Motivational Quotes

Character

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

- Elihu Burritt

Best Quotes about Character

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

Proverb

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

It is not what he had, or even what he does which expresses the worth of a man, but what he is.

Amiel, Henri Frederic

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

Baldwin, Faith

Character is a by-product; it is produced in the great manufacture of daily duty.

Wilson, Woodrow T.

Character matters; leadership descends from character.

Limbaugh, Rush

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

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

10.

While an original is always hard to find, he is easy to recognize.

Mason, John L.

11.

The happiness of every country depends upon the character of its people, rather than the form of its government.

Haliburton, Thomas C.

12.

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

13.

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

14.

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

Aristotle

15.

If you create an act, you create a habit. If you create a habit, you create a character. If you create a character, you create a destiny.

Maurois, Andre

16.

We know but a few men, a great many coats and breeches.

Thoreau, Henry David

17.

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

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

18.

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

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

19.

Wealth stays with us a little moment if at all: only our characters are steadfast, not our gold.

Euripides

20.

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

Lincoln, Abraham

21.

Be thou incapable of change in that which is right, and men will rely upon thee. Establish unto thyself principles of action; and see that thou ever act according to them. First know that thy principles are just, and then be thou

Akhenaton

22.

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

Bisset, Jacqueline

23.

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

24.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

25.

The highest qualities of character must be earned.

Abbott, Lyman

26.

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

Voltaire

27.

Weakness of character is the only defect which cannot be amended.

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

28.

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

Frankfurter, Felix

29.

Integrity has no need of rules.

Camus, Albert

30.

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

Thoreau, Henry David

31.

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

Elihu Burritt

32.

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

33.

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.

34.

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

Aquinas, St. Thomas

35.

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

Bovee, Christian Nevell

36.

Without an acquaintance with the rules of propriety, it is impossible for the character to be established.

Confucius

37.

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

Menander

38.

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

Lois McMaster Bujold

39.

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

40.

Few people can distinguish the genuinely good from the reverse.

Juvenal, (Decimus Junius Juvenalis)

41.

A man's character is his fate.

Heraclitus

42.

One can acquire everything in solitude - except character.

Marie Henri Beyle

43.

Character is our destiny.

Heraclitus

44.

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

45.

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.

46.

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

47.

You must look into people, as well as at them.

Chesterfield, Lord

48.

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

49.

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

Estrange, L.

50.

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.