Motivational Quotes

Character

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

- Thoreau, Henry David

Best Quotes about Character

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

Elmer G. Letterman

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

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

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

Rickenbacker, Edward Vernon

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

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

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

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

Bible

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

Mason, John L.

10.

Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

11.

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

Estrange, L.

12.

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Montale, Eugenio

13.

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.

14.

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

Lois McMaster Bujold

15.

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.

16.

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

Wilson, Woodrow T.

17.

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

18.

You don't get in life what you want; you get in life what you are.

Brown, Les

19.

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

Collins, Marva

20.

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

21.

Character is our destiny.

Heraclitus

22.

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

23.

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

Joan Didion

24.

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

Menander

25.

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

26.

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

Thoreau, Henry David

27.

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

Euripides

28.

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

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

29.

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

Guideposts

30.

If all I'm remembered for is being a good basketball player, then I've done a bad job with the rest of my life.

Thomas, Isiah

31.

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

32.

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

33.

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

34.

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

35.

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

36.

Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.

Oscar Levant

37.

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

Solon

38.

The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.