"Character is what can do without success












Good breeding a union of kindness and independence.
More Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes
"Character is that which can do without success.
"People do not seem to realise that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character.
"No change of circumstances can repair a defect of character.
"The objection to conforming to usages that have become dead to you is that it scatters your force. It loses your time and blurs the impression of your...
"Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.
"If we are related, we shall meet. It was a tradition of the ancient world, that no metamorphosis could hide a god from a god; and there is a Greek ver...
"The voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred tacks. See the line from a sufficient distance, and it straightens itself to the average ten...
"The alleged power to charm down insanity, or ferocity in beasts, is a power behind the eye.
"Life goes headlong. We chase some flying scheme, or we are hunted by some fear or command behind us. But if suddenly we encounter a friend, we pause; ...
"He is a dull observer whose experience has not taught him the reality and force of magic, as well as of chemistry.
"There are many eyes that can detect and honor the prudent and household virtues; there are many that can discern Genius on his starry track, though th...