Motivational Quotes

Character

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

- Menander

Best Quotes about Character

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

Chesterfield, Lord

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

Character is what you know you are, not what others think you have.

Collins, Marva

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

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

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

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

Character is victory organized.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

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

Wilson, Woodrow T.

10.

Integrity has no need of rules.

Camus, Albert

11.

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

12.

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

13.

Some people are born hammers, others anvils.

Proverb

14.

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

15.

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

16.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

17.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

18.

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

19.

Deep down, I'm pretty superficial.

Gardner, Ava

20.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

21.

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

Goldsmith, Oliver

22.

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

Reagan, Ronald

23.

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

24.

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

Voltaire

25.

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

26.

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

Lois McMaster Bujold

27.

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

Brown, Les

28.

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

29.

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.

30.

To have character is to be big enough to take life on.

Richards, Mary Caroline

31.

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

Lavater, Johann Kaspar

32.

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

Baldwin, Faith

33.

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

Elmer G. Letterman

34.

The real character of a man is found out by his amusements.

Reynolds, Sir Joshua

35.

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

36.

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.

37.

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

38.

One can acquire everything in solitude - except character.

Marie Henri Beyle

39.

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

Leneru, Marie

40.

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

Petrarch, Francesco

41.

Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.

Oscar Levant

42.

A man's character is his fate.

Heraclitus

43.

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

44.

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

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

45.

Pity the man who has a character to support --it is worse than a large family -- he is silent poor indeed.

Thoreau, Henry David

46.

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

Richter, Jean Paul

47.

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

48.

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

49.

Character isn't something you were born with and can't change, like your fingerprints. It's something you weren't born with and must take responsibility for forming.

Rohn, Jim

50.

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