Top 140 Michael Josephson Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “People who don’t believe in you are right only if you believe they are.”

— Michael Josephson

52. “Authentic gratitude is much more rare and precious than expressions of gratitude which are often empty courtesies or simply tactical ploys to encourage further gifts or kindnesses.”

— Michael Josephson

53. “The surest way to escape anxiety and defeat despair is action. Do, don’t dwell.”

— Michael Josephson

54. “No leader or organization can achieve breakout growth until it treats, “we’ve always done it this way” as an opportunity to think anew rather than as a reason to stop thinking. Keep in mind, tradition should be a guide, not a jailer.”

— Michael Josephson

55. “Character is ethics in action.”

— Michael Josephson

56. “Never do anything for another with the expectation of gratitude. The expectation itself turns the gift into an exchange and suggests a debt is owed you.”

— Michael Josephson

57. “What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.”

— Michael Josephson

58. “Go out there and do your part to change the world. You may not change all you had hoped but the world will be better for the caring demonstrated by your effort.”

— Michael Josephson

59. “Integrity, respect, compassion, and fairness become obstacles to people who think winning is everything.”

— Michael Josephson

60. “It is much more difficult to know what is fair than what is unfair.”

— Michael Josephson

61. “The real test of character is whether you will do the right thing even when it costs more than you want to pay.”

— Michael Josephson

62. “Gratitude should be felt and experienced sincerely, expressed generously and received graciously.”

— Michael Josephson

63. “Success comes in cans. Failures comes in can’ts.”

— Michael Josephson

64. “We all have three characters: the one we really have, the one we try to convince the world we have, and the one we think we have.”

— Michael Josephson

65. “Beware of people who constantly assert their integrity and honor. People of character don’t have to point it out.”

— Michael Josephson

66. “What will matter is not your success but your significance...”

— Michael Josephson

67. “One key to success is demanding more than adequacy, never settling for good enough and always doing a little bit more.”

— Michael Josephson

68. “Yes and no are very powerful words. Mean them when you say them. Respect them when you hear them.”

— Michael Josephson

69. “Sometimes the dues we pay to maintain integrity are pretty high, but the ultimate cost of moral compromise is so much higher.”

— Michael Josephson

70. “When you compete with someone as good or better than you, you may not always win, but you never lose.”

— Michael Josephson

71. “Character is just another term for “good person.” A person of character lives a worthy life guided by moral principles. A person of character is a good parent, a good friend, a good employee and a good citizen.”

— Michael Josephson

72. “Pretty isn’t beauty. Pretty is how you look; Beauty is who you are. Pretty is in the face and body; Beauty is in the heart, mind and soul. Pretty fades; Beauty grows.”

— Michael Josephson

73. “A certain formula for an unhappy life is pursue someone else’s definition of success. Until you define your own goals and purposes your life is not your own and there can be no sense of fulfillment no matter how much you achieve.”

— Michael Josephson

74. “To the barefoot man, happiness is a pair of shoes. To the man with old shoes, it’s a pair of new shoes. To the man with new shoes, it’s stylish shoes. And of course, the fellow with no feet would be happy to be barefoot. Measure your life by what you have not by what you don’t.”

— Michael Josephson

75. “Whatever you do, make a difference. Earn the right to look back at something and say, ‘I did that.’”

— Michael Josephson

76. “The opposite of success is not failure. Unsuccessful efforts are not failures unless they so discourage you that you abandon further efforts to achieve your goal. Even then, the venture or effort may be a failure but you are not. Failure is an event not a character trait.”

— Michael Josephson

77. “Our character is revealed by how we treat people who cannot help us or hurt us.”

— Michael Josephson

78. “If we keep treating our most important values as meaningless relics, that’s exactly what they’ll become.”

— Michael Josephson

79. “Lincoln described character is a tree and reputation as its shadow. The tree will always be what it is but the shadow we see depends on where we stand and the angle of the light.”

— Michael Josephson

80. “Someone who lies for you will also lie to you. The occasional benefit your business may gain from a successful deception or concealment is always outweighed by the encouragement it provides to those willing to risk trust for success.”

— Michael Josephson

81. “There is within you, waiting to be called, a great source of power called courage. Call its name and it will give you the strength to confront challenges despite fear and to continue and the heart to continue with bold confidence despite the pain of caused by tragedy.”

— Michael Josephson

82. “Character determines how we lead our lives, how we deal with life’s unearned fortunes and misfortunes and how we make choices that determine how those fortunes and misfortunes work to make us what we become.”

— Michael Josephson

83. “Character refers to dispositions and habits that determine the way that person normally responds to desires, fears, challenges, opportunities, failures and successes.”

— Michael Josephson

84. “Character – We describe the character of a person in reference to moral judgments about the worthiness of a person. Thus, to have a strong, great or honorable character is to be a person of merit, worthy of admiration and honor.”

— Michael Josephson

85. “A person of character seeks true happiness in living a life of purpose and meaning, placing a higher value on significance than success.”

— Michael Josephson

86. “Experimenting with drugs is like target practice where your head is the bull’s-eye.”

— Michael Josephson

87. “A person is said to have good character when their habits, dispositions and conduct reflect a deep commitment to ethical virtues and moral principles.”

— Michael Josephson

88. “Gratefulness is a payment everyone can afford.”

— Michael Josephson

89. “If you pay too much attention to your reputation, you could lose your character.”

— Michael Josephson

90. “It’s easier to make a good person better than to make a bad person good.”

— Michael Josephson

91. “You only tasted the water. I tasted the gift. The water was simply the container for an act of loving-kindness and nothing could be sweeter.”

— Michael Josephson

92. “It isn’t the absence of conscience or values that prevents us from being all we should be, it is simply the lack of moral courage.”

— Michael Josephson

93. “Necessity is not merely the father of invention; it is the father of courage.”

— Michael Josephson

94. “How many times do you get to lie before you are a liar?”

— Michael Josephson

95. “There is no adversity that cannot be overcome by good character.”

— Michael Josephson

96. “Ordinary people, even weak people, can do extraordinary things through temporary courage generated by a situation. But the person of character does not need the situation to generate his courage. It is a part of his being and a standard approach to all life’s challenges.”

— Michael Josephson

97. “There’s a hole in the moral ozone and it’s getting bigger.”

— Michael Josephson

98. “It is better to be unsuccessful pursuing a significant goal that being successful attaining an insignificant one.”

— Michael Josephson

99. “Creating a child takes no love or skill; being a parent requires lots of both.”

— Michael Josephson

100. “It’s actually easier to truly become a person of good character than to persuade others we are what we are not.”

— Michael Josephson