Character quotes

Aequanimitas, 1889. The wording appears in Osler’s discussion of patience and equanimity; the source note keeps the medical-graduation context visible rather than treating it as universal therapeutic advice.

The Republic, Book I, Socrates replying to Polemarchus in the examination of the maxim that justice helps friends and harms enemies. Benjamin Jowett English translation, Project Gutenberg #1497. The source presents a question in dialogue, not a standalone personal motto from Plato; the moral argument considers whether hurting someone can make that person better.

An Essay on Criticism, in the section describing the moral duties of a critic.

Beyond Good and Evil, aphorism 146, in Helen Zimmern’s public-domain English translation.

Proverbs 15:33 in the King James Version.

Two Years Ago, Project Gutenberg #10995. Major Campbell recites lines he says he once wrote in an album; the wording also circulated as Kingsley’s poem “A Farewell.” The record keeps the novel’s fictional-speaker setting rather than presenting the lines as detached productivity advice.

Amiel's Journal, entry dated April 6, 1866, in Mary Augusta Ward’s public-domain English translation; the entry reflects on the qualities of a gentleman.

The Montessori Elementary Material (1917), Arthur Livingston translation, Part IV, Geometry, Chapter I, “Plane Geometry,” beginning on printed page 260 and continuing onto page 261, Project Gutenberg #42869. Montessori links long spontaneous work with the geometric material to reasoning, character and higher cognitions within her method. The passage remains an early-twentieth-century pedagogical/developmental claim and is not presented as a universally established modern cognitive-effect estimate.

Plato, Protagoras, approximately Stephanus 329c–d; Socrates asks Protagoras about the unity of virtue after the sophist describes civic instruction and the acquisition of good character. Protagoras, not Socrates, answers that its qualities are distinct parts. Exact sentence from Benjamin Jowett English, Project Gutenberg #1591, in the dialogue proper after the opening philosophical and mythic arguments, not in translator commentary.

Character, Chapter I, “Influence of Character,” Project Gutenberg #2541. It immediately follows the discussion of small acts and daily discipline, with Smiles describing action, thought and feeling as continuously educating temper, habits and understanding.

Proverbs 22:4 in the King James Version.

Character, Chapter I, “Influence of Character,” Project Gutenberg #2541. Near the opening, Smiles contrasts admiration for genius with the more durable respect secured by character, framing the latter as a power of conduct rather than intellect alone.

Character, Chapter I, “Influence of Character,” Project Gutenberg #2541. Smiles introduces the sentence while explaining that character is formed by many minute circumstances under partial individual control, so each day contributes discipline for good or ill.

The Man with the Muck-Rake, April 14, 1906. Roosevelt is discussing public criticism, journalism and slander; the surrounding speech simultaneously calls for relentless exposure of genuine wrongdoing when the attack is truthful.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Chapter III, “A Controversy,” Project Gutenberg #969. Gilbert Markham argues that a son should learn to meet obstacles rather than have every stone cleared from his path; Helen Graham immediately challenges the gendered educational distinction behind the argument. It is one side of a fictional debate, not Anne Brontë’s unqualified parenting rule.

1 Peter 5:5 in the King James Version; this excerpt keeps the central humility clause.

My Larger Education, Chapter I, “Learning from Men and Things”; Project Gutenberg #73923. The sentence continues Washington’s argument that confronting difficult practical problems can develop strength and clarity rather than merely consume effort.

Plato, Laws, Book V, the Athenian Stranger giving an extended civic-ethical exhortation to Cleinias and Megillus; Benjamin Jowett English, Gutenberg #1750. This is dialogue speech, not commentary in Jowett’s introduction. The local dramatic voice is the Athenian Stranger, not Socrates or Plato personally.

Pudd’nhead Wilson, Chapter XIX epigraph; one of the Calendar maxims before the chapter.

Lyceum Address, January 27, 1838. This is a short clause from Lincoln’s extended call for reverence for law in homes, schools and public institutions, made in the immediate context of mob violence; it should not be read as a claim that every law is just.

