Motivational Quotes

Character

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

- Aquinas, St. Thomas

Best Quotes about Character

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

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

Baldwin, Faith

Character is our destiny.

Heraclitus

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

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.

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.

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

Maritain, Jacques

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

It is well for the world that in most of us, by the age of thirty, the character has set like plaster, and will never soften again.

James, William

10.

Character is like the foundation of a house -- it is below the surface.

11.

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

Marden, Orison Swett

12.

Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

Proverb, Chinese

13.

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

14.

Character is victory organized.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

15.

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.

16.

You can't go around hoping that most people have sterling moral characters. The most you can hope for is that people will pretend that they do.

Lebowitz, Fran

17.

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

18.

Between ourselves and our real natures we interpose that wax figure of idealizations and selections which we call our character.

Lippmann, Walter

19.

The depth and strength of a human character are defined by its moral reserves. People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life, for only then do they have to fall back on their reserves.

Trotsky, Leon

20.

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.

21.

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

22.

Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

Washington, Booker T.

23.

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

Karr, Alphonse

24.

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

25.

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

26.

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

27.

Honor is the inner garment of the Soul; the first thing put on by it with the flesh, and the last it layeth down at its separation from it.

Akhenaton

28.

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

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

29.

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

Frankfurter, Felix

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.

Faced with crisis, the man of character falls back on himself. He imposes his own stamp of action, takes responsibility for it, makes it his own.

Gaulle, Charles De

32.

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

Wilson, Woodrow T.

33.

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

Chambers, Oswald

34.

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

35.

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

Guideposts

36.

The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Macaulay, Thomas B.

37.

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

38.

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

Proverb

39.

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

Haliburton, Thomas C.

40.

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Montale, Eugenio

41.

The highest qualities of character must be earned.

Abbott, Lyman

42.

Instill the love of you into all the world, for a good character is what is remembered.

Merikare

43.

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

44.

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

Menander

45.

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

James A. Froude

46.

Few people can distinguish the genuinely good from the reverse.

Juvenal, (Decimus Junius Juvenalis)

47.

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.

48.

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

Howell, Harry

49.

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

Elihu Burritt

50.

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius