"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these."
--George Washington Carver--
"A man without character is like a ship without a rudder. "
Karl G. Maeser
"A good reputation is more valuable than money."
Publilius Syrus, God's Little Devotional for Graduates, p. 200
"A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval."
Mark Twain
"You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them."
Malcolm Forbes
"There is no strength that is greater than the strength of virtue. There is no other nobility equal to the nobility of virtue. There is no quality so becoming, no attire so attractive."
Gordon B. Hinckley, "If Thou Art Faithful", (Ensign, November 1984, page 91)
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
Abraham Lincoln
"Greatness is best measured by how well an individual responds to the happenings in life that appear to be totally unfair, unreasonable, and undeserved."
Marvin J. Ashton, "If Thou Endure it Well", (Ensign, November 1984, page 22)
"Nothing shows a man's character more than what he laughs at."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German writer, scientist, master of poetry, drama and novel
"Character is the one thing we make in this world and take with us into the next."
Ezra Taft Benson (General Conference Report, April 1966, page 128)
"I remember my mother saying to me on one occasion, 'Mel, I know that I can count on you.' I resolved that she would always be able to count on me. I would not let her down. I loved her too much. Her confidence in me meant everything. Today I still feel that way. I feel that way about the Brethren. I don't ever want to let President Hinckley or any of the other leaders of the Church down. But, even more important, I never want to let the Savior down, because I love Him more than anything else."
F. Melvin Hammond, "The Vision of Eternity" - BYU Dev. - Feb. 11, 2003
"Character is what you know you are, not what others think you have."
Marva Collins
"Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later."
Og Mandino
"Personality has the power to open many doors; but character must keep them open."
"Character is a victory—not a gift."
"Your character is yours alone to build.
No one can injure your character but you."
David B. Haight (Ensign, May 1981, page 42)
"Good habits are developed in the workshops of our daily lives. It is not in the great moments of test and trial that character is built. That is only when it is displayed. The habits that direct our lives and form our character are fashioned in the often uneventful, common place routine of life."
"A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes another's."
"Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones."
Phillips Brooks
In a letter to John Adams on Oct. 28, 1813, Thomas Jefferson said:
"There is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents...There is also an artificial aristocracy, founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents."
Book: The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson
Quoted in BYU Speeches, 1994-95, p. 113
"Most people say that is it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character."
Albert Einstein
"Good habits are not made on birthdays, nor Christian character at the new year. The workshop of character is everyday life. The uneventful and commmonplace hour is where the battle is lost or won."
Maltbie Babcock
President David O. McKay, speaking in the October General Conference of 1949, said there would come a time "when nobility of character (would) be recognized as being greater than intellect."
Improvement Era, Dec. 1949, p. 863 Quoted in BYU Speeches 1994-95, p. 113