Character is always known. Thefts never enrich; alms never impoverish; murder will speak out of stone walls.
Interpretation
True character reveals itself over time, and moral actions have intrinsic consequences.
This quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson emphasizes that a person's character is defined by their actions and will inevitably be revealed, regardless of attempts to conceal it. Emerson suggests that unethical behaviors, like theft and murder, do not lead to true wealth or power but rather highlight the integrity of individuals, while acts of kindness, such as giving alms, perpetuate a moral richness that benefits society as a whole.
In practice
In a motivational speech about the importance of ethics in leadership.
It is plain that there is no separate essence called courage, no cup or cell in the brain, no vessel in the heart containing drops or atoms that make or give this virtue; but it is the right or healthy state of every man, when he is free to do that which is constitutional to him to do.
Few people have any next, they live from hand to mouth without a plan, and are always at the end of their line.
Men cease to interest us when we find their limitations
Tis the good reader that makes the good book; a good head cannot read amiss: in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakeably meant for his ear.
The world belongs to the energetic.
Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
We must make automatic and habitual, as early as possible, as many useful actions as we can. . . . The more of the details of our daily life we can hand over to the effortless custody of automatism, the more our higher powers of mind will be set free for their own proper work.
Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.
I don't care whether the people believe me to be a prophet, seer, or revelator or not - I have been very profitable to this people, and I have seen a good many things, and I have revealed many things.
He had a mind so fine that no idea could violate it
It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice.
As I talk about strengths and weaknesses in academic economics, one interesting fact you are entitled to know is that I never took a course in economics. And with this striking lack of credentials, you may wonder why I have the chutzpah to be up here giving this talk. The answer is I have a black belt in chutzpah. I was born with it.
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