The strength of a man’s virtue should not be measured by his special exertions, but by his habitual acts.

People must have righteous principals in the first, and then they will not fail to perform virtuous actions.

A man’s own manner and character is what most becomes him.

But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.

Good is positive. Evil is merely privative, not absolute: it is like cold, which is the privation of heat. All evil is so much death or nonentity. Benevolence is absolute and real. So much benevolence as a man hath, so much life hath he.

You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lines. You may trod me in the very dirt, but still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.

Exercise is labor without weariness.

I do not believe in the God of theology who rewards good and punishes evil.

Virtue she finds too painful an endeavour, content to dwell in decencies for ever.

A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.

Injustice is censured because the censures are afraid of suffering, and not from any fear which they have of doing injustice.

Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.

In any decision for action, when you have to make up your mind what to do, there is always a ‚should‘ involved, and this cannot be worked out from, ‚If I do this, what will happen?‘ alone.

Doctors will have more lives to answer for in the next world than even we generals.

There is nothing good or evil save in the will.

Saints need sinners.

God will not look you over for medals degrees or diplomas, but for scars.

The spirit of man is more important than mere physical strength, and the spiritual fiber of a nation than its wealth.

We come bulletproof in Ireland. We’re reared tough, and we fight.

I believe the first test of a truly great man is in his humility.

Success consecrates the most offensive crimes.

Virtue itself scapes not calumnious strokes.

When we trust God more than our feelings, it confuses the devil. I mean, when he throws you his best shot and he can’t budge you from believing God, he won’t know what to do with you anymore.

The block of granite which was an obstacle in the pathway of the weak, became a stepping-stone in the pathway of the strong.

He who is not a good servant will not be a good master.

I have the people behind me and the people are my strength.

Imagine for yourself a character, a model personality, whose example you determine to follow, in private as well as in public.

I do a little thing about the way people shake the sweetener packet. You know, like they’re all excited. I want to get all the granules down to one end. I love all these rituals.

Happiness doesn’t come from being rich, nor merely from being successful in your career, nor by self-indulgence. One step towards happiness is to make yourself healthy and strong while you are a boy so that you can be useful and so you can enjoy life when you are a man.

We are all ready to be savage in some cause. The difference between a good man and a bad one is the choice of the cause.

Temperance is a mean with regard to pleasures.

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.

One of the huge imbalances in life is the disparity between your daily existence, with its routines and habits, and the dream you have within yourself of some extraordinarily satisfying way of living.

While the crash only took place six months ago, I am convinced we have now passed the worst, and with continued unity of effort, we shall rapidly recover. There is one certainty of the future of a people of the resources, intelligence and character of the people of the United States – that is, prosperity.

Our character is not so much the product of race and heredity as of those circumstances by which nature forms our habits, by which we are nurtured and live.

Behavior is what a man does, not what he thinks, feels, or believes.

Good men must not obey the laws too well.

A chain is no stronger than its weakest link, and life is after all a chain.

To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.

When we look back on all the perils through which we have passed and at the mighty foes that we have laid low and all the dark and deadly designs that we have frustrated, why should we fear for our future? We have come safely through the worst.

You can tell the strength of a nation by the women behind its men.

Justice will overtake fabricators of lies and false witnesses.

To keep your character intact you cannot stoop to filthy acts. It makes it easier to stoop the next time.

There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.

I’ve seen firsthand that being president doesn’t change who you are. It reveals who you are.

I loved being Maleficent. I was quite sad to put my staff down and put my horns away because somehow, she just lives in a different world.

At fifty everyone has the face he deserves.

You’ve all seen over the last eight years what President Obama means to this country. He is the embodiment of honor, resolve, and character – one of the finest presidents we have ever had.

I add this, that rational ability without education has oftener raised man to glory and virtue, than education without natural ability.

Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion.

Treat those who are good with goodness, and also treat those who are not good with goodness. Thus goodness is attained. Be honest to those who are honest, and be also honest to those who are not honest. Thus honesty is attained.

Such is the feebleness of humanity, such is its perversity, that doubtless it is better for it to be subject to all possible superstitions, as long as they are not murderous, than to live without religion.

There never was a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous.

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

A man is great by deeds, not by birth.

Words are also actions, and actions are a kind of words.

Successful people are simply those with successful habits.

We’re all sinners. Everybody you meet all over the world is a sinner.

I will be conquered; I will not capitulate.

Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.