Motivational Quotes

Character

The highest qualities of character must be earned.

- Abbott, Lyman

Best Quotes about Character

Before you advise anyone Be yourself! reassess his character.

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

Buddha

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

Menander

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

Guideposts

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

Lippmann, Walter

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

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

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

Nature magically suits a man to his fortunes, by making them the fruit of his character.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

10.

Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

11.

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

Gill, Vince

12.

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

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

13.

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

Howell, Harry

14.

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

Hepburn, Katharine

15.

Talents are best nurtured in solitude. Character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

16.

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.

17.

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

18.

Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.

Robbins, Anthony

19.

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

20.

During my eighty-seven years, I have witnessed a whole succession of technological revolutions. But none of them has done away with the need for character in the individual or the ability to think.

Baruch, Bernard M.

21.

A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes another s.

Richter, Jean Paul

22.

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

23.

Life every man holds dear; but the dear man holds honor far more precious dear than life.

Shakespeare, William

24.

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

25.

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

26.

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

Chambers, Oswald

27.

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

Solon

28.

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

Seneca

29.

A man's character is his fate.

Heraclitus

30.

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.

31.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

32.

Character is not made in a crisis -- it is only exhibited.

Freeman, Robert

33.

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

34.

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.

35.

The real character of a man is found out by his amusements.

Reynolds, Sir Joshua

36.

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.

37.

It is with trifles and when he is off guard that a man best reveals his character.

Schopenhauer, Arthur

38.

Gross and obscure natures, however decorated, seem impure shambles; but character gives splendor to youth, and awe to wrinkled skin and gray hairs.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

39.

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

40.

The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.

Shakespeare, William

41.

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

42.

No artist work is so high, so noble, so grand, so enduring, so important for all time, as the making of character in a child.

Cushman, Charlotte Saunders

43.

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

44.

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

Lavater, Johann Kaspar

45.

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

Frankfurter, Felix

46.

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

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

47.

The only way to compel men to speak good of us is to do it.

Voltaire

48.

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

Baldwin, Faith

49.

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.

50.

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

James A. Froude