Motivational Quotes

Character

As fire when thrown into water is cooled down and put out, so also a false accusation when brought against a man of the purest and holiest character, boils over and is at once dissipated, and vanishes and threats of heaven and sea, himself standing unmoved.

- Cicero, Marcus T.

Best Quotes about Character

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

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

Lippmann, Walter

While he was not as dumb as an ox, he was not any smarter either.

Thurber, James

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

Joan Didion

You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jelly beans.

Reagan, Ronald

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

Greeley, Horace

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.

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

10.

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

Proverb

11.

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

Royal, Darrell

12.

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

Hall, Manly

13.

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

14.

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

15.

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

Thoreau, Henry David

16.

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

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

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.

Character is victory organized.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

19.

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

Michener, James A.

20.

Men of genius are admired, men of wealth are envied, men of power are feared; but only men of character are trusted.

21.

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

Reynolds, Sir Joshua

22.

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

23.

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

24.

Deep down, I'm pretty superficial.

Gardner, Ava

25.

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

26.

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

Freeman, Robert

27.

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

28.

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

29.

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

30.

Wherever man goes to dwell his character goes with him.

Proverb, African

31.

Cicero, Marcus T.

32.

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

Marden, Orison Swett

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.

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

Aristotle

35.

Before you advise anyone Be yourself! reassess his character.

36.

Judge of your natural character by what you do in dreams.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

37.

A man's character is his fate.

Heraclitus

38.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

39.

Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.

Robbins, Anthony

40.

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

Guideposts

41.

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

42.

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

Lois McMaster Bujold

43.

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.

44.

Talents are best nurtured in solitude. Character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

45.

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

Lavater, Johann Kaspar

46.

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.

47.

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.

48.

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

49.

Faced with crisis, the man of character falls back on himself. He imposes his own stamp of action, takes responsibility for it, makes it his own.

Gaulle, Charles De

50.

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

Brown, Les