Perhaps the most poignant and substantial proof of Jay Gatsby's goodness is his choice to stay and wait for Daisy in the aftermath of Myrtle Wilson's death. Nick suggests that Gatsby will most likely get into some trouble, saying that the police will track Gatsby's car. Yet Gatsby refuses to make an escape (Chapter VIII).
"Go away now, old sport?"
...
He would not consider it. He couldn't possibly leave Daisy until he knew what she was going to do.
In the previous chapter Gatsby demonstrates the same devotion to his dream of attaining and protecting Daisy when, at the end of the chapter, he proclaims that he will wait outside of Daisy's house until she goes to sleep. Gatsby's vigilance and, one might say, his nobility in this tense moment stand in stark contrast to Tom's decisions.
Although Tom later tells Nick that his behavior is driven by a desire to shield Daisy from harm, Nick sees through this ruse and understands that Tom's deflection of blame onto Gatsby is as ignoble and cowardly as Gatsby's choice to stay was noble and brave. Thus, Gatsby, in his willingness to sacrifice and take chances for love (or for Daisy), shows himself to be a person of some integrity. He stands by his dreams, even if those dreams are impossible.
And this is the principal virtue that Nick identifies in Gatsby early in the novel -- a special propensity for hope and a "heightened sensitivity to the promises of life" (2). Whatever greatness Gatsby had came from his trust in good outcomes, his faith that dreams may come true. In short, Gatsby was an idealist and an optimist, despite his tendencies toward deceit and his criminal connections.
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