Motivational Quotes

Character

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

Best Quotes about Character

Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

Abraham Lincoln

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

Hermann Hesse

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

Marden, Orison Swett

Wherever man goes to dwell his character goes with him.

Proverb, African

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

The hell to be endured hereafter, of which theology tells, is no worse than the hell we make for ourselves in this world by habitually fashioned our characters in the wrong way.

James, William

Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.

Oscar Levant

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

Chambers, Oswald

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

Lincoln, Abraham

10.

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

Aquinas, St. Thomas

11.

The four cornerstones of character on which the structure of this nation was built are: initiative, imagination, individuality, and independence.

Rickenbacker, Edward Vernon

12.

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

Karr, Alphonse

13.

Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

Proverb, Chinese

14.

Character - the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life - is the source from which self respect springs.

Joan Didion

15.

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.

16.

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

17.

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

Goldsmith, Oliver

18.

Character is simply habit long continued.

Plutarch

19.

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

20.

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

Richter, Jean Paul

21.

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Montale, Eugenio

22.

Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

23.

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

Bible

24.

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

25.

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

26.

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

Elihu Burritt

27.

Character is another thing that is formed in youth and reformed in marriage.

28.

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

Estrange, L.

29.

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.

30.

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

31.

Character is our destiny.

Heraclitus

32.

Characters do not change. Opinions alter, but characters are only developed.

Disraeli, Benjamin

33.

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

34.

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

35.

Character is a victory, not a gift.

36.

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

37.

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

38.

If you stand straight, do not fear a crooked shadow.

Proverb, Chinese

39.

Old age and sickness bring out the essential characteristics of a man.

Frankfurter, Felix

40.

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

41.

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.

42.

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

Haliburton, Thomas C.

43.

Character development is the aim of education.

O'Shea

44.

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

45.

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

Collins, Marva

46.

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

Crisp, Quentin

47.

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

Guideposts

48.

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

49.

Character is the impulse reined down into steady continuance.

Parkhurst, Charles H.

50.

It is better for the development of character and contentment to do certain things badly for yourself than to have them done better for you by someone else.