Proverbs 16:18 in the King James Version; the proverb warns that pride and haughtiness can precede destruction or a fall.

Civil Disobedience; represented Wikisource text. This sentence belongs to Thoreau’s abolitionist and antiwar case for noncooperation with an unjust government, not a context-free instruction for ordinary legal disputes.

Architects of Fate; Project Gutenberg #21622. Period gendered language is preserved as source wording rather than silently modernized.

How to Succeed; the sentence appears in Marden’s discussion of temptation, aspiration, and the damage caused when self-respect is surrendered.

The Power of Truth, “The Courage to Face Ingratitude.” Project Gutenberg #56020; first published August 1902. Jordan’s standard is moral perseverance, not indifference to all criticism.

Luke 12:48 in the King James Version; this excerpt keeps the central responsibility clause.

The Twilight of the Idols, “Maxims and Missiles,” maxim 10, Anthony M. Ludovici translation, Project Gutenberg #52263. This record uses the first two sentences; Nietzsche immediately follows them with a more provocative remark about pangs of conscience.

The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, saying 997, D. Lyman Jr. translation (1856).

Benjamin Franklin, The Morals of Chess, rule 3 in the reviewed public-domain Wikisource transcription. 'No false move should ever be made...' appears in Franklin's etiquette for fair play and functions as an ethical analogy about honesty in competition, not game-theory or behavioral-science evidence.

Aequanimitas, valedictory address delivered at the University of Pennsylvania on May 1, 1889; reviewed against the represented 1906 second edition of Aequanimitas with Other Addresses, Internet Archive identifier aequanimitaswith00osle_0. Osler defines imperturbability as ‘coolness and presence of mind under all circumstances,’ immediately followed by ‘calmness amid storm’ and ‘clearness of judgment in moments of grave peril.’ This remains historical medical-professional rhetoric about composure, not clinical guidance or an instruction to suppress emotion.

Considerations on Representative Government (1861), Chapter V, “Of the Proper Functions of Representative Bodies,” Project Gutenberg #5669. This is historical constitutional and administrative theory rather than a current hiring standard.

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman; the passage rejects a separate moral standard built around sex rather than shared human duties.

The Future of the American Negro, Chapter VIII; Project Gutenberg #26507. This short excerpt appears in Washington’s closing policy discussion, where he distinguishes ordinary political cooperation from cases involving a question of right or wrong and advises standing by principle in those cases.

“The Greatest Thing in the World,” in The Greatest Thing in the World and Other Addresses, Project Gutenberg #16739. Drummond explicitly places Humility among the “ingredients” of Christian love and glosses it as love that does not vaunt itself.

Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey; the speaker reflects on small, often unremembered acts of kindness and love.

Meditations 6.6; wording varies by translation.

Character, Chapter I, “Influence of Character,” Project Gutenberg #2541. Smiles places the sentence in his discussion of veracity and reliableness, arguing that talent or genius cannot command durable confidence unless conduct can be trusted.

Character Building, “The Highest Education,” Project Gutenberg #60484. Washington defines education broadly enough to include considerate treatment of people facing poverty, disability or other misfortune; this sentence appears in that address’s discussion of gentleness and sympathy.

Plato, Gorgias, approximately Stephanus 491d–e, Socrates answering Callicles’s question about ruling oneself. Callicles promptly disputes the value of temperance. Full sentence in Benjamin Jowett’s English translation, Project Gutenberg #1672, within the Gorgias dialogue proper (not Jowett’s introductory essay). Socrates is the local dramatic speaker; the line is not Plato’s autobiographical speech. An ancient ethical argument, not experimental mental-health evidence.

Admetus, published in Admetus and Other Poems (1871) and represented by Project Gutenberg #3295. Alcestis speaks while challenging those unwilling to sacrifice themselves for Admetus. The excerpt stops before the poem’s explicit self-sacrificial conclusion and is preserved as classical-myth character speech, not an endorsement of self-harm or Lazarus autobiography.