Ability may get you to the top but it’s character that will keep you there.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
Be not niggardly of what costs thee nothing, as courtesy, counsel and countenance.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
Be not overcome by evil but repay evil with good.
Bible
Beauty without virtue is a flower without perfume.
French (on beauty)
Character is easier kept than recovered.
English (on character and virtue)
Civility costs nothing and buys everything.
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762)
Do good and care not to whom.
Portuguese (on good and evil)
Do what comes natural.
unknown
Don’t hang your hat higher than you can reach.
Belizean (on balance and moderation)
Don’t talk unless you can improve the silence.
unknown
Don’t toot your own horn.
unknown
Each year one vicious habit rooted out, in time might make the worst man good throughout.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
Give credit where credit is due.
M. Floy (1834)
Good example is the best sermon.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
Good wine needs no bush.
R. Taverner (1545)
Goodness does not consist in greatness but greatness in goodness.
Athenaeus (c.200)
Grace thou thy house and let not that grace thee.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
Handsome is as handsome does.
Anthony Munday (1553-1633)
Idleness and pride tax with a heavier hand than kings and parliaments.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
If evils come not then our fears are in vain; and if they do, fear but augments the pain.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
If I keep my character, I’ll be rich enough.
Plutonius
If you are not good for yourself, how can you be good for others.
Spanish (on character and virtue)
If you make yourself into a doormat, people will wipe their feet on you.
Belizean (on character and virtue)
If you want to lift yourself up, lift someone else up.
Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)
If you’ld have a servant that you like, serve yourself.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
It is better to take many injuries than to give one.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
It is easy to kick a person when he is down.
Aesop (c.620-560 BC)
It’s an ill bird that fouls his own nest.
Latin Proverb
No one is hurt by doing the right thing.
Hawaiian (on good and evil)
Nobility is not a birthright, but is defined by one’s actions.
Darren Bateman
Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
Dalai Lama
Outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth.
Aesop, thanks to A. Fonda-Marsland
People show their character by what they laugh at.
German (on character and virtue)
Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
Dalai Lama
Seek virtue and of that posest, to Providence resign the rest.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
Sweet are the slumbers of a virtuous man.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719)
td>Caesar did not merit the triumphal car more than he that conquers himself.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
The best way to keep good acts in memory is to repeat them.
Cato (234-149 BC)
The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830)
The one who understands does not speak; the one who speaks does not understand.
Chinese (on paradox)
The pleasure of doing good is the only one that will not wear out.
Chinese (on good and evil)
The real art of conversation is not only saying the right thing at the right moment but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the most tempting moment.
unknown (thanks to fullmoonsis)
The wise and the brave dares own that he was wrong.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
Virtue alone is true nobility.
William Gifford (1756-1826)
Virtue is like a rich stone, it’s best plain set.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Wealth and content are not always bedfellows.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
What you cannot avoid, welcome.
Chinese Proverb
When love and skill go together, expect a masterpiece.
John Ruskin (1819-1900)
When you go to a donkey’s house, don’t talk about ears.
Jamaican (on courtesy and respect)
Where you were born is less important than how you live.
Turkish (on character and virtue)
Who is strong? He that can conquer his bad habits.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
You are what you eat.
German Proverb
You become what you think about.
Buddha (Thanks to Ami Kapilevich for the correction)
You can’t stop a pig from wallowing in the mud.
Yoruba – West Africa (on character and virtue)
