Motivational Quotes

Character

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

- Frankfurter, Felix

Best Quotes about Character

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

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Montale, Eugenio

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

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

Royal, Darrell

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.

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

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.

Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

Proverb, Chinese

10.

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

James A. Froude

11.

Integrity has no need of rules.

Camus, Albert

12.

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

13.

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

14.

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

Thurber, James

15.

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

Maritain, Jacques

16.

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

17.

Personality can open doors, but only character can keep them open.

Elmer G. Letterman

18.

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

Hepburn, Katharine

19.

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

Lavater, Johann Kaspar

20.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

21.

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

22.

Character is what you know you are, not what others think you have.

Collins, Marva

23.

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

Aristotle

24.

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

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

25.

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

26.

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

Reynolds, Sir Joshua

27.

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

Hermann Hesse

28.

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7]

Bible

29.

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

Confucius

30.

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

31.

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

32.

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

33.

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

34.

I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

King Jr. Martin Luther

35.

One can easily judge the character of a person by the way they treat people who can do nothing for them.

Proverb

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 depth and strength of a human character are defined by its moral reserves. People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life, for only then do they have to fall back on their reserves.

Trotsky, Leon

38.

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

39.

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

Bovee, Christian Nevell

40.

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

Bisset, Jacqueline

41.

The four cornerstones of character on which the structure of this nation was built are: initiative, imagination, individuality, and independence.

Rickenbacker, Edward Vernon

42.

What you possess in the world will be found at the day of your death to belong to someone else. But what you are will be yours forever.

Dyke, Henry Van

43.

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

44.

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

45.

Character is another thing that is formed in youth and reformed in marriage.

46.

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

47.

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

48.

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

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

49.

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.

50.

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

Frankfurter, Felix