Character is what you do when no one is watching
Meaning: True virtue is shown not in public performances but in private actions when there are no witnesses.
Origin: Often credited to the basketball coach John Wooden, but no dated source ties the words to him. Similar lines were attributed earlier to the evangelist Dwight L. Moody — "Character is what you are in the dark," quoted in a 1930 biography by his son — and to the historian Thomas Babington Macaulay.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, and Japanese
- French: Le caractère, c'est ce qu'on fait quand personne ne regarde (literally: Character is what you do when no one is watching)
- Spanish: El carácter es lo que haces cuando nadie te mira (literally: Character is what you do when no one is watching)
- Japanese: 人格とは誰も見ていない時に何をするかだ (Jinkaku to wa dare mo mite inai toki ni nani wo suru ka da) (literally: Character is what you do when no one is watching)
More proverbs about Morality
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- Trust your friends, but cut the cards — Verify even trusted relationships through precautions; friendship doesn't eliminate the n…
- You attract more flies with honey than vinegar — Kindness and pleasantness persuade people more effectively than hostility or harshness.
- Good ale is meat, drink, and cloth. — A hearty drink can seem to nourish, refresh, and warm you all at once.
- Steal the goose, and give the giblets in alms. — Token charity from what you stole does nothing to redeem the theft.
From our idioms
- De hond in de pot vinden — To arrive too late — the food, or the opportunity, is gone.
- Een appeltje met iemand te schillen hebben — To have a bone to pick with someone.
- Musztarda po obiedzie — Too late to be of any use.