Jean-Jacques Rousseau on character

To write a good love letter, you ought to begin without knowing what you mean to say and to finish without knowing what you have written.

A country cannot subsist well without liberty, nor liberty without virtue.

What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?

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