Motivational Quotes

Character

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

Best Quotes about Character

The hell to be endured hereafter, of which theology tells, is no worse than the hell we make for ourselves in this world by habitually fashioned our characters in the wrong way.

James, William

A man's character is his fate.

Heraclitus

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

Thurber, James

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

Mohammed

Character is victory organized.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

Character matters; leadership descends from character.

Limbaugh, Rush

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

Voltaire

You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips.

Goldsmith, Oliver

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

Frankfurter, Felix

10.

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

Lavater, Johann Kaspar

11.

Wherever man goes to dwell his character goes with him.

Proverb, African

12.

Character is always lost when a high ideal is sacrificed on the altar of conformity and popularity.

13.

If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how -- the very best I can. And I mean to keep on doing it to the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me will not amount to anything. If the end brings me out all wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.

Lincoln, Abraham

14.

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

Reagan, Ronald

15.

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

Aristotle

16.

Deep down, I'm pretty superficial.

Gardner, Ava

17.

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

Schopenhauer, Arthur

18.

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

19.

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

20.

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

21.

Keep in mind that the true measure of an individual is how he treats a person who can do him absolutely no good.

Landers, Ann

22.

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

23.

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

24.

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

25.

Character is simply habit long continued.

Plutarch

26.

Integrity has no need of rules.

Camus, Albert

27.

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

Wilson, Woodrow T.

28.

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

Chesterfield, Lord

29.

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

30.

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

Hermann Hesse

31.

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.

32.

During my eighty-seven years, I have witnessed a whole succession of technological revolutions. But none of them has done away with the need for character in the individual or the ability to think.

Baruch, Bernard M.

33.

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

34.

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

35.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

36.

Fame is what you have taken, character is what you give. When to this truth you awaken, then you begin to live.

Taylor, Bayard

37.

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.

38.

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

Mason, John L.

39.

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

Confucius

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.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

42.

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

Petrarch, Francesco

43.

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

44.

A rich man has no need of character.

Proverb, Hebrew

45.

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

James A. Froude

46.

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.

47.

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.

48.

Character development is the aim of education.

O'Shea

49.

Some people are born hammers, others anvils.

Proverb

50.

You can buy a person's time; you can buy their physical presence at a given place; you can even buy a measured number of their skilled muscular motions per hour. But you can not buy enthusiasm... you can not buy loyalty. You can not buy the devotion of hearts, minds, or souls. You must earn these.

Francis, Clarence