Motivational Quotes

Character

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

Best Quotes about Character

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

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

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

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.

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

Estrange, L.

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.

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

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

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

Peter The Great

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

Karr, Alphonse

10.

One can acquire everything in solitude - except character.

Marie Henri Beyle

11.

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

Haliburton, Thomas C.

12.

Few people can distinguish the genuinely good from the reverse.

Juvenal, (Decimus Junius Juvenalis)

13.

Some people are born hammers, others anvils.

Proverb

14.

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

Gill, Vince

15.

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

16.

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

Menander

17.

Character is to man what carbon is to steel.

Hill, Napoleon

18.

A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents.

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

19.

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

Goldsmith, Oliver

20.

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

21.

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

Hepburn, Katharine

22.

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

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

23.

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

Solon

24.

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

Lois McMaster Bujold

25.

Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principles.

Hume, David

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.

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

Maritain, Jacques

28.

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

29.

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

30.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

31.

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

Joan Didion

32.

Character is victory organized.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

33.

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

Taylor, Bayard

34.

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.

35.

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

36.

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

37.

While an original is always hard to find, he is easy to recognize.

Mason, John L.

38.

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.

39.

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

Lavater, Johann Kaspar

40.

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

41.

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

Collins, Marva

42.

One can easily judge the character of a person by the way they treat people who can do nothing for them.

Proverb

43.

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

44.

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.

45.

Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.

Robbins, Anthony

46.

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.

47.

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

Rickenbacker, Edward Vernon

48.

Weakness of character is the only defect which cannot be amended.

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

49.

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

50.

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