The reputation of a thousand years may be determined by the conduct of one hour.
—Japanese Proverb
A man’s reputation is not in his own keeping, but lies at the mercy of the profligacy of others. Calumny requires no proof. The throwing out of malicious imputations against any character leaves a stain, which no after-refutation can wipe out. To create an unfavourable impression, it is not necessary that certain things should be true, but that they have been said. The imagination is of so delicate a texture that even words wound it.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
The worst thing that can happen to a man is to lose his money, the next worst his health, the next worst his reputation.
—Samuel Butler
Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.
—Henry Kissinger (b.1923) American Diplomat, Academician
It is generally much more shameful to lose a good reputation than never to have acquired it.
—Pliny the Elder (23–79CE) Roman Statesman, Scholar
It is easier to cope with a bad conscience than with a bad reputation.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Marriage is socialism among two people.
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b.1941) American Social Critic, Essayist
Good will, like a good name, is got by many actions, and lost by one.
—Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey (1773–1850) Scottish Judge, Literary Critic
Kindly words do not enter so deeply into men as a reputation for kindness.
—Mencius (c.371–c.289 BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
A man’s reputation is what other people think of him; his character is what he really is.
—Unknown
Reputation is sometimes as wide as the horizon, when character is but the point of a needle.—Character is what one really is; reputation what others believe him to be.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Repetition makes reputation and reputation makes customers.
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) Irish Novelist, Short-story Writer
In all the affairs of this world, so much reputation is, in reality, so much power.
—John Tillotson
It ain’t often that a man’s reputation outlasts his money.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
The purest treasure mortal times afford is spotless reputation; that away, men are but gilded loam or painted clay.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Your women of honor, as you call em, are only chary of their reputations, not their persons; and ‘Tis scandal that they would avoid, not men.
—William Wycherley (c.1640–1716) English Dramatist
Along with success comes a reputation for wisdom.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.
—Jeff Bezos (b.1964) American Entrepreneur, Investor
When a door opens not to your knock, consider your reputation.
—Arabic Proverb
To disregard what the world thinks of us is not only arrogant but utterly shameless.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.
—Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) South African Political leader
I’d like people to think of me as someone who cares about them.
—Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–97) English Royal, Humanitarian, Peace Activist
My name and memory I leave to men’s charitable speeches, to foreign nations, and to the next age.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Better to die than to live on with a bad reputation.
—Vietnamese Proverb
A good name is better than precious ointment.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
One way to evaluate your own reputation is to think about what would be said of you at your eulogy.
—Brian Koslow
Reputation is like fine china once broken it’s very hard to repair.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Charisma becomes the undoing of leaders. It makes them inflexible, convinced of their own infallibility, unable to change.
—Peter Drucker (1909–2005) Austrian-born Management Consultant
He that tears away a man’s good name tears his flesh from his bones, and by letting him live gives him only a cruel opportunity of feeling his misery, of burying his better part and surviving himself.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
A reputation for good judgment, fair dealing, truth, and rectitude, is itself a fortune.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
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.
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809) American Nationalist, Author, Pamphleteer, Radical, Inventor
How many worthy men have we seen survive their own reputations!
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
When a man has once forfeited the reputation of his integrity, he is set fast; nothing will then serve his turn, neither truth nor falsehood.
—John Tillotson
Perhaps a man’s character was like a tree, and his reputation like its shadow; the shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
The river’s reputation ends where the sea begins.
—Russian Proverb
The two most precious things this side of the grave are our reputation and our life. But it is to be lamented that the most contemptible whisper may deprive us of the one, and the weakest weapon of the other.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
What people say behind your back is your standing in the community.
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
Not much more can happen to you after you lose your reputation and your wife.
—John Michell (1933–2009) English Esotericist, New Age Writer
See that your character is right, and in the long run your reputation will be right.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Whoever renders service to many puts himself in line for greatness—great wealth, great return, great satisfaction, great reputation, and great joy.
—Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker
If I take care of my character, my reputation will take care of itself.
—Dwight L. Moody (1837–99) Christian Religious Leader, Publisher
Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit and lost without deserving.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The easiest way to get a reputation is to go outside the fold, shout around for a few years as a violent atheist or a dangerous radical, and then crawl back to the shelter.
—Unknown
The blaze of reputation cannot be blown out, but it often dies in the socket; a very few names may be considered as perpetual lamps that shine unconsumed.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
A fair reputation is a plant delicate in its nature, and by no means rapid in its growth.—It will not shoot up in a night, like the gourd of the prophet, but like that gourd, it may perish in a night.
—Jeremy Taylor
It is easier for a woman to defend her virtue against men than her reputation against women.
—Unknown
Reputation is rarely proportioned to virtue.—We have seen a thousand people esteemed, either for the merit they had not yet attained or for what they no longer possessed.
—Montesquieu (1689–1755) French Political Philosopher, Jurist
How difficult it is to save the bark of reputation from the rocks of ignorance.
—Petrarch (1304–74) Italian Scholar, Poet, Humanist
You have three names: the one you inherited, the one your parents gave you, and the one you make for yourself.
—Sanhedrin Supreme Council in Ancient Israel
For God’s sake (I never was more serious) don’t make me ridiculous any more by terming me gentle-hearted in print… substitute drunken dog, ragged head, seld-shaven, odd-eyed, stuttering, or any other epithet which truly and properly belongs to the gentleman in question.
—Charles Lamb (1775–1834) British Essayist, Poet