Motivational Quotes

Character

The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back.

- Buren, Abigail Van

Best Quotes about Character

A man with a so-called character is often a simple piece of mechanism; he has often only one point of view for the extremely complicated relationships of life.

Strindberg, J. August

Too often the strong, silent man is silent only because he does not know what to say, and is reputed strong only because he has remained silent.

Churchill, Winston

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

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

Character matters; leadership descends from character.

Limbaugh, Rush

They attack the one man with their hate and their shower of weapons. But he is like some rock which stretches into the vast sea and which, exposed to the fury of the winds and beaten against by the waves, endures all the violence

Virgil

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

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

Marden, Orison Swett

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

10.

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

Maritain, Jacques

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.

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

13.

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

14.

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

Royal, Darrell

15.

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

16.

Character develops itself in the stream of life.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

17.

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

James A. Froude

18.

Character builds slowly, but it can be torn down with incredible swiftness.

Baldwin, Faith

19.

Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

20.

Nature magically suits a man to his fortunes, by making them the fruit of his character.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

21.

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

22.

Not to be cheered by praise, not to be grieved by blame, but to know thoroughly ones own virtues or powers are the characteristics of an excellent man.

Pandita, Saskya

23.

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.

24.

If an ass goes traveling it will not come home a horse.

Proverb

25.

Character is a victory, not a gift.

26.

People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest.

Hermann Hesse

27.

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

28.

In attempts to improve your character, know what is in your power and what is beyond it.

Francis Thompson

29.

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

30.

There's a fine line between character building and soul destroying.

Hay, Colin

31.

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

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

32.

Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.

Robbins, Anthony

33.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

34.

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

Petrarch, Francesco

35.

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

Lippmann, Walter

36.

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

37.

Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses or avoids.

Aristotle

38.

Character is to man what carbon is to steel.

Hill, Napoleon

39.

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

Howell, Harry

40.

Life every man holds dear; but the dear man holds honor far more precious dear than life.

Shakespeare, William

41.

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

Leneru, Marie

42.

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

43.

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

Hepburn, Katharine

44.

Character is victory organized.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

45.

The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.

Shakespeare, William

46.

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

Seneca

47.

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.

48.

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

Michener, James A.

49.

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.

50.

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

Thackeray, William M.