Sydney J. Harris on character

Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.

When I hear somebody sigh, ‘Life is hard,’ I am always tempted to ask, ‘Compared to what?’

Nobody can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has just discovered an old idea and thinks it is his own.

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

John Wooden1910–2010

Noble character is best appreciated in those ages in which it can most readily develop.

Tacitus55–120

Character is higher than intellect… A great soul will be strong to live, as well as strong to think.

Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882The American Scholar (1837), par. 27