Spiritual Quotes

Integrity

Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself. —Henry Ward Beecher

If you have assumed a character beyond your strength, you have both played a poor figure in that, and neglected one that is within your powers. —The Golden Sayings of Epictetus

Know you not that a good man does nothing for appearance’s sake, but for the sake of having done right? —The Golden Sayings of Epictetus

When you have decided that a thing ought to be done, and are doing it, never shun being seen doing it, even though the multitude should be likely to judge the matter amiss. For if you are not acting rightly, shun the act itself; if rightly, however, why fear misplaced censure? —The Golden Sayings of Epictetus

The great man has become such by the scrupulous and unselfish attention which he has given to small duties. He has become wise and powerful by sacrificing ambition and pride in the doing of those necessary things which evoke no applause and promise no reward. He never sought greatness; he sought faithfulness, unselfishness, integrity, truth; and in finding these in the common round of small tasks and duties he unconsciously ascended to the level of greatness. —James Allen, Byways of Blessedness

The truly honest man is honest in the minutest details of his life. The noble man is noble in every little thing he says and does. —James Allen, Byways of Blessedness

You are responsible for yourself, are accountable to yourself, therefore rely upon yourself. If you fear yourself, who will place confidence in you? If you are untrue to yourself, where shall you find the sweet satisfaction of Truth? —James Allen, Byways of Blessedness

The self-reliant man stands, not upon personal pride, but on an abiding law, principle, ideal, reality within himself. Upon this he poises himself, refusing to be swept from his strong foothold either by the waves of passion within or the storms of opinion without, but should he at any time lose his balance he quickly regains himself, and is fully restored. His happiness is entirely in his own hands. —James Allen, Byways of Blessedness

No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true. —Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man. —Shakespeare, Hamlet I:iii:78–80