Motivational Quotes

Character

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

- La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

Best Quotes about Character

Character is the indelible mark that determines the only true value of all people and all their work.

Marden, Orison Swett

Look, we're all the same; a man is a fourteen-room house --in the bedroom he's asleep with his intelligent wife, in the living-room he's rolling around with some bareass girl, in the library he's paying his taxes, in the yard he's raising tomatoes, and in the cellar he's making a bomb to blow it all up.

Miller, Arthur

Character is made by many acts; it may be lost by a single one.

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

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

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

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

Lois McMaster Bujold

Character - the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life - is the source from which self respect springs.

Joan Didion

Character is the impulse reined down into steady continuance.

Parkhurst, Charles H.

Character is not made in a crisis -- it is only exhibited.

Freeman, Robert

10.

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

Chesterfield, Lord

11.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

12.

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

Voltaire

13.

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

14.

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.

15.

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

16.

Character is like the foundation of a house -- it is below the surface.

17.

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

James A. Froude

18.

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

Reagan, Ronald

19.

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

20.

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

21.

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

Baldwin, Faith

22.

Deep down, I'm pretty superficial.

Gardner, Ava

23.

Character is simply habit long continued.

Plutarch

24.

I appreciate people who are civil, whether they mean it or not. I think: Be civil. Do not cherish your opinion over my feelings. There's a vanity to candor that isn't really worth it. Be kind.

Richard Greenberg

25.

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

26.

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

27.

Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.

Robbins, Anthony

28.

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

Elmer G. Letterman

29.

One can acquire everything in solitude - except character.

Marie Henri Beyle

30.

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

Thomas, John M.

31.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

32.

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

Maritain, Jacques

33.

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

34.

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.

35.

Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, and riches take wings. Only one thing endures and that is character.

Greeley, Horace

36.

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

37.

I have only got down on to paper, really, three types of people: the person I think I am, the people who irritate me, and the people I'd like to be.

Forster, Edward M.

38.

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

39.

Character development is the aim of education.

O'Shea

40.

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

Lubbock, Sir John

41.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

42.

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

43.

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

44.

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

Elihu Burritt

45.

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

46.

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