Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Related Quotes

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Men show their character in nothing more clearly than by what they think laughable.

Character | Men | Nothing | Think |

Nancy Moser, born Nancy Etta Lynette Jeffrey

Characters live to be noticed. People with character notice how they live.

Character | People |

Abraham Lincoln

Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.

Ability | Character |

Lou Marinoff

How freely we live life depends both on our political system and on our vigilance in defending its liberties. How long we live depends both on our genes and on the quality of our health care. How well we live ~ that is, how thoughtfully, how nobly, how virtuously, how joyously, how lovingly - depends both on our philosophy and on the way we apply it to all else. The examined life is a better life.

Better | Care | Health | Life | Life | Philosophy | System | Vigilance |

Mary Ann Kelty

Small kindnesses, small courtesies, small considerations, habitually practiced in our social intercourse, give a greater charm to the character than the display of great talents and accomplishments.

Character | Display |

Archer G. Jones

There is but one rule of conduct for a man - to do the right thing. The cost may be dear in money, in friends, in influence, in labor, in a prolonged and painful sacrifice, but the cost not to do right is far more dear: You pay in the integrity of your manhood, in your honor, in strength of character; and, for a timely gain, you barter the infinite.

Character | Conduct | Cost | Honor | Influence | Integrity | Labor | Man | Money | Right | Rule | Sacrifice | Strength |

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.

Character | Education | Intelligence |

Edward A. Wynne

In general the character tradition assumes that institutions such as families, schools, and long-lived organizations will act more wisely than individuals and also that individuals who have lived through a variety of experiences have learned things that many young people do not yet know.

Character | People | Tradition | Will |

Abigail Van Buren, pen name for Pauline Phillips and now daughter Jeanne Phillips

The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back.

Character | Good | People |

Anita Roddick

Kindness [has the] power to create change, to make things happen. And in a period of human history in which we are obsessed with change - personal or political - and are unsure whether it is possible at all, kindness could be our salvation.

Change | History | Kindness | Power | Salvation |

Aeschylus NULL

It is in the character of very few men to honor without envy a friend who has prospered.

Character | Envy | Friend | Honor | Men |