Motivational Quotes

Character

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.

Best Quotes about Character

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

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

Freeman, Robert

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

A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents.

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

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

Character is the sum and total of a person's choices.

Fitzwater, P. B.

The highest qualities of character must be earned.

Abbott, Lyman

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

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

10.

They attack the one man with their hate and their shower of weapons. But he is like some rock which stretches into the vast sea and which, exposed to the fury of the winds and beaten against by the waves, endures all the violence

Virgil

11.

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

Peter The Great

12.

A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world.

Hall, Manly

13.

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.

14.

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

Gill, Vince

15.

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

Petrarch, Francesco

16.

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.

17.

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

18.

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

Jefferson, Thomas

19.

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

20.

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

21.

Let us not say, every man is the architect of his own fortune; but let us say, every man is the architect of his own character.

Boardman, George D.

22.

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

23.

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

24.

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

Howell, Harry

25.

When God measures man, He puts the tape around his heart -- not his head.

Guideposts

26.

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

Francis Thompson

27.

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

28.

It is well for the world that in most of us, by the age of thirty, the character has set like plaster, and will never soften again.

James, William

29.

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

Marden, Orison Swett

30.

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

31.

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

32.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

33.

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

34.

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

Estrange, L.

35.

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

Lubbock, Sir John

36.

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

Lippmann, Walter

37.

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

38.

The higher character a person supports the more they should regard their smallest actions.

39.

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

Thackeray, William M.

40.

You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips.

Goldsmith, Oliver

41.

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

42.

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

43.

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

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

44.

Character in a saint means the disposition of Jesus Christ persistently manifested.

Chambers, Oswald

45.

What you possess in the world will be found at the day of your death to belong to someone else. But what you are will be yours forever.

Dyke, Henry Van

46.

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

47.

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

48.

The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.

Shakespeare, William

49.

Character is simply habit long continued.

Plutarch

50.

Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von