Motivational Quotes

Character

Between ourselves and our real natures we interpose that wax figure of idealizations and selections which we call our character.

- Lippmann, Walter

Best Quotes about Character

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

Chesterfield, Lord

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

Seneca

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

James A. Froude

One stumble is enough to deface the character of an honorable life.

Estrange, L.

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

Gill, Vince

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

Character is simply habit long continued.

Plutarch

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

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

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

10.

Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

Proverb, Chinese

11.

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

12.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

13.

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

14.

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

15.

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

Mason, John L.

16.

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

17.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

18.

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

19.

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

Joan Didion

20.

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

Jefferson, Thomas

21.

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

22.

Some people are born hammers, others anvils.

Proverb

23.

A rich man has no need of character.

Proverb, Hebrew

24.

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

25.

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

26.

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.

27.

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

28.

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

29.

Character, in great and little things, means carrying through what you feel able to do.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

30.

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

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

31.

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

32.

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

33.

Character development is the aim of education.

O'Shea

34.

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

Francis Thompson

35.

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

36.

A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you, and were helped by you, will remember you when forget-me-nots are withered. Carve your name on hearts, and not on marble

Spurgeon, Charles Haddon

37.

Between ourselves and our real natures we interpose that wax figure of idealizations and selections which we call our character.

Lippmann, Walter

38.

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

Petrarch, Francesco

39.

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

Maritain, Jacques

40.

Before you advise anyone Be yourself! reassess his character.

41.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

42.

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

43.

Testimony is like an arrow shot from a long bow and the force of it depends on the strength of the arm from which it was shot. Argument is like a bullet fired from a gun and has equal force even when issued from a child.

44.

You don't get in life what you want; you get in life what you are.

Brown, Les

45.

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

46.

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

Aristotle

47.

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

48.

You can't go around hoping that most people have sterling moral characters. The most you can hope for is that people will pretend that they do.

Lebowitz, Fran

49.

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

Hepburn, Katharine

50.

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

Greeley, Horace