Category Archives: Character Quotes
“Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.”
— Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833
“The right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the people thereon … has ever been justly deemed the only effectual guardian of every other right.” — James Madison, Virginia Resolutions, 1798
“We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die: Our won country’s honor, all call upon us for vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the cause, and the aid of the supreme being, in whose hands victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble actions.”
— George Washington, 1776
…because there are two sides to every question, and taking one with decision, and acting on it with effect, those who take the other will of course be hostile in proportion as they feel that effect.”
— Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, 1817
“If it be asked what is to restrain the House of Representatives from making legal discriminations in favor of themselves and a particular class of the society? I answer, the genius of the whole system, the nature of just and constitutional laws, and above all the vigilant and manly spirit which actuates the people of America, a spirit which nourishes freedom, and in return is nourished by it.”
— James Madison, Federalist No. 57, 1788
“Courage is the first of human qualities, because it is the quality which guarantees all others.” Winston Churchill
This is one of the most powerful character-based training videos I have ever seen. Produced by the Character Training Institute, this heart-warming instructional video uses an elementary school project to emphasize the importance of putting character first. So often, our culture focuses on treating the symptoms rather than fixing the problems….
– E. M. Gray
“And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever.”
—Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 18, 1781
Jefferson is referring to slavery, which he called a “great political and moral evil.”