Echoes

Character is the virtue of hard times.

It is difficulties that show what men are.

Occasions of adversity best discover how great virtue or strength each one hath. For occasions do not make a man frail, but they show what he is.

So it is more useful to watch a man in times of peril, and in adversity to discern what kind of man he is; for then at last words of truth are drawn from the depths of his heart, and the mask is torn off, reality remains.

Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

Ten thousand do not turn the scale against a single man of worth.

All authority is in the throne; and what is the throne? This wooden frame covered with velvet? No, I am the throne.

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

Conquering the world on horseback is easy; it is dismounting and governing that is hard.

The lion who breaks the enemy's ranks is a minor hero compared to the lion who overcomes himself.

That which does not kill us makes us stronger.

The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity — even under the most difficult circumstances — to add a deeper meaning to his life. It may remain brave, dignified and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more than an animal. Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not.

Grace under pressure.

My Son, patience and humility in adversities are more pleasing to Me than much comfort and devotion in prosperity.

Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!' If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And—which is more—you'll be a Man, my son!

The best fighter is never angry.

I don't want to be interesting. I want to be good.

It seems to me that the simple acceptance of this fundamental fact of American life, this acknowledgment that the law of work is the fundamental law of our being, will help us to start aright in facing not a few of the problems that confront us from without and from within. As regards internal affairs, it should teach us the prime need of remembering that, after all has been said and done, the chief factor in any man's success or failure must be his own character—that is, the sum of his common sense, his courage, his virile energy and capacity. Nothing can take the place of this individual factor.

What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.

Virtue is the root; wealth is the result.

The man of virtue makes the difficulty to be overcome his first business, and success only a subsequent consideration.