Character Improvement 
Quotes
"Determine never to be idle...It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing."Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)
"I think the first virtue is to restrain the tongue; he approaches nearest to gods who knows how to be silent, even though he is in the right. "
Cato the Elder (234 BC - 149 BC)
"Courage is the ladder on which all the other virtues mount."
Clare Booth Luce(1903 - 1987)
"Good company and good discourse are the very sinews of virtue."
Izaak Walton (1593 - 1683)
"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others."
Cicero(106 BC - 43 BC)
"Be not ashamed of thy virtues; honor's a good brooch to wear in a man's hat at all times."
Ben Jonson(1572 - 1637)
"Self-respect is the cornerstone of all virtue."
John Herschel (1792 - 1871)
"Recommend to your children virtue; that alone can make them happy, not gold."
Ludwig van Beethoven(1770 - 1827)
"Search others for their virtues, thyself for thy vices."
Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)
"The highest proof of virtue is to possess boundless power without abusing it."
Lord Macaulay, review of Lucy Aikin, 'Life and Writings of Addison,' 1943
"Wisdom is know what to do next; virtue is doing it."
David Starr Jordan (1851 - 1931), American naturalist
"Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practices it will have neighbors."
Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)
"Is virtue a thing remote? I wish to be virtuous, and lo! Virtue is at hand."
Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC), The Confucian Analects
"The firm, the enduring, the simple, and the modest are near to virtue."
Confucius(551 BC - 479 BC)
"To be able to practice five things everywhere under heaven constitutes perfect virtue...[They are] gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness."
Confucius(551 BC - 479 BC)
"To flee vice is the beginning of virtue, and to have got rid of folly is the beginning of wisdom."
Horace(65 BC - 8 BC)
"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 always a vice."
Thomas Paine(1737 - 1809)
"Music like religion, unconditionally brings in its train all the moral virtues to the heart it enters, even though that heart is not in the least worthy."
Jean Baptiste Montegut
"Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice."
Baruch Spinoza(1632 - 1677)
"Virtue and genuine graces in themselves speak what no words can utter."
William Shakespeare(1564 - 1616)
"If you consider what are called the virtues in mankind, you will find their growth is assisted by education and cultivation."
Xenophon(434 BC - 355 BC)
"A large part of virtue consists in good habits."
William Paley
"Truth is the secret of eloquence and of virtue, the basis of moral authority; it is the highest summit of art and life."
Henri-Frédéric Amiel
"One path alone leads to a life of peace: The path of virtue."
Juvenal(55 AD - 127 AD)
"In stirring up tumult and strife, the worst men can do the most, but peace and quiet cannot be established without virtue."
Cornelius Tacitus(55 AD - 117 AD)
"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts, therefore guard accordingly; and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue, and reasonable nature."
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus(121 AD - 180 AD)
"Virtue is indeed its own reward."
Claudianus
"Self discipline is that which, next to virtue, truly and essentially raises one man above another."
Joseph Addison (1672 - 1719)
"Patience is the greatest of all virtues."
Cato the Elder(234 BC - 149 BC)
"The shortest and surest way to live with honour in the world, is to be in reality what we would appear to be; and if we observe, we shall find, that all human virtues increase and strengthen themselves by the practice of them."
Socrates(469 BC - 399 BC)
"Assume a virtue, if you have it not."
William Shakespeare(1564 - 1616)
"One ought to seek out virtue for its own sake, without being influenced by fear or hope, or by any external influence. Moreover, that in that does happiness consist."
Diogenes Laertius, Zeno
"The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons."
Aristotle(384 BC - 322 BC)
"Not to be cheered by praise, Not to be grieved by blame, But to know thoroughly ones own virtues or powers. Are the characteristics of an excellent man."
Saskya Pandita
"Virtues are acquired through endeavor, Which rests wholly upon yourself. So, to praise others for their virtues can but encourage one's own efforts."
Nagarjuna
"One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest."
Maya Angelou(1928 - )
"No company is preferable to bad, because we are more apt to catch the vices of others than their virtues, as disease is far more contagious than health."
C. C. Colton
"We should every night call ourselves to an account; What infirmity have I mastered today? What passions opposed? What temptation resisted? What virtue acquired? Our vices will abort of themselves if they be brought every day to the shrift."
Seneca(5 BC - 65 AD)
"If thou desire the love of God and man, be humble, for the proud heart, as it loves none but itself, is beloved of none but itself. Humility enforces where neither virtue, nor strength, nor reason can prevail."
Francis Quarles (1592 - 1644)
"Hope is both the earliest and the most indispensable virtue inherent in the state of being alive. If life is to be sustained hope must remain, even where confidence is wounded, trust impaired."
Erik H. Erikson
"Only the brave know how to forgive; it is the most refined and generous pitch of virtue human nature can arrive at."
Sterne
"No virtue is safe that is not enthusiastic."
Sir J. R. Seeley
"There are many shining qualities on the mind of man; but none so useful as discretion. It is this which gives a value to all the rest, and sets them at work in their proper places, and turns them to the advantage of their possessor. Without it, learning is pedantry; wit, impertinence; virtue itself looks like weakness; and the best parts only qualify a man to be more sprightly in errors, and active to his own prejudice. Though a man has all other perfections and wants discretion, he will be of no great consequence in the world; but if he has this single talent in perfection, and but a common share of others, he may do what he pleases in his station of life."
Joseph Addison(1672 - 1719)
"Beauty is but the sensible image of the Infinite. Like truth and justice it lives within us; like virtue and the moral law it is a companion of the soul."
George Bancroft
"To be proud of virtue is to poison oneself with the antidote."
Benjamin Franklin(1706 - 1790)
"The most eminent virtue is doing simply what we have to do."
Jose Maria Peman, Spanish writer, El Divino Impaciente
"Unless I accept my faults, I will most certainly doubt my virtues."
Hugh Prather
"Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point."
Clive Staples Lewis
"Fortitude is the guard and support of the other virtues."
John Locke
"Remember how in that communion only, beholding beauty with the eye of the mind, he will be enabled to bring forth, not images of beauty, but realities (for he has hold not of an image but of a reality), and bringing forth and nourishing true virtue to become the friend of God and be immortal, if mortal man may."
Plato
"Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped."
Proverb: Liberia
"Those that lie down with dogs, get up with fleas."
Blackfoot
"You can't wake a person who is pretending to be asleep."
Navajo
"If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself"
Minquass
"He who is present at a wrongdoing and does not lift a hand to prevent it, is as guilty as the wrongdoers"
Omaha
"Force, no matter how concealed, begets resistance.""
Lakota
"A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it is committing another mistake"
Confucius
"When anger arises, think of the consequences."
Confucius
"The failure to cultivate virtue, the failure to examine and analyze what I have learned, the inability to move toward righteousness after being shown the way, the inability to correct my faults-these are the causes of my grief."
Confucius
"When you see a good man, think of emulating him; when you see a bad man, examine your own heart."
Confucius
"The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step"
Chinese Proverb
"It is only when the cold season comes that we know the pine and cypress to be evergreens"
Chinese Proverb
"You may light another's candle at your own without loss."
Danish Proverb
"Virtues are the fruit of self-discipline and do not drop from heaven as does rain or snow"
Zen saying.
"This day will not come again. Each minute is worth a priceless gem."
Zen Master Takuan
"An intelligent person who seeks a weakness in another will correct the weakness in himself"
Zen Saying
"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."
"A windy day is not the day for thatching"
Irish Proverb
"In justice is all virtues found in sum"
An Aristotle proverb.
"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within."
Elizabeth Kübler-Ross
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