"There are so many young Spurgeons, but so few of them grow up." - anonymous

"A character is like an acrostic or Alexandrine stanza, read it forward, backward or across, it still spells the same thing." - Emerson

"We know that the premise of privatization is flawed because who we are in public is determined by what we have learned and cherished in private. …But it is a mindless philosophy that assumes that one's private beliefs have nothing to do with public office. Does it make sense to entrust those who are immoral in private with the power to determine the nation's moral issues and, indeed, its destiny? One of the most dangerous and terrifying trends in America today is the disregard for character as a central necessity in a leader's credentials. The duplicitous soul of a leader can only make a nation more sophisticated in evil." - Christian apologist, Dr. Ravi Zacharias

"The main ingredient of good leadership is good character. This is because leadership involves conduct, and conduct is determined by values. You may call these values by many names. "Ethics," "morality," and "integrity" come to mind, but this much is clear: Values are what make us who we are." - General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Imprimis, March 1998, page 5

"The minister's shortcomings simply cannot be concealed. Even the most trivial soon get known…However trifling their offenses, these little things seem great to others, since everyone measures sin, not by the size of the offense, but by the standing of the sinner." - John Chrysostom (347-407)

"He who is required by the necessity of his position to speak the highest things is compelled by the same necessity to exemplify the highest things." - Gregory the Great (540-604)

"Prayer, meditation, and temptation make a minister." - Martin Luther

"Those whom the Lord has destined for this great office he previously provides with the armor which is requisite for the discharge of it, that they may not come empty and unprepared." - John Calvin

"I go out to preach with two propositions in mind. First, every person ought to give his life to Christ. Second, whether or not anyone else gives him his life, I will give him mine." - Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)

"No man can for any considerable time wear one face to himself and another to the multitude without finally getting bewildered as to which is the true one." - Nathaniel Hawthorne

"We cannot measure spiritual force by rules of philosophy or definitions of theology any more than by a carpenter's rule or chemist's scales. It is 'with the heart man believeth unto righteousness.' And yet, the character of a man's thoughts has much to do with success or failure in the spiritual life. He is influenced by what he thinks." - T. Henry Howard in Fuel for Sacred Flame

"The supreme test of goodness is not in the greater but in the smaller incidents of our character and practice; not what we are when standing in the searchlight of public scrutiny, but when we reach the firelight flicker of our homes; not what we are when some clarion-call rings through the air, summoning us to fight for life and liberty, but our attitude when we are called to sentry-duty in the grey morning, when the watch-fire is burning low. It is impossible to be our best at the supreme moment if character is corroded and eaten into by daily inconsistency, unfaithfulness, and besetting sin." - F. B. Meyer in Our Daily Walk

"Being discipled toward godliness isn't accomplished in a ten-week class; it is accomplished by spending time with a godly individual-walking with him, feeling his heartbeat, hearing him speak, and seeing him pray." - John MacArthur, Jr.

"You can no more blame your circumstances for your character than you can the mirror for your looks!" - anonymous

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Character is what you possess when you leave, but reputation is what you have when you arrive." - anonymous

"Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses or avoids." - anonymous

"We're living in a generation weary of words but hungry for reality. The world wants to know how to cope with tragic situations. It watches like a hawk, looking for people who take God seriously. There is nothing more potent than a Christian in a crisis situation using divine resources." - anonymous

"No man should be pitied because every day of his life he faces a hard, stubborn problem. It is the man who has no problems to solve, no hardships to face, who is to be pitied. He has nothing in his life which will strengthen and form his character, nothing to call out his latent powers and deepen and widen his hold on life." - Booker T. Washington (Quoted in Lifeline, Apr. 1996, page 1)

"The church has lost much of its authority to address the slide into the moral morass because some of our leaders have produced lives that make them candidates for talk shows. I think we need a new revolution. Our world is trying to outsin the devil himself, and we're flocking to the latest spiritual circus!"

"I'm tired of hearing about 'anointing.' I'm tired of hearing about how 'inspired' a new preacher is, or what new spiritual manifestation is coming down from heaven. Instead I want to see character. I want to see men who have made the hard moral decisions and thus have embodied the excellence of the Christian faith. I want to hear about people who have made every effort to add to their faith goodness…" - Gary Thomas (in World, Apr. 8, 1995)

Character