Charlie Haden Quotes

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

Just recently I worked with Van Morrison and I came to realize that money can't make a decent human being out of you.

I want to be a good human being.

We must study as hard how to live well as how to preach well.

[Benjamin Franklin]identified thirteen virtues he wanted to cultivate--temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity and humility--and made a chart with those virtues plotted against the days of the week. Each day, Franklin would score himself on whether he practiced those thirteen virtues.

Let us go home and cultivate our virtues.

If a man does not have an ideal and try to live up to it, then he becomes a mean, base and sordid creature, no matter how successful.

Try to be all you can be to be the best human being you can be. Try to be that in your church, in your temple. Try to be that in your classroom. Do it because it is right to do.

I wish I were as good a man as my son is.

It is my intention to live an authentic life of compassion and integrity and action.

I want them to come away with discovering the music inside them. And not thinking about themselves as jazz musicians, but thinking about themselves as good human beings, striving to be a great person and maybe they'll become a great musician.

I can tell you character traits I admire and work to develop in myself - perseverance, self-discipline, courage to stand up for what is right even when it is against one's friends or one's self.

The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become.

Strength of character may be learned at work, but beauty of character is learned at home.

It's my job to try and be as good a person as I can, and that's enough work for me.

I've certainly had a lot of experiences in my life where I was much too self-centered.

If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.

Find people not to envy but to admire. Do not the profitable but the admirable deed. Live by ideals.

I hope that I've been able to treat people with the respect they've shown me. That's basically the tenet you try to live by. I haven't been successful at it all my life, but that's what I strive for.

I'm just very interested in how we, as people, can live the right way.

I'm just like you - I want to be a good human being. I'm doing my best, and I'm working at it. And I'm trying to be a Christian. I'm always amazed when people walk up to me and say, 'I'm a Christian.' I always think, 'Already? You've already got it?' I'm working at it. And at my age, I'll still be working at it at 96.

I don't want to just be the best player. I want to be a great person, too.

An arrogant person considers himself perfect. This is the chief harm of arrogance. It interferes with a person's main task in life - becoming a better person.

I don't believe in stardom or in the number game. What I concentrate more is on my work and how I can improve my character.

I like having fun, but the most important thing is to be as good a person as you can be.