Character quotes — Page 3

Character, Chapter I, “Influence of Character,” Project Gutenberg #2541. In the chapter’s discussion of duty in ordinary life, Smiles argues that the virtues most needed in everyday conduct exert the widest and most lasting influence.

Men of Invention and Industry, Chapter X, “Industry in Ireland: Through Connaught and Ulster to Belfast”; Project Gutenberg #725. Period capitalization and gendered wording are preserved as source text.

Self-Help, Chapter IX, “Men of Business,” Project Gutenberg #935. The line appears in the chapter’s discussion of honesty in business: Smiles argues that even temporary material loss is preferable to sacrificing character, which he describes as a fortune in itself.

Self-Help, Chapter XII, “Example—Models,” Project Gutenberg #935. Smiles argues that character education depends heavily on models because people unconsciously mould themselves after the characters, manners, habits and opinions around them.

Self-Help, Chapter XI, “Self-Culture—Facilities and Difficulties,” Project Gutenberg #935. In the discussion of decision and promptitude, Smiles argues that excessive guidance can weaken self-reliance and that lack of confidence can obstruct improvement by discouraging prompt action.

Thrift, Chapter XIV, “Riches and Charity,” Project Gutenberg #14418. Smiles argues that money alone cannot reform conduct and says change from intemperance, improvidence and irreligion requires earnest purpose, self-devotion and hard work; that nineteenth-century reform context is preserved.

Thrift, Preface; original Preface dated London, November 1875, verified in Project Gutenberg #14418’s represented John Murray Fiftieth Thousand witness (London, 1892). Smiles introduces the book as a sequel to Self-Help and Character and writes that thrift is the basis of Self-Help and the foundation of much that is excellent in Character. This remains Victorian conduct-of-life and moral-economic argument rather than current financial guidance.

Letter 71 argues that what is honorable is the only complete good.

Letter 82 examines fear, death, and the difference between brave and merely unavoidable action.

The Man with the Muck-Rake, April 14, 1906. This sentence begins a qualification that such critics remain useful only if they know when to stop; the speech is not a blanket rejection of investigative journalism.

The New Nationalism, Osawatomie, Kansas, August 31, 1910. This is Progressive Era political argument about public welfare, economic power and government responsibility, not current policy guidance.

The New Nationalism, August 31, 1910. The sentence occurs in Roosevelt’s argument for regulation and graduated taxation of large fortunes; it is historical political-economic rhetoric rather than modern financial advice.

Past and Present, Book III, Chapter XII, “Reward,” printed page 251 in Thomas Carlyle’s Collected Works, Library Edition, Vol. XIII (London: Chapman and Hall), Project Gutenberg #26159. “All true Work is sacred” begins Carlyle’s theological claim that true labour contains “something of divineness”; it remains Victorian religious and social-polemical rhetoric rather than an empirical claim about every form of employment.

Marmion, Canto VI, stanza XVII, Project Gutenberg #4010, transcribed from the 1888 Cassell & Company edition. “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive!” is the narrator’s moral comment as Marmion realizes that his own intrigue is closing around him. It remains narrative commentary inside Scott’s historical romance in verse rather than a standalone empirical rule.

Rip Van Winkle, Project Gutenberg #64636. The narrator applies this satirical and strongly gendered sentence to Dame Van Winkle during Rip’s unhappy marriage; it is period literary characterization, not a universal claim about women or relationships.

The Woman in White, Third Epoch, ‘The Story Continued by Walter Hartright,’ section II, Project Gutenberg #583. Walter tells Marian ‘The best men are not consistent in good—why should the worst men be consistent in evil?’ while they assess Count Fosco after Marian reports his warning. It remains fictional moral reasoning about a particular antagonist rather than an empirical rule about human behavior.

Self-Control, Its Kingship and Majesty, “The Kingship of Self-Control.” Project Gutenberg #51469. The line belongs to late-nineteenth-century self-mastery literature and is not evidence that circumstance is irrelevant.

The Power of Truth, opening chapter, Project Gutenberg #56020; Jordan rejects the phrase “honesty is the best policy” as too transactional.

The Power of Truth, opening chapter, Project Gutenberg #56020; the dash is retained from the represented public-domain text.

The Power of Truth, opening chapter, Project Gutenberg #56020; Jordan contrasts truthful dealing with deliberately creating a false impression.

The Power of Truth, opening chapter, Project Gutenberg #56020; the “pure gold” comparison belongs to Jordan’s description of sincere speech.

The Power of Truth, opening chapter, Project Gutenberg #56020; the sentence summarizes Jordan’s conduct-of-life definition of truth.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene 2; Helena describes Hermia during the lovers’ quarrel. Verified in the scan-backed 1918 Yale Shakespeare edition edited by Willard Higley Durham; direct evidence resolves to the reviewed Act III transcription.

The Merchant of Venice, Act 2, Scene 2; Launcelot uses the phrase while revealing his identity to his father.