Etty Hillesum Quotes

My beliefs will run through everything I do. My beliefs, my values are my anchor and when people try to drag me, as I know they will, it is to that sense of right and wrong, that sense of who I am and what I believe, to which I will always hold.

Strength of character does not consist solely in having powerful feelings, but in maintaining one’s balance in spite of them

If you really have integrity, there are very few people who can insult you, or honor you.

My character has always been important to me. That was the one thing that I knew, no matter what, I had to hold that strong.

Not to be cheered by praise, not to be grieved by blame, but to know thoroughly ones own virtues or powers are the characteristics of an excellent man.

The strongest thing that any human being has going is their own integrity and their own heart. As soon as you start veering away from that, the solidity that you need in order to be able to stand up for what you believe in and deliver what's really inside, it's just not going to be there.

Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.

Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.

A man's character is his guardian divinity.

Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

The greatest man is he who chooses the Right with invincible resolution, who resists the sorest temptations from within and without, who bears the heaviest burdens cheerfully, who is calmest in storms and most fearless under menace and frowns, whose reliance on truth, on virtue, on God, is most unfaltering. I believe this greatness to be most common among the multitude, whose names are never heard.

I have learned that as long as I hold fast to my beliefs and values - and follow my own moral compass - then the only expectations I need to live up to are my own.

If every choice you make comes from an honest place, you're solid, and nothing anybody can say about you can rock you or change your opinion.

Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.

I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! That is character!

In life, you need some backbone. You need to stand for something.

Muscles are fleeting. Bodies give out. But integrity, honor? The confidence to be oneself, to follow one's heart? The compassionate drive to help others, even at great risk? That's strength.

Dad lived his life in a way that it was his character, not his circumstances, that dictated what his life looked like.

I never compromised my integrity by playing a character. I didn't tweet anybody something crazy. I was just myself, kept winning and stayed ready. I didn't sell my soul.

A big part of honesty is self-discipline, personal resolve, and taking pride in who you are as a person and what each action means to your character.

Self-respect will keep a man from being abject when he is in the power of enemies, and will enable him to feel that he may be in the right when the world is against him.

We repeat again: strength of character does not consist solely in having powerful feelings, but in maintaining one’s balance in spite of them. Even with the violence of emotion, judgment and principle must still function like a ship’s compass, which records the slightest variations however rough the sea.

No matter what is the environment around you, it is always possible to maintain your brand of integrity

It is attitude, infinitely more than circumstance, that determines the quality of life. Life is often quite tough, challenging us to choose between seemingly esoteric, intangible ideals and getting goodies or good vibes right now. You have character when you most often choose ideals.

One must, so long as there is any life left, back up the character of one's life.