Seneca the Younger Quotes

She began to see that character is a better possession than money, rank, intellect, or beauty, and to feel that if greatness is what a wise man has defined it to be, 'truth, reverence, and good will,' then her friend Friedrich Bhaer was not only good, but great.

Man is worth more for what he is than for what he has.

Character is the most precious gift of education.

All religion teaches the virtues of love, altruism and patience, while showing us how to discipline and transform ourselves to achieve inner peace and a kind heart. Therefore, they are worthy of our respect.

What will tell in the end will be character and not a knowledge of letters.

Indeed the general natural Tendency of Reading good History, must be, to fix in the Minds of Youth deep Impressions of the Beauty and Usefulness of Virtue of all Kinds, Publick Spirit, Fortitude.

Humility is the mother of all virtues, courage the father, integrity the child and wisdom the grandchild.

As to virtue . . . it is an act of the will, a habit which increases the quantity, intensity and quality of life. It builds up, strengthens and vivifies personality.

Skills can be taught. Character you either have or you don't have.

The ideal of character always runs beyond the attainment.

A man reveals his character even in the simplest things he does.

There has never been a man mean and at the same time virtuous.

Each one of us has both; good and evil virtues. Those who decide to focus on the good ones succeed in life.

There is no royal road or ready way to virtue.

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

Mercy can purge the soul of sin, making room for a fresh start. Truth is vital in order that we have an unvarying standard by which to determine what we are to be and to do and what we are to rid ourselves of. All the cardinal virtues, therefore, carry their own intrinsic as well as outward reward. A merciful man does do good to his own soul.

I don't think goodness is something that you learn. If you're left adrift in the world to learn goodness from it, you would be in trouble.

In the great battle of life, no brilliancy of intellect, no perfection of bodily development, will count when weighed in the balance against the assemblage of virtues, active and passive, of moral qualities which we group together under the name of character.

... character reigns preeminent in determining potential.

The absence of vices adds so little to the sum of one's virtues.

It's not what a man does, it's what a man is that counts!

Above all things, lose no occasion of exercising your dispositions to be grateful, to be generous, to be charitable, to be humane, to be true, just, firm, orderly, courageous, etc. Consider every act of this kind as an exercise which will strengthen your moral faculties and increase your worth.

We must have life building, man-making, character-making assimilation of ideas.

Everybody has an instinctive desire to do good things and avoid evil. But that desire is sterile as long as we have no experience of what it means to be good.

Our moral faculties must be placed highest, else they can no more flourish than could a plant growing under the shade and drip of trees.