Dan Coats Quotes

If joy and peace and rewards were instantaneously given the doer of good, there would be no evil-all would do good but not because of the rightness of doing good. There would be no test of strength, no development of character, no growth of powers, no free agency, only satanic controls.

Character is not the enemy of self-expression and personal freedom, it is their necessary precondition.

And what, incidentally, do you think integrity is? The ability not to pick a watch out of your neighbor's pocket? No, it's not as easy as that. If that were all, I'd say ninety-five percent of humanity were honest, upright men. Only, as you can see, they aren't. Integrity is the ability to stand by an idea.

Good character is more to be praised than outstanding talent. Most talents are, to some extent, a gift. Good character, by contrast, is not given to us. We have to build it, piece by piece - by thought, choice, courage, and determination.

Where there is no temptation, there is no virtue.

The future success of our nation depends on our ability to understand the difference between right and wrong and to have the strength of character to make the right choices.

Integrity is the factor that determines which one will prevail. We struggle daily with situations that demand decisions between what we want to do and what we ought to do. Integrity establishes the ground rules for resolving these tensions. it determines who we are and how we will respond before the conflict even appears. Integrity welds what we say, think, and do, into a whole person so that permission is never granted for one of these to be out of sync.

I profoundly believe it takes a lot of practice to become a moral slob.

Virtue consists, not in abstaining from vice, but in not desiring it.

Virtue is something you have to get good at, like playing the trombone or tolerating bores at parties. Being a virtuous human being takes practice; and those who are brilliant at being human (what Christians call the saints) are the virtuosi of the moral sphere - the Pavarottis and Maradonas of virtue.

Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike.

Character teaches above our wills.

We manifest character when self-sacrifice for the sake of our principles becomes more important than compromise for the sake of popularity.

You don't luck into integrity. You work at it.

Your ideas about right and wrong are just that-ideas. They are the thoughts which form the shape and create the substance of Who You Are. There would be only one reason to change any of these; only one purpose in making an alteration: if you are not happy with Who You Are.

Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains, rather than do an immoral act.

The greatest work in all the world is the building of men and women of character. Without character there is not much that is worthwhile.

Strong moral character results from consistent correct choices in the trials and testing of life. Your faith can guide you to those correct choices.

Integrity is not a given factor in everyone's life. It is a result of self-discipline, inner trust, and a decision to be relentlessly honest in all situations in our lives.

Lord, give me the wisdom to know what's right and the courage to do what's right-even when it's hard.

He who possesses greatness is cruel towards his secondary virtues and considerations.

A man who is good from docility, and not from stern self-control, has no character.

A person may be qualified to do greater good to mankind and become more beneficial to the world, by morality without faith than by faith without morality.

There is no satisfaction that can compare with looking back across the years and finding you've grown in self-control, judgment, generosity, and unselfishness.

Christianity is not so much the advent of a better doctrine as of a perfect character.