Presidential Character
Quotes on Character from former Presidents of the United States

• Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder. — George Washington, 1732-1799
• [The people] have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied of knowledge—I mean of the character and conduct of their rulers. — John Adams, 1735-1826
• [The qualities of a great man are] vision, integrity, courage, understanding, the power of articulation, and profundity of character. — Dwight Eisenhower, 1890-1969
• Character is the only secure foundation of the state. — Calvin Coolidge, 1872-1933
• The fact that a man is a newspaper reporter is evidence of some flaw of character. — Lyndon Johnson, 1908-1973
• If you will think about what you ought to do for other people, your character will take care of itself. Character is a by-product, and any man who devotes himself to its cultivation in his own case will become a selfish prig. — Woodrow Wilson, 1856-1924
• Americanism is a question of principle, of purpose, of idealism, of character. It is not a matter of birthplace or creed or line of descent.— Theodore Roosevelt, 1858-1919
• Respect for character is always diminished in proportion to the number among whom the blame or praise is to be divided. [Arguing against a large lower house in a debate at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, PA, 1787.] — James Madison, 1751-1836
• Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing. — Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865
• I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside me. — Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865
• You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jelly beans. — Ronald Reagan, 1911-
• This mode of electioneering suited neither my taste nor my principles. I thought it equally unsuitable to my personal character and to the station in which I am placed. [This was said by Adams when he was asked to open the Pennsylvania canal and speak to a group of farmers as President of the United States.] — John Quincy Adams, 1767-1848
• With all the power that a President has, the most important thing to bear in mind is this: You must not give power to a man unless, above everything else, he has character. Character is the most important qualification the President of the United States can have." [From TV ad for Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign in 1964.] — Richard Nixon, 1913-1994