Petrarch Quotes

My power for good, whatever it may, would be gone if I didn’t try to live up to the doctrines I have tried to preach.

I try to be a good person. I know what my downfalls are, so that's a good thing.

Good actions ennoble us, and we are the sons of our deeds.

Respect for self is the beginning of cultivating virtue in men and women.

I try to be a good person - I don't always succeed, but that's what I'm shooting for.

Our ideals are our better selves.

I just try to do my best and make the best judgments I can.

I'm not perfect in my walk but I want to do the right thing.

Good actions ennoble us, we are the sons of our own deeds.

Whether it's making a film or raising my children, personally I'm striving to do the right things and to learn.

You're always concerned for your character. You should be.

But whether it be dream or truth, to do well is what matters. If it be truth, for truth's sake. If not, then to gain friends for the time when we awaken.

I don't want to be interesting. I want to be good.

Whenever you do a thing, tho' it can never be known but to yourself, ask yourself how you would act were all the world looking at you and act accordingly.

I'm not Mother Teresa. But I'm not Frank Bough, either. I am getting older and a bit more sensible. I'm not going to be popping up in dungeons every six months. If you catch me preaching fidelity while I am shagging chickens then throw the book at me. Otherwise, leave me alone.

Therefore the superior man is watchful over himself, when he is alone.

To all the rest of his Absurdities, (for vice is always unreasonable,) he adds one more, who expects that Vertue from another which he won't practise himself.

A man should be upright, not be kept upright.

A man is simple when his chief care is the wish to be what he ought to be, that is honestly and naturally human.

It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.

Character isn't something you were born with and can't change, like your fingerprints. It's something you weren't born with and must take responsibility for forming.

I have to stay on top of myself with honesty and be very forthcoming, quickly admit when I'm wrong, you know? I have a whole system that works for me, and that's part of my worldview now.

I try to be the best man I can for the day.

Man should be ever better than he seems.

I see bad stuff on the street all the time that I don't do anything about. I do bad stuff myself all the time. The goal is not to somehow be perfect - that's silly, that's naive. The goal is to just recognize there are choices in front of us, and to try to make better ones.