A vigorous temper is not altogether an evil. Men who are easy as an old shoe are generally of little worth.

As fire when thrown into water is cooled down and put out, so also a false accusation when brought against a man of the purest and holiest character, boils over and is at once dissipated, and vanishes and threats of heaven and sea, himself standing unmoved.

You have a nice personality, but not for a human being.

Really, I have to laugh because there was a whole set of stories that made me sound like the Dragon Lady, you know, ‚tough this and tough that.‘ Then there is this business about ‚gooey.‘ The bottom line is I am a pragmatic idealist.

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.

Understand, when you eat meat, that something did die. You have an obligation to value it – not just the sirloin but also all those wonderful tough little bits.

I need scarcely observe that a poem deserves its title only inasmuch as it excites, by elevating the soul. The value of the poem is in the ratio of this elevating excitement.

The principle of all successful effort is to try to do not what is absolutely the best, but what is easily within our power, and suited for our temperament and condition.

What constitutes a real, live human being is more of a mystery than ever these days, and men each one of whom is a valuable, unique experiment on the part of nature are shot down wholesale.

He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise.

I think it matters whether someone has a good heart.

The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.

We should seek the greatest value of our action.

People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest.

It is quality rather than quantity that matters.

Persuasion is achieved by the speaker’s personal character when the speech is so spoken as to make us think him credible. We believe good men more fully and more readily than others: this is true generally whatever the question is, and absolutely true where exact certainty is impossible and opinions are divided.

In Italy they take cheap cloth and make it look expensive, but I take expensive cloth and make it look cheap. They just don’t understand.

Freedom is never dear at any price. It is the breath of life. What would a man not pay for living?

It is also true that one can write nothing readable unless one constantly struggles to efface one’s own personality. Good prose is like a windowpane.

Driving up the value of the advertising is a big commitment for Microsoft.

What’s the use of happiness? It can’t buy you money.

My concern today is not with the length of a person’s hair but with his conduct.

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.

If a man’s character is to be abused there’s nobody like a relative to do the business.

Things don’t have to change the world to be important.

It’s rare for anyone to value the opinions of a teenage girl.

She was not quite what you would call refined. She was not quite what you would call unrefined. She was the kind of person that keeps a parrot.

Some mystery should be left in the revelation of character in a play, just as a great deal of mystery is always left in the revelation of character in life, even in one’s own character to himself.

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.

You don’t get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour.

Character is determined more by the lack of certain experiences than by those one has had.

My idea of an agreeable person is a person who agrees with me.

Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set.

As the biggest library if it is in disorder is not as useful as a small but well-arranged one, so you may accumulate a vast amount of knowledge but it will be of far less value than a much smaller amount if you have not thought it over for yourself.

I love nerdy, cute, quirky boys who don’t take themselves too seriously.

If an individual wants to be a leader and isn’t controversial, that means he never stood for anything.

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

I was a kind of hyper-intense person in my twenties and very impatient.

The essence of Richard Nixon is loneliness.

Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.

One can know a man from his laugh, and if you like a man’s laugh before you know anything of him, you may confidently say that he is a good man.

People who can’t be witty exert themselves to be devout and affectionate.

Freedom is a possession of inestimable value.

As you know, low demand and high supply means a drop in value of anything, including the dollar.

Bondage is the life of personality, and for bondage the personal self will fight with tireless resourcefulness and the most stubborn cunning.

For my own part, I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen the representative of our country. He is a bird of bad moral character. He does not get his living honestly.

It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has.

Taste is the only morality. Tell me what you like and I’ll tell you what you are.

If you feel that there’s the author and then the character, then the book is not working. People have a habit of identifying the author with the narrator, and you can’t, obviously, be all of the narrators in all of your books, or else you’d be a very strange person indeed.

The value of a principle is the number of things it will explain.

There’s one way to find out if a man is honest – ask him. If he says, ‚Yes,‘ you know he is a crook.

Good jokes are gems. A good idea is hard to come by. I couldn’t give them to someone else, even for money. It just wouldn’t seem right.

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

People who don’t know the true character of God – who don’t believe He is merciful, gracious and slow to anger – can never have a close, personal, intimate relationship with Him.

Beauty is an outward gift, which is seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been refused.

The difference between a moral man and a man of honor is that the latter regrets a discreditable act, even when it has worked and he has not been caught.

I like someone who is a little crazy but coming from a good place. I think scars are sexy because it means you made a mistake that led to a mess.

I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.

The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.

To an ordinary human being, love means nothing if it does not mean loving some people more than others.

We should take care not to make the intellect our goal; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.