Motivational Quotes

Character

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.

Best Quotes about Character

Gross and obscure natures, however decorated, seem impure shambles; but character gives splendor to youth, and awe to wrinkled skin and gray hairs.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

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

Richter, Jean Paul

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

Thackeray, William M.

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.

Character is the impulse reined down into steady continuance.

Parkhurst, Charles H.

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Montale, Eugenio

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.

The highest qualities of character must be earned.

Abbott, Lyman

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

10.

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

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

11.

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

Richards, Mary Caroline

12.

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

Petrarch, Francesco

13.

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

14.

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

Wooden, John

15.

You are not very good if you are not better than your best friends imagine you to be.

Lavater, Johann Kaspar

16.

Clothes don't tell the character of the man, but they just as well talk for him as against him.

17.

Character is a victory, not a gift.

18.

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

19.

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

Merikare

20.

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

21.

Some people are born hammers, others anvils.

Proverb

22.

Noble character is best appreciated in those ages in which it can most readily develop.

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

23.

Football doesn't build character. It eliminates weak ones.

Royal, Darrell

24.

It is well for the world that in most of us, by the age of thirty, the character has set like plaster, and will never soften again.

James, William

25.

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

Rickenbacker, Edward Vernon

26.

Integrity has no need of rules.

Camus, Albert

27.

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.

28.

The only way to compel men to speak good of us is to do it.

Voltaire

29.

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

Lincoln, Abraham

30.

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

31.

Character is simply habit long continued.

Plutarch

32.

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.

33.

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.

34.

The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.

Shakespeare, William

35.

A man's character is his fate.

Heraclitus

36.

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

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

37.

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

38.

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

39.

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

40.

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

41.

Between ourselves and our real natures we interpose that wax figure of idealizations and selections which we call our character.

Lippmann, Walter

42.

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

43.

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

Mohammed

44.

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

Elihu Burritt

45.

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

Bovee, Christian Nevell

46.

Character contributes to beauty. It fortifies a woman as her youth fades.

Bisset, Jacqueline

47.

Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

48.

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

49.

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

50.

You don't get in life what you want; you get in life what you are.

Brown, Les