Motivational Quotes

Character

My father told me that if you saw a man in a Rolls Royce you could be sure he was not a gentleman unless he was the chauffeur.

- Arran, Earl of

Best Quotes about Character

To keep your character intact you cannot stoop to filthy acts. It makes it easier to stoop the next time.

Hepburn, Katharine

Strong characters are brought out by change of situation, and gentle ones by permanence.

Richter, Jean Paul

Character is made by many acts; it may be lost by a single one.

We falsely attribute to men a determined character -- putting together all their yesterdays -- and averaging them -- we presume we know them. Pity the man who has character to support -- it is worse than a large family -- he is the silent poor indeed.

Thoreau, Henry David

I would rather be adorned by beauty of character than jewels. Jewels are the gift of fortune, while character comes from within.

Plautus, Titus Maccius

I take it as a man's duty to restrain himself.

Lois McMaster Bujold

The highest qualities of character must be earned.

Abbott, Lyman

Good character is like a rubber ball -- thrown down hard -- it bounces right back. Good reputation is like a crystal ball -- thrown for gain -- shattered and cracked.

Linall Jr. A. L.

Character is the impulse reined down into steady continuance.

Parkhurst, Charles H.

10.

Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.

Michener, James A.

11.

For character too is a process and an unfolding... among our valued friends is there not someone or other who is a little too self confident and disdainful; whose distinguished mind is a little spotted with commonness; who is a little pinched here and protuberant there with native prejudices; or whose better energies are liable to lapse down the wrong channel under the influence of transient solicitations?

Eliot, George

12.

The character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

13.

Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

Washington, Booker T.

14.

If anyone tells you someone has changed their character; don't believe it.

Mohammed

15.

The superior man will watch over himself when he is alone. He examines his heart that there may be nothing wrong there, and that he may have no cause of dissatisfaction with himself.

Confucius

16.

Though intelligence is powerless to modify character, it is a dab hand at finding euphemisms for its weaknesses.

Crisp, Quentin

17.

No artist work is so high, so noble, so grand, so enduring, so important for all time, as the making of character in a child.

Cushman, Charlotte Saunders

18.

The real character of a man is found out by his amusements.

Reynolds, Sir Joshua

19.

Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, and riches take wings. Only one thing endures and that is character.

Greeley, Horace

20.

Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.

Robbins, Anthony

21.

Without an acquaintance with the rules of propriety, it is impossible for the character to be established.

Confucius

22.

When about to commit a base deed, respect thyself, though there is no witness.

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

23.

Character - the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life - is the source from which self respect springs.

Joan Didion

24.

Character is a victory, not a gift.

25.

Character is like the foundation of a house -- it is below the surface.

26.

It is not what he had, or even what he does which expresses the worth of a man, but what he is.

Amiel, Henri Frederic

27.

That which we call character is a reserved force which acts directly by presence, and without means. It is conceived of as a certain undemonstrable force, a familiar or genius, by whose impulses the man is guided, but whose counsels he cannot impart.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

28.

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Montale, Eugenio

29.

We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.

Lincoln, Abraham

30.

Pity the man who has a character to support --it is worse than a large family -- he is silent poor indeed.

Thoreau, Henry David

31.

Character is a by-product; it is produced in the great manufacture of daily duty.

Wilson, Woodrow T.

32.

The higher character a person supports the more they should regard their smallest actions.

33.

How difficult it is to save the bark of reputation from the rocks of ignorance.

Petrarch, Francesco

34.

All men are alike in their lower natures; it is in their higher characters that they differ.

Bovee, Christian Nevell

35.

It isn't the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog, that counts.

Howell, Harry

36.

When God measures man, He puts the tape around his heart -- not his head.

Guideposts

37.

The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Macaulay, Thomas B.

38.

Characters do not change. Opinions alter, but characters are only developed.

Disraeli, Benjamin

39.

I have only got down on to paper, really, three types of people: the person I think I am, the people who irritate me, and the people I'd like to be.

Forster, Edward M.

40.

Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

41.

The four cornerstones of character on which the structure of this nation was built are: initiative, imagination, individuality, and independence.

Rickenbacker, Edward Vernon

42.

To succeed is nothing, it's an accident. but to feel no doubts about oneself is something very different: it is character.

Marie Leneru

43.

Testimony is like an arrow shot from a long bow and the force of it depends on the strength of the arm from which it was shot. Argument is like a bullet fired from a gun and has equal force even when issued from a child.

44.

The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by formal education.

Angelou, Maya

45.

A rich man has no need of character.

Proverb, Hebrew

46.

Character is the indelible mark that determines the only true value of all people and all their work.

Marden, Orison Swett

47.

Sometimes people carry to such perfection the mask they have assumed that in due course they actually become the person they seem.

W. Somerset Maugham

48.

People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

49.

Reputation is only a candle, of wavering and uncertain flame, and easily blown out, but it is the light by which the world looks for and finds merit.

Lowell, James Russell

50.

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved.

Keller, Helen