Marcel Proust on character

Time passes, and little by little everything that we have spoken in falsehood becomes true.

In a separation it is the one who is not really in love who says the more tender things.

Happiness serves hardly any other purpose than to make unhappiness possible.

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