quotes, quotations and passages on reputation

You can't build a reputation
on what you're going to do.

Henry Ford

We sometimes speak of winning reputation as though that were the final goal. The truth is contrary to this. Reputation is a reward, to be sure, but it is really the beginning, not the end of the endeavor. It should not be the signal for a letdown, but rather, a reminder that the standards which won recognition can never be lowered. From those who give much--much is forever after expected. Alvan McCauley

Reputation is what others think of us; character is what God knows of us. When you have spent what feels like eternity trying to repair a few moments of time that destroyed the view others once had of you then you must ask yourself if you have the problem or is it really them? God doesn’t make us try so hard, only enemies do. Shannon L. Alder

Regard your good name as the richest jewel you can possibly be possessed of--for credit is like fire; when once you have kindled it you may easily preserve it, but if you once extinguish it, you will find it an arduous task to rekindle it again. The way to a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear. Socrates

As I am an honest man, I thought you had received some bodily wound. There is more sense in that than in reputation. Reputation is an idle and most false imposition, oft got without merit and lost without deserving. William Shakespeare Othello

If I take care of my character, my reputation will take care of itself.

D.L. Moody

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If you are worrying about reputation, you are taking
time away from doing the things that really matter.

Taite Adams
E-Go

If you want to make progress, put up with being perceived
as ignorant or naive in worldly matters, don't aspire to a
reputation for sagacity. If you do impress others as somebody,
don't altogether believe it. You have to realize, it isn't easy to
keep your will in agreement with nature, as well as externals.
Caring about the one inevitably means you are going
to shortchange the other.

Epictetus
The Art of Living

Your reputation is in the hands of others. That's what the reputation is.
You can't control that. The only thing you can control is your character.

Wayne W. Dyer

Be more concerned with character than reputation. Character is
what you are, reputation is what people think you are.

John Wooden

If you can dispense with reputation, then you are free from care.
Reputation is only a visitor, but reality is here to stay.

Liezi
Lieh-tzu: A Taoist Guide to Practical Living

A reputation once broken may possibly be repaired, but the
world will always keep their eyes on the spot where the crack was.

Joseph Hall

The circumstances amid which you live determine your reputation; the truth you believe determines your character.

Reputation is what you are supposed to be; character is what you are.

Reputation is the photograph; character is the face.

Reputation comes over one from without; character grows up from within.

Reputation is what you have when you come to a new community; character is what you have when you go away.

Your reputation is learned in an hour; your character does not come to light for a year.

Reputation is made in a moment; character is built in a lifetime.

Reputation grows like a mushroom; character grows like the oak.

A single newspaper report gives you your reputation; a life of toil gives you your character.

Reputation makes you rich or makes you poor; character makes you happy or makes you miserable.

Reputation is what people say about you on your tombstone; character is what angels say about you before the throne of God.

William Hersey Davis

With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.

Margaret Mitchell

Our reputations are so out of our control that it's laughable how much
time and effort so many of us put into trying to "control" them.

Taite Adams
E-Go

The only happy author in this world is the one who is below the care of reputation.

Washington Irving

It takes many good deeds to build a good
reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.

Benjamin Frankilin

Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a
burden it was or what freedom really is.

Margaret Mitchell

Cautious, careful people always casting about to preserve their reputation
or social standards never can bring about reform. Those who are really in
earnest are willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation, and
publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathies with
despised ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences.

Susan B. Anthony

To have integrity one must be consistently honest and trustworthy in
everything one does. . . . When you have integrity, people know you
will do what you know is right. . . . It's knowing what you have to do
without someone telling you to do it. It is the core of a
person's--and a company's--reputation.

Dick Kovacevich

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The purest treasure mortal times afford
Is spotless reputation; that away,
Men are but gilded loam or painted clay.
A jewel in a ten-times-barr'd-up chest
Is a bold spirit in a loyal breast.
Mine honour is my life; both grow in one;
Take honour from me, and my life is done.

attributed to William Shakespeare

How happy the lot of the mathematician. He or she is judged solely by one's
peers, and the standard is so high that no colleague or rival
can ever win a reputation that is not deserved.

W.H. Auden

Reputation is what other people know about you.
Honor is what you know about yourself.

Lois Bujold

Reputation is seeming; character is being. Reputation is manufactured;
character is grown. Reputation is your photograph; there is a vast
difference between character and reputation. Reputation is what people
think we are; character is what God knows us to be. Reputation is
seeming; character is being. Reputation is the breath of people; character
is the inbreathing of the eternal God. One may for a time have a good
reputation and a bad character, or the reverse ; but not for long.

Robert Stuart MacArthur

A person's judgment is best when one can forget oneself and any reputation
one may have acquired and can concentrate wholly on making the right decisions.

Raymond Spruance

Character is the foundation stone upon which one must build to win
respect. Just as no worthy building can be erected on a weak foundation,
so no lasting reputation worthy of respect can be built on a weak character.

R.C. Samsel