Motivational Quotes

Character

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

Best Quotes about Character

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

Confucius

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Montale, Eugenio

It takes a great deal of character strength to apologize quickly out of one's heart rather than out of pity. A person must possess himself and have a deep sense of security in fundamental principles and values in order to genuinely apologize.

Covey, Stephen R.

Faced with crisis, the man of character falls back on himself. He imposes his own stamp of action, takes responsibility for it, makes it his own.

Gaulle, Charles De

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.

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

Thoreau, Henry David

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

Baldwin, Faith

Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconcious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character

Covey, Stephen R.

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

10.

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

11.

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

12.

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

Buddha

13.

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

Euripides

14.

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

Hepburn, Katharine

15.

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

Crisp, Quentin

16.

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

Solon

17.

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

Richter, Jean Paul

18.

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

19.

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

Karr, Alphonse

20.

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

Brown, Les

21.

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

Hay, Colin

22.

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

Bovee, Christian Nevell

23.

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

Michener, James A.

24.

The highest qualities of character must be earned.

Abbott, Lyman

25.

A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes another s.

Richter, Jean Paul

26.

It isn't the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog, that counts.

Howell, Harry

27.

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

28.

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.

29.

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

30.

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

31.

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

32.

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.

33.

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

Estrange, L.

34.

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

35.

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

Elihu Burritt

36.

Character develops itself in the stream of life.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

37.

Honor is the inner garment of the Soul; the first thing put on by it with the flesh, and the last it layeth down at its separation from it.

Akhenaton

38.

Character is victory organized.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

39.

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

Menander

40.

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

41.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

42.

It is not what he had, or even what he does which expresses the worth of a man, but what he is.

Amiel, Henri Frederic

43.

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

Thurber, James

44.

Character is a victory, not a gift.

45.

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

46.

Be thou incapable of change in that which is right, and men will rely upon thee. Establish unto thyself principles of action; and see that thou ever act according to them. First know that thy principles are just, and then be thou

Akhenaton

47.

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

Freeman, Robert

48.

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

Maritain, Jacques

49.

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

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

50.

Character is a by-product; it is produced in the great manufacture of daily duty.