfect men. And while to the claims of charity a man may yield and yet be free, to the claims of conformity no man may yield and remain free at all.

It is not among extraordinary and fantastic things that excellence is to be found, of whatever kind it may be. We rise to attain it and become removed from it: it is oftenest necessary to stoop for it.

Someone despises me. That's their problem. Mine: not to do or say anything despicable. Someone hates me. Their problem. Mine: to be patient and cheerful with everyone, including them. (Hays translation)

Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable, and others extremely difficult.

The basis of self-government and freedom requires the development of character and self-restraint and perseverance and the long view. And these are qualities which require many years of training and education.

Empathy is a quality of character that can change the world - one that makes you understand that your obligations to others extend beyond people who look like you and act like you and live in your neighborhood.

It would be some consolation for the feebleness of our selves and our works, if all things should perish as slowly as they come into being; but as it is, increases are of sluggish growth, but the way to ruin is rapid.

The deepest thinking is humble. It is only concerned that the flame of truth which it keeps alive should burn with the strongest and purest heat; it does not trouble about the distance to which its brightness penetrates.

You may never be able to come back to the place you have left, nor can you undo the wrongs that you have done. But you can always begin again. You can cleanse the heart, you can remake your life, you can rebuild character.

A recurrent theme of this book is that luck plays a large role in every story of success; it is almost always easy to identify a small change in the story that would have turned a remarkable achievement into a mediocre outcome.

Do you ask me whom I have conquered? Neither the Persians, nor the far-off Medes, nor any warlike race that lies beyond the Dahae; not these, but greed, ambition, and the fear of death that has conquered the conquerors of the world.

Wise command, wise obedience: the capability of these two is the net measure of culture, and human virtue, in every man; all good lies in the possession of these two capabilities; all evil, wretchedness and ill-success in the want of these.

Every really able man, in whatever direction he work,—a man of large affairs, an inventor, a statesman, an orator, a poet, a painter,—if you talk sincerely with him, considers his work, however much admired, as far short of what it should be.

Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. This above all: to thine ownself be true. And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.

They have been spoken by Plato, spoken by Zeno, spoken by Chrysippus or by Posidonius, and by a whole host of Stoics as numerous as excellent. I shall show you how men can prove their words to be their own: it is by doing what they have been talking about.

We are our own slaves, not of the British. This should be engraved on our minds. The whites cannot remain if we do not want them. If the idea is to drive them out with firearms, let every Indian consider what precious little profit Europe has found in these.

My policies are based not on some economics theory, but on things I and millions like me were brought up with: an honest day's work for an honest day's pay; live within your means; put by a nest egg for a rainy day; pay your bills on time; support the police.

Life is a difficult game. You can win it only by retaining your birthright to be a person. And to retain this right, you will have to be willing to take the social or external risks involved in ignoring pressures to do things the way others say they should be done.

Prejudice is not a failing peculiar to one race, it can and does exist in people of every race and ethnic background. It takes individual effort to root it out of one's heart. In my case my father and mother saw that it never got a start. I shall be forever grateful to them.

I really wanted to retire and rest and spend more time with my children, my grandchildren and of course with my wife. But the problems are such that for anybody with a conscience who can use whatever influence he may have to try to bring about peace, it's difficult to say no.

Not to feel exasperated, or defeated, or despondent because your days aren't packed with wise and moral actions. But to get back up when you fail, to celebrate behaving like a human--however imperfectly--and fully embrace the pursuit that you've embarked on. (Hays translation)

The object of presenting medals, stars, and ribbons is to give pride and pleasure to those who have deserved them. At the same time a distinction is something which everybody does not possess. If all have it it is of less value ... A medal glitters, but it also casts a shadow.

Our colleges ought to have lit up in us a lasting relish for the better kind of man, a loss of appetite for mediocrities, and a disgust for cheapjacks. We ought to smell, as it were, the difference of quality in men and their proposals when we enter the world of affairs about us.

Use the atman to raise the atman. Do not lower the atman. The atman is the atman’s friend and the atman is the atman’s enemy. The atman, which has been used to conquer the atman, is the atman’s friend. For someone who has failed to control the atman, the atman harms like an enemy.

There is a scale of virtues, and it is necessary, if one would mount the higher steps, to begin with the lowest; and the first virtue a man must acquire if he wishes to acquire the others, is that which the ancients called ἐγκράτεια or σωφροσύνη — i.e., self-control or moderation.

You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end each of us must work for his own improvement, and at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful.

He sees as well as you do that courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means, at the point of highest reality. A chastity or honesty, or mercy, which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions.

Wise men don't need to prove their point; men who need to prove their point aren't wise. The Master has no possessions. The more he does for others, the happier he is. The more he gives to others, the wealthier he is. The Tao nourishes by not forcing. By not dominating, the Master leads.

It's not hard to stand behind one's successes. But to accept responsibility for one's failures... that is devishly hard! But only thence does the road lead... to a radically new insight into the mysterious gravity of my existence as an uncertain enterprise and to its transcendental meaning.

Some people, when they do someone a favor, are always looking for a chance to call it in. And some aren't, but they're still aware of it--still regard it as a debt. But others don't even do that. They're like a vine that produces grapes without looking for anything in return. (Hays translation)

Any one who in discussion relies upon authority uses, not his understanding, but rather his memory. Good culture is born of a good disposition; and since the cause is more to be praised than the effect, I will rather praise a good disposition without culture, than good culture without the disposition.

Self-made men are the men who, under peculiar difficulties and without the ordinary helps of favoring circumstances, have attained knowledge, usefulness, power and position and have learned from themselves the best uses to which life can be put in this world, and in the exercises of these uses to build up worthy character.