Motivational Quotes

Character

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

- Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

Best Quotes about Character

Few people can distinguish the genuinely good from the reverse.

Juvenal, (Decimus Junius Juvenalis)

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

Crisp, Quentin

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Montale, Eugenio

Character is victory organized.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

Men show their characters in nothing more clearly than in what they think laughable.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents.

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of a man you are. It shows me what your ideal of manhood is, and what kind of a man you long to be.

Carlyle, Thomas

He that has light within his own clear breast may sit in the center, and enjoy bright day: But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts benighted walks under the mid-day sun;

Milton, John

Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

10.

Temperance is simply a disposition of the mind which binds the passion.

Aquinas, St. Thomas

11.

Character is the impulse reined down into steady continuance.

Parkhurst, Charles H.

12.

It is better for the development of character and contentment to do certain things badly for yourself than to have them done better for you by someone else.

13.

Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principles.

Hume, David

14.

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.

15.

The highest qualities of character must be earned.

Abbott, Lyman

16.

One stumble is enough to deface the character of an honorable life.

Estrange, L.

17.

Let us not say, every man is the architect of his own fortune; but let us say, every man is the architect of his own character.

Boardman, George D.

18.

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

Petrarch, Francesco

19.

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

Leneru, Marie

20.

I appreciate people who are civil, whether they mean it or not. I think: Be civil. Do not cherish your opinion over my feelings. There's a vanity to candor that isn't really worth it. Be kind.

Richard Greenberg

21.

Character matters; leadership descends from character.

Limbaugh, Rush

22.

It is with trifles and when he is off guard that a man best reveals his character.

Schopenhauer, Arthur

23.

A man's character is the reality of himself; his reputation, the opinion others have formed about him; character resides in him, reputation in other people; that is the substance, this is the shadow.

Beecher, Henry Ward

24.

Be thou incapable of change in that which is right, and men will rely upon thee. Establish unto thyself principles of action; and see that thou ever act according to them. First know that thy principles are just, and then be thou

Akhenaton

25.

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

Lois McMaster Bujold

26.

Weakness of character is the only defect which cannot be amended.

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

27.

Honor is the inner garment of the Soul; the first thing put on by it with the flesh, and the last it layeth down at its separation from it.

Akhenaton

28.

Character, in great and little things, means carrying through what you feel able to do.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

29.

Character is not made in a crisis -- it is only exhibited.

Freeman, Robert

30.

Character is a victory, not a gift.

31.

One can acquire everything in solitude - except character.

Marie Henri Beyle

32.

It is part of the American character to consider nothing as desperate -- to surmount every difficulty by resolution and contrivance.

Jefferson, Thomas

33.

It takes a great deal of character strength to apologize quickly out of one's heart rather than out of pity. A person must possess himself and have a deep sense of security in fundamental principles and values in order to genuinely apologize.

Covey, Stephen R.

34.

There is never a better measure of what a person is than what he does when he is absolutely free to choose.

Bulger, William M.

35.

Temperance is a tree which as for its root very little contentment, and for its fruit calm and peace.

Buddha

36.

Instill the love of you into all the world, for a good character is what is remembered.

Merikare

37.

Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

Proverb, Chinese

38.

To have character is to be big enough to take life on.

Richards, Mary Caroline

39.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

40.

You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.

James A. Froude

41.

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.

42.

The formation of one's character ought to be everyone's chief aim.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

43.

A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world.

Hall, Manly

44.

Good character is more to be praised than outstanding talent. Most talents are, to some extent, a gift. Good character, by contrast, is not given to us. We have to build it piece by piece-by thought, choice, courage and determination.

Luther, John

45.

Integrity has no need of rules.

Camus, Albert

46.

Property may be destroyed and money may lose its purchasing power; but, character, health, knowledge and good judgment will always be in demand under all conditions.

Babson, Roger

47.

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

Bovee, Christian Nevell

48.

Nothing marks the character of a young man more than failure.

49.

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

Guideposts

50.

Men show their character in nothing more clearly than what they think laughable.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von