Henry Ward Beecher Character Quotations

Happiness is not the end of life: character is.

A reputation for good judgment, for fair dealing, for truth, and for rectitude, is itself a fortune.

A man's character is the reality of himself; his reputation, the opinion others have formed about him; character resides in him, reputation in other people; that is the substance, this is the shadow.

Conscience is the frame of character, and love is the covering for it.

Many men are mere warehouses full of merchandise--the head, the heart, are stuffed with goods. . . . There are apartments in their souls which were once tenanted by taste, and love, and joy, and worship, but they are all deserted now, and the rooms are filled with earthy and material things.

Character, like porcelain-ware, must be painted before it is glazed. There can be no change of color after it is burned in.

A man's true estate of power and riches is to be in himself; not in his dwelling or position or external relations, but in his own essential character.

We never know how much one loves till we know how much he is willing to endure and suffer for us; and it is the suffering element that measures love. The characters that are great must, of necessity, be characters that shall be willing, patient and strong to endure for others. To hold our nature in the willing service of another is the divine idea of manhood, of the human character.

The little troubles and worries of life may be as stumbling blocks in our way, or we may make them stepping-stones to a nobler character and to Heaven. Troubles are often the tools by which God fashions us for better things.

There are not anywhere else so many ways of trickery, so many false lights, so many veils, so many guises, so many illusive deceits, as are practiced in every man's conscience in respect to his motives, thoughts, feelings, conduct, and character.

Morality is character and conduct such as is required by the circle or community in which the man's life happens to be placed. It shows how much good men require of us.

The test of Christian character should be that a man is a joy-bearing agent to the world.

The Bible stands alone in human literature in its elevated conception of manhood, in character and conduct.

As flowers always wear their own colors and give forth their own fragrance every day alike, so should Christians maintain their character at all times and under all circumstances.

Little lies are very dangerous, because there are so many of them, and because each one of them scours upon the character as diamond-pointed.

There is in youth a purity of character which, when once touched and defiled, can never be restored; a fringe more delicate than frost-work, and which, when torn and broken, can never be re-embroidered.

Religion is the fruit of the Spirit, a Christian character, a true life.