Motivational Quotes

Character

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

Best Quotes about Character

If a man character is to be abused there's nobody like a relative to do the business.

Thackeray, William M.

I have conquered an empire but I have not been able to conquer myself.

Peter The Great

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

Jefferson, Thomas

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

Lois McMaster Bujold

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

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.

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

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

Haliburton, Thomas C.

To succeed is nothing -- it's an accident. But to feel no doubts about oneself is something very different: it is character.

Leneru, Marie

10.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

11.

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.

12.

The superior man will watch over himself when he is alone. He examines his heart that there may be nothing wrong there, and that he may have no cause of dissatisfaction with himself.

Confucius

13.

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

14.

Though intelligence is powerless to modify character, it is a dab hand at finding euphemisms for its weaknesses.

Crisp, Quentin

15.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

16.

Your character will be what you yourself choose to make it.

Lubbock, Sir John

17.

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

18.

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

Reynolds, Sir Joshua

19.

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

Euripides

20.

Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

Abraham Lincoln

21.

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

Lavater, Johann Kaspar

22.

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

23.

The lord will not hold back the promises, even if the person who makes them is not worthy.

24.

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

25.

There's a fine line between character building and soul destroying.

Hay, Colin

26.

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

27.

Character development is the aim of education.

O'Shea

28.

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.

29.

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

Buddha

30.

Character is to man what carbon is to steel.

Hill, Napoleon

31.

Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character.

Sivananda, Sri Swami

32.

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

33.

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

34.

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

Chesterfield, Lord

35.

Success is always temporary. When all is said and one, the only thing you'll have left is your character.

Gill, Vince

36.

Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.

Oscar Levant

37.

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

Solon

38.

Strong characters are brought out by change of situation, and gentle ones by permanence.

Richter, Jean Paul

39.

If all I'm remembered for is being a good basketball player, then I've done a bad job with the rest of my life.

Thomas, Isiah

40.

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

Hermann Hesse

41.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

42.

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

43.

One can acquire everything in solitude - except character.

Marie Henri Beyle

44.

In attempts to improve your character, know what is in your power and what is beyond it.

Francis Thompson

45.

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

46.

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

47.

Character is our destiny.

Heraclitus

48.

Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.

Robbins, Anthony

49.

Clothes don't tell the character of the man, but they just as well talk for him as against him.

50.

Character develops itself in the stream of life.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von