Motivational Quotes

Character

I could never think well of a man's intellectual or moral character, if he was habitually unfaithful to his appointments.

- Nathaniel Emmons

Best Quotes about Character

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

Elihu Burritt

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

Thoreau, Henry David

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

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

Lavater, Johann Kaspar

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

Menander

Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principles.

Hume, David

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.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

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.

10.

I could never think well of a man's intellectual or moral character, if he was habitually unfaithful to his appointments.

Nathaniel Emmons

11.

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

Baldwin, Faith

12.

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

Chambers, Oswald

13.

I would rather be adorned by beauty of character than jewels. Jewels are the gift of fortune, while character comes from within.

Plautus, Titus Maccius

14.

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

15.

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.

16.

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

Lubbock, Sir John

17.

The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.

Shakespeare, William

18.

We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.

Lincoln, Abraham

19.

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

20.

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

21.

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

22.

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

Seneca

23.

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

24.

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

Thurber, James

25.

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

26.

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

Hay, Colin

27.

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

Lois McMaster Bujold

28.

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

Petrarch, Francesco

29.

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

Hepburn, Katharine

30.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

31.

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

32.

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

Leneru, Marie

33.

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

34.

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

Reagan, Ronald

35.

Therefore keep in the midst of life. Do not isolate yourself. Be among men and things, and among troubles, and difficulties, and obstacles.

Drummond, Henry

36.

The formation of one's character ought to be everyone's chief aim.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

37.

Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

38.

The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back.

Buren, Abigail Van

39.

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

Richter, Jean Paul

40.

There is no greater index of character so sure as the voice.

Disraeli, Benjamin

41.

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

Peter The Great

42.

Look, we're all the same; a man is a fourteen-room house --in the bedroom he's asleep with his intelligent wife, in the living-room he's rolling around with some bareass girl, in the library he's paying his taxes, in the yard he's raising tomatoes, and in the cellar he's making a bomb to blow it all up.

Miller, Arthur

43.

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

Marden, Orison Swett

44.

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

Elmer G. Letterman

45.

Football doesn't build character. It eliminates weak ones.

Royal, Darrell

46.

Character is victory organized.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

47.

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

Taylor, Bayard

48.

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

Wilson, Woodrow T.

49.

Good character is like a rubber ball -- thrown down hard -- it bounces right back. Good reputation is like a crystal ball -- thrown for gain -- shattered and cracked.

Linall Jr. A. L.

50.

Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

Proverb, Chinese