Character

"Every man has at times in his mind the ideal of what he should be, but is not. This ideal may be high and complete, or it may be quite low and insufficient; yet in all men that really seek to improve, it is better than the actual character. * * * Man never falls so low that he can see nothing higher than himself."

"Il ne se déboutonna jamais."

"Udum et molle lutum es: nunc, nunc properandus et acri Fingendus sine fine rota."

"Tecum habita, et noris quam sit tibi curta supellex."

"Grand, gloomy and peculiar, he sat upon the throne, a sceptred hermit, wrapped in the solitude of his awful originality."

"Optimum et emendatissimum existimo, qui ceteris ita ignoscit, tanquam ipse quotidie peccet; ita peccatis abstinet, tanquam nemini ignoscat."

"Good-humor only teaches charms to last, Still makes new conquests and maintains the past."

"Of Manners gentle, of Affections mild; In Wit a man; Simplicity, a child."

"Beauty that shocks you, parts that none will trust, Wit that can creep, and pride that licks the dust."

"No man's defects sought they to know; So never made themselves a foe. No man's good deeds did they commend; So never rais'd themselves a friend."

"So much his courage and his mercy strive, He wounds to cure, and conquers to forgive."

"He that sweareth Till no man trust him. He that lieth Till no man believe him; He that borroweth Till no man will lend him; Let him go where No man knoweth him."

"Nie zeichnet der Mensch den eignen Charakter schärfer als in seiner Manier, einen Fremden zu zeichnen."

"Devout yet cheerful, active yet resigned."

"Was never eie did see that face, Was never eare did heare that tong, Was never minde did minde his grace, That ever thought the travell long, But eies and eares and ev'ry thought Were with his sweete perfections caught."

"It is of the utmost importance that a nation should have a correct standard by which to weigh the character of its rulers."

"Da krabbeln sie num, wie die Ratten auf der Keule des Hercules."

"Gemeine Naturen Zahlen mit dem, was sie thun, edle mit dem, was sie sind."

"Quæris Alcidæ parem? Nemo est nisi ipse."

"Messieurs, nous avons un maître, ce jeune homme fait tout, peut tout, et veut tout."

"It is energy—the central element of which is will—that produces the miracles of enthusiasm in all ages. Everywhere it is the main-spring of what is called force of character, and the sustaining power of all great action."

"Lax in their gaiters, laxer in their gait."

"There is no man suddenly either excellently good or extremely evil."

"Worth, courage, honor, these indeed Your sustenance and birthright are."

"Yet though her mien carries much more invitation than command, to behold her is an immediate check to loose behaviour; and to love her is a liberal education."

"It's the bad that's in the best of us Leaves the saint so like the rest of us! It's the good in the darkest-curst of us Redeems and saves the worst of us! It's the muddle of hope and madness; It's the tangle of good and badness; It's the lunacy linked with sanity Makes up, and mocks, humanity!"

"High characters (cries one), and he would see Things that ne'er were, nor are, nor e'er will be."

"The true greatness of nations is in those qualities which constitute the greatness of the individual."

"His own character is the arbiter of every one's fortune."

"A man should endeavor to be as pliant as a reed, yet as hard as cedar-wood."

"Brama assai, poco spera e nulla chiede."

"Fame is what you have taken, Character's what you give; When to this truth you waken, Then you begin to live."

"The hearts that dare are quick to feel; The hands that wound are soft to heal."

"Such souls, Whose sudden visitations daze the world, Vanish like lightning, but they leave behind A voice that in the distance far away Wakens the slumbering ages."

"Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control."

"And one man is as good as another—and a great dale betther, as the Irish philosopher said."

"None but himself can be his parallel."

"Whoe'er amidst the sons Of reason, valor, liberty and virtue, Displays distinguished merit, is a noble Of Nature's own creating."

"Just men, by whom impartial laws were given, And saints, who taught and led the way to heaven!"

"Nor e'er was to the bowers of bliss conveyed A fairer spirit, or more welcome shade."

"Quantum instar in ipso est."

"Uni odiisque viro telisque frequentibus instant. Ille velut rupes vastum quæ prodit in æquor, Obvia ventorum furiis, expostaque ponto, Vim cunctam atque minas perfert cœlique marisque, Ipsa immota manens."

"Accipe nunc Danaum insidias, et crimine ab uno Disce omnes."

"Il [le Chevalier de Belle-Isle] était capable de tout imaginer, de tout arranger, et de tout faire."

"Lord of the golden tongue and smiting eyes; Great out of season and untimely wise: A man whose virtue, genius, grandeur, worth, Wrought deadlier ill than ages can undo."

"I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good as belongs to you."

"Formed on the good old plan, A true and brave and downright honest man! He blew no trumpet in the market-place, Nor in the church with hypocritic face Supplied with cant the lack of Christian grace; Loathing pretence, he did with cheerful will What others talked of while their hands were still."

"Zealous, yet modest; innocent, though free; Patient of toil; serene amidst alarms; Inflexible in faith; invincible in arms."

"Character is not created with a single act, no matter how brilliant or bold. It is forged in the smallest of struggles, the product of a thousand, thousand strokes. Your tool for carving your character’s template lies, in the words of the poet Robert Lowell, within your “peculiar power to choose.” Ultimately, it is the choice of the fundamental over the frivolous, preferring what is true over what’s accepted, the choosing of what is right over what is easy."

"Our stability is but balance, and conduct lies In masterful administration of the unforseen."