Rudolf Steiner Quotes

If you will think about what you ought to do for other people, your character will take care of itself. Character is a by-product, and any man who devotes himself to its cultivation in his own case will become a selfish prig.

Education lays hold of what is best in a person, but character lays hold of what is worse. It takes hold of a failing and by very skillful manipulation and training turns it into a perfection.

Good character improves every aspect of a person’s life.

Assume a virtue, if you have it not. That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat; Of habits devil, is angel yet in this.

Don't depend on death to liberate you from your imperfections. You are exactly the same after death as you were before. Nothing changes; you only give up the body. If you are a thief or a liar or a cheater before death, you don't become an angel merely by dying. If such were possible, then let us all go and jump in the ocean now and become angels at once! Whatever you have made of yourself thus far, so will you be hereafter. And when you reincarnate, you will bring that same nature with you. To change, you have to make the effort. This world is the place to do it.

That is why success and fruitfulness depend as much upon focusing on the "who" you are as much as the "what" of the work you do. Invest in your character, and it will give you the returns that you are looking for by only investing in the work itself. You can't do the latter without the former.

I happen to think we’ve set our ideal on the wrong objects; I happen to think that the greatest ideal man can set before himself is self-perfection.

It is easier to enrich ourselves with a thousand virtues, than to correct ourselves of a single fault.

Throughout our lives, we develop our character consciously or unconsciously. In your journey to a life beyond amazing, you'll learn to develop your character in ways that bring remarkable rewards.

The weakest man is the one who is able to correct his moral defects, but doesn't take action.

Everyone knows that weeds eat out the life of the garden and of the productive fields. It's like that in the building and developing of character. No one knows our own faults and tendencies better than we do ourselves, so that it is up to each one of us to keep the weeds out, and to keep all growth vigorous and fruitful.

We often pray for purity, unselfishness, for the highest qualities of character, and forget that these things cannot be given, but must be earned.

The safest principle through life, instead of reforming others, is to set about perfecting yourself.

If a man wants to be of the greatest possible value to his fellow-creature s let him begin the long, solitary task of perfecting himself.

If we would mend the World, we should mend Ourselves; and teach our Children to be, not what we are, but what they should be.

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.

To compose our character is our duty, not to compose books, and to win, not battles and provinces, but order and tranquility in our conduct. Our great and glorious masterpiece is to live appropriately. All other things, ruling, hoarding, building, are only little appendages and props, at most.

If you want the secondary greatness of recognized talent, focus first on primary greatness of character.

Placing the blame is a bad habit, but taking the blame is a sure builder of character

I believe that men are here to grow themselves into best good that they can be - at least, this is what I want to do.

The walls of that grand edifice called a good character have to be worked at during life.

Ethics is the activity of man directed to secure the inner perfection of his own personality.

I have discovered that we may be in some degree whatever character we choose. Besides, practice forms a man to anything.

If you want to be the best salesperson, first you must be the best person.

People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.