Motivational Quotes

Character

Instill the love of you into all the world, for a good character is what is remembered.

- Merikare

Best Quotes about 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

If anyone tells you someone has changed their character; don't believe it.

Mohammed

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

Thoreau, Henry David

Deep down, I'm pretty superficial.

Gardner, Ava

Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

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.

The highest qualities of character must be earned.

Abbott, Lyman

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

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

Goldsmith, Oliver

10.

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

Lubbock, Sir John

11.

There is never a better measure of what a person is than what he does when he is absolutely free to choose.

Bulger, William M.

12.

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

13.

People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest.

Hermann Hesse

14.

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

Estrange, L.

15.

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

Reynolds, Sir Joshua

16.

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

Richter, Jean Paul

17.

A man's character is the reality of himself; his reputation, the opinion others have formed about him; character resides in him, reputation in other people; that is the substance, this is the shadow.

Beecher, Henry Ward

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.

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7]

Bible

20.

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

Guideposts

21.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

22.

Life every man holds dear; but the dear man holds honor far more precious dear than life.

Shakespeare, William

23.

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.

24.

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

Freeman, Robert

25.

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.

26.

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

Baldwin, Faith

27.

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

Elmer G. Letterman

28.

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

Voltaire

29.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

30.

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

31.

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

32.

Character contributes to beauty. It fortifies a woman as her youth fades.

Bisset, Jacqueline

33.

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

34.

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

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

35.

I have often thought the best way to define a man's character would be to seek out the particular mental or moral attitude in which, when it comes upon him, he felt himself most deeply and intensely active and alive. At such moments there is a voice inside which speaks and says: This is the real me!.

James, William

36.

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

37.

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

Solon

38.

Before you advise anyone Be yourself! reassess his character.

39.

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

Hall, Manly

40.

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

41.

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

42.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

43.

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

44.

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

Chambers, Oswald

45.

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

46.

Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principles.

Hume, David

47.

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

48.

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

Lois McMaster Bujold

49.

Fame is what you have taken, character is what you give. When to this truth you awaken, then you begin to live.

Taylor, Bayard

50.

Temperance is simply a disposition of the mind which binds the passion.

Aquinas, St. Thomas