
ProverbMorality
International origin
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.
Explore another collection: Idioms
Colorful expressions from dozens of languages, with their word-for-word translations.
- 拍马屁 (pāi mǎpì) To flatter or suck up to someone.
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- Etekleri zil çalıyor To be visibly bursting with joy.
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