Motivational Quotes

Character

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

- Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

Best Quotes about Character

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

Michener, James A.

Instill the love of you into all the world, for a good character is what is remembered.

Merikare

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

Too often the strong, silent man is silent only because he does not know what to say, and is reputed strong only because he has remained silent.

Churchill, Winston

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

Menander

A man's character is his fate.

Heraclitus

Character is simply habit long continued.

Plutarch

Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

Proverb, Chinese

Character is to man what carbon is to steel.

Hill, Napoleon

10.

A rich man has no need of character.

Proverb, Hebrew

11.

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

12.

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

13.

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

Lavater, Johann Kaspar

14.

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

15.

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.

16.

You can tell the character of every man when you see how he receives praise.

Seneca

17.

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

Baldwin, Faith

18.

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

19.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

20.

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

Bisset, Jacqueline

21.

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

22.

For character too is a process and an unfolding... among our valued friends is there not someone or other who is a little too self confident and disdainful; whose distinguished mind is a little spotted with commonness; who is a little pinched here and protuberant there with native prejudices; or whose better energies are liable to lapse down the wrong channel under the influence of transient solicitations?

Eliot, George

23.

You must regulate your life by the standards you admire when you are at your best.

Thomas, John M.

24.

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

25.

Few people can distinguish the genuinely good from the reverse.

Juvenal, (Decimus Junius Juvenalis)

26.

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

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

27.

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

Solon

28.

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

29.

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

30.

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.

31.

Nothing marks the character of a young man more than failure.

32.

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

33.

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

Haliburton, Thomas C.

34.

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

Lois McMaster Bujold

35.

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

Voltaire

36.

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

37.

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

38.

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

Aristotle

39.

Property may be destroyed and money may lose its purchasing power; but, character, health, knowledge and good judgment will always be in demand under all conditions.

Babson, Roger

40.

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

Schopenhauer, Arthur

41.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

42.

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

Marie Leneru

43.

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

44.

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

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

45.

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

Thoreau, Henry David

46.

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

Buddha

47.

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

Karr, Alphonse

48.

Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

Washington, Booker T.

49.

The highest qualities of character must be earned.

Abbott, Lyman

50.

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