Motivational Quotes

Character

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

- Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

Best Quotes about Character

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

Petrarch, Francesco

An excellent man, like precious metal, is in every way invariable; A villain, like the beams of a balance, is always varying, upwards and downwards, himself his own dungeon.

Pandita, Saskya

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

Bovee, Christian Nevell

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

Aquinas, St. Thomas

Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principles.

Hume, David

Character is simply habit long continued.

Plutarch

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

Buddha

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

Guideposts

You can tell the character of every man when you see how he receives praise.

Seneca

10.

Everyone has the obligation to ponder well his own specific traits of character. He must also regulate them adequately and not wonder whether someone else's traits might suit him better. The more definitely his own a man's character is, the better it fits him.

Cicero

11.

If a man character is to be abused there's nobody like a relative to do the business.

Thackeray, William M.

12.

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

James A. Froude

13.

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

14.

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

Estrange, L.

15.

Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.

Oscar Levant

16.

Few persons are made of such strong fiber that they will make a costly outlay when surface work will pass as well in the market.

Bounds, E. M.

17.

Forming characters! Whose? Our own or others? Both. And in that momentous fact lies the peril and responsibility of our existence.

Elihu Burritt

18.

Character is to man what carbon is to steel.

Hill, Napoleon

19.

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

Jefferson, Thomas

20.

Character in a saint means the disposition of Jesus Christ persistently manifested.

Chambers, Oswald

21.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

22.

Character is another thing that is formed in youth and reformed in marriage.

23.

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

Michener, James A.

24.

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

25.

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

26.

Success is always temporary. When all is said and one, the only thing you'll have left is your character.

Gill, Vince

27.

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

Angelou, Maya

28.

We don't love qualities, we love persons; sometimes by reason of their defects as well as of their qualities.

Maritain, Jacques

29.

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

Marie Leneru

30.

I have conquered an empire but I have not been able to conquer myself.

Peter The Great

31.

Old age and sickness bring out the essential characteristics of a man.

Frankfurter, Felix

32.

Character is victory organized.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

33.

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

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

34.

Therefore keep in the midst of life. Do not isolate yourself. Be among men and things, and among troubles, and difficulties, and obstacles.

Drummond, Henry

35.

The lord will not hold back the promises, even if the person who makes them is not worthy.

36.

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

37.

A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you, and were helped by you, will remember you when forget-me-nots are withered. Carve your name on hearts, and not on marble

Spurgeon, Charles Haddon

38.

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

Lincoln, Abraham

39.

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

Freeman, Robert

40.

During my eighty-seven years, I have witnessed a whole succession of technological revolutions. But none of them has done away with the need for character in the individual or the ability to think.

Baruch, Bernard M.

41.

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

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

42.

If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how -- the very best I can. And I mean to keep on doing it to the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me will not amount to anything. If the end brings me out all wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.

Lincoln, Abraham

43.

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

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

44.

You can buy a person's time; you can buy their physical presence at a given place; you can even buy a measured number of their skilled muscular motions per hour. But you can not buy enthusiasm... you can not buy loyalty. You can not buy the devotion of hearts, minds, or souls. You must earn these.

Francis, Clarence

45.

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

Hepburn, Katharine

46.

The man who cannot believe in himself cannot believe in anything else. The basis of all integrity and character is whatever faith we have in our own integrity.

Smith, Roy L.

47.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

48.

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.

49.

You can't go around hoping that most people have sterling moral characters. The most you can hope for is that people will pretend that they do.

Lebowitz, Fran

50.

Character develops itself in the stream of life.