Motivational Quotes

Character

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

- Reagan, Ronald

Best Quotes about Character

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

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

Lavater, Johann Kaspar

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

Richter, Jean Paul

Wealth stays with us a little moment if at all: only our characters are steadfast, not our gold.

Euripides

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

Seneca

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

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

Baldwin, Faith

Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principles.

Hume, David

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.

10.

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

11.

Nothing marks the character of a young man more than failure.

12.

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

13.

Temperance is a tree which as for its root very little contentment, and for its fruit calm and peace.

Buddha

14.

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

15.

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

16.

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

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

17.

A man's character is his fate.

Heraclitus

18.

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

Elihu Burritt

19.

Character development is the aim of education.

O'Shea

20.

Few people can distinguish the genuinely good from the reverse.

Juvenal, (Decimus Junius Juvenalis)

21.

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

Crisp, Quentin

22.

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

23.

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

Angelou, Maya

24.

If an ass goes traveling it will not come home a horse.

Proverb

25.

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

26.

The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.

Shakespeare, William

27.

Noble character is best appreciated in those ages in which it can most readily develop.

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

28.

Clothes don't tell the character of the man, but they just as well talk for him as against him.

29.

We don't love qualities, we love persons; sometimes by reason of their defects as well as of their qualities.

Maritain, Jacques

30.

Wherever man goes to dwell his character goes with him.

Proverb, African

31.

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

32.

All men are alike in their lower natures; it is in their higher characters that they differ.

Bovee, Christian Nevell

33.

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.

34.

Character is the impulse reined down into steady continuance.

Parkhurst, Charles H.

35.

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

Goldsmith, Oliver

36.

Character is always lost when a high ideal is sacrificed on the altar of conformity and popularity.

37.

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

38.

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

39.

The happiness of every country depends upon the character of its people, rather than the form of its government.

Haliburton, Thomas C.

40.

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

Richards, Mary Caroline

41.

Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.