Motivational Quotes

Character

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

Best Quotes about Character

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

Aquinas, St. Thomas

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

Reagan, Ronald

The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by formal education.

Angelou, Maya

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

Nathaniel Emmons

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

Karr, Alphonse

You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.

James A. Froude

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

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

Gill, Vince

A man with a so-called character is often a simple piece of mechanism; he has often only one point of view for the extremely complicated relationships of life.

Strindberg, J. August

10.

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.

11.

Character is to man what carbon is to steel.

Hill, Napoleon

12.

A man's character is his fate.

Heraclitus

13.

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

14.

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

Howell, Harry

15.

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

Thurber, James

16.

Testimony is like an arrow shot from a long bow and the force of it depends on the strength of the arm from which it was shot. Argument is like a bullet fired from a gun and has equal force even when issued from a child.

17.

It is with trifles and when he is off guard that a man best reveals his character.

Schopenhauer, Arthur

18.

An excellent man, like precious metal, is in every way invariable; A villain, like the beams of a balance, is always varying, upwards and downwards, himself his own dungeon.

Pandita, Saskya

19.

The character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

20.

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

Baldwin, Faith

21.

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.

22.

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

Richards, Mary Caroline

23.

Character is a victory, not a gift.

24.

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

Lubbock, Sir John

25.

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

26.

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

Leneru, Marie

27.

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

Richter, Jean Paul

28.

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

29.

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

Crisp, Quentin

30.

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.

31.

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

Hall, Manly

32.

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

33.

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.

34.

Character is simply habit long continued.

Plutarch

35.

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

Voltaire

36.

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

Hepburn, Katharine

37.

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

38.

Character is the impulse reined down into steady continuance.

Parkhurst, Charles H.

39.

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

Lavater, Johann Kaspar

40.

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

41.

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

Collins, Marva

42.

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

43.

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

44.

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

Elihu Burritt

45.

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

Petrarch, Francesco

46.

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

Thoreau, Henry David

47.

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

Chesterfield, Lord

48.

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.

49.

Sometimes people carry to such perfection the mask they have assumed that in due course they actually become the person they seem.

W. Somerset Maugham

50.

Gross and obscure natures, however decorated, seem impure shambles; but character gives splendor to youth, and awe to wrinkled skin and gray hairs.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo