Quotes about Character

It's not what happens to us, but our response to what happens to us that hurts us. Of course, things can hurt us physically or economically and can cause sorrow. But our character, our basic identity, does not have to be hurt at all.

A person must possess himself and have a deep sense of security in fundamental principles and values in order to genuinely apologize.

Make decisions based on our values and not how we felt in the moment.

Inside-out means to start first with self; even more fundamentally, to start with the most inside part of self—with your paradigms, your character, and your motives.

Private Victory precedes Public Victory. Self-mastery and self-discipline are the foundation of good relationships with others.

That leadership is primarily a function of who you are, for this is the foundation for everything you do. How do you build leaders? You first build character.

Level 5 leaders display a paradoxical combination of personal humility and professional will, channelling their energy, drive, creativity and discipline in to something larger and more enduring than themselves.

it is futile to put personality ahead of character, to try to improve relationships with others before improving ourselves.

Integrity includes but goes beyond honesty. Honesty is telling the truth—in other words, conforming our words to reality. Integrity is conforming reality to our words—in other words, keeping promises and fulfilling expectations.

Integrity is, fundamentally, the value we place on ourselves. It's our ability to make and keep commitments to ourselves, to "walk our talk." It's honor with self, a fundamental part of the Character Ethic, the essence of proactive growth.

if you are an effective manager of yourself, your discipline comes from within; it is a function of your independent will. You are a disciple, a follower, of your own deep values and their source. And you have the will, the integrity, to subordinate your feelings, your impulses, your moods to those values.

Character Ethic as the foundation of success—things like integrity, humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, patience, industry, simplicity, modesty, and the Golden Rule. Benjamin Franklin's autobiography is representative of that literature. It is, basically, the story of one man's effort to integrate certain principles and habits deep within his nature.