The real test of your character is not how much you deal with adversity — although that will teach you much. The real test is how you deal with power. The only cure for power is humility and the admission that your power comes from luck. The small person believes they are superior; the superior person knows they are lucky.

Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test.

The test of character is how you treat the powerless.

The true test of character is what you do when no one will ever find out.

True character stands the test of emergencies. Do not be mistaken, it is weakness from which the awakening is rude.

The test of character is not 'hanging in there' when the light at the end of the tunnel is expected, but performance of duty and persistence of example when the situation rules out the possibility of the light ever coming.

The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.

There is no telling what a human character is. Until the test comes. To most of us the test comes early in life. A man is confronted quite soon with the necessity to stand on his own feet, to face dangers and difficulties and to take his own line of dealing with them. It may be the straight way, it may be the crooked way — - whichever it is, a man usually learns early just what he is made of.

Nearly all men can handle adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

If you want to test a man's character, give him power.

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.

No one of good character leaves behind a wasted life — whether they die in obscurity or renown. "Character," wrote the 19th Century evangelist, Dwight Moody, "is what you are in the dark." Your character is not tested on occasions of public scrutiny or acclaim. It is not tested in moments when the object of your actions is the regard of another. Your character is what you are to yourself, not what you pretend to be to yourself or others. Although human beings often attempt self-delusion, we cannot forever hide the truth about ourselves from ourselves. It will make itself known to us by means of our conscience despite our most strenuous effort to suppress it.

The real test of a man is not how well he plays the role he has invented for himself, but how well he plays the role that destiny assigned to him.

True character is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure - the greater the pressure, the deeper the revelation, the truer the choice to the character's essential nature.