Motivational Quotes

Character

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.

Best Quotes about Character

To be fond of learning is near to wisdom; to practice with vigor is near to benevolence; and to be conscious of shame is near to fortitude. He who knows these three things

Confucius

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

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

Covey, Stephen R.

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

Marden, Orison Swett

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

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.

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

I have often thought the best way to define a man's character would be to seek out the particular mental or moral attitude in which, when it comes upon him, he felt himself most deeply and intensely active and alive. At such moments there is a voice inside which speaks and says: This is the real me!.

James, William

10.

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

Greeley, Horace

11.

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

Thoreau, Henry David

12.

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

Menander

13.

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

Aquinas, St. Thomas

14.

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

Schopenhauer, Arthur

15.

I could never think well of a man's intellectual or moral character, if he was habitually unfaithful to his appointments.

Nathaniel Emmons

16.

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.

17.

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

Bovee, Christian Nevell

18.

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

Estrange, L.

19.

Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.

Oscar Levant

20.

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

Howell, Harry

21.

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.

22.

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

23.

Strong feelings do not necessarily make a strong character. The strength of a man is to be measured by the power of the feelings he subdues not by the power of those which subdue him.

William Carleton

24.

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

Bisset, Jacqueline

25.

Integrity has no need of rules.

Camus, Albert

26.

Everyone has three characters, that which they exhibit, that which they have, and that which they think they have.

Karr, Alphonse

27.

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

28.

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

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

29.

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

Baldwin, Faith

30.

Deep down, I'm pretty superficial.

Gardner, Ava

31.

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

Michener, James A.

32.

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Montale, Eugenio

33.

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

Lois McMaster Bujold

34.

Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

Proverb, Chinese

35.

If you stand straight, do not fear a crooked shadow.

Proverb, Chinese

36.

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

37.

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

38.

Put more trust in nobility of character than in an oath.

Solon

39.

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

Buddha

40.

The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.

Shakespeare, William

41.

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.

42.

Those who cross the sea change only the climate, not their character.

Horace

43.

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

Jefferson, Thomas

44.

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

Frankfurter, Felix

45.

Our character...is an omen of our destiny, and the more integrity we have and keep, the simpler and nobler that destiny is likely to be.

George Santayana

46.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

47.

There is no greater index of character so sure as the voice.

Disraeli, Benjamin

48.

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

49.

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.

50.

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

Thurber, James