Motivational Quotes

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

Best Quotes about Character

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

The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by formal education.

Angelou, Maya

They attack the one man with their hate and their shower of weapons. But he is like some rock which stretches into the vast sea and which, exposed to the fury of the winds and beaten against by the waves, endures all the violence

Virgil

Character is victory organized.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

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

Merikare

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

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

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

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

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.

10.

To have character is to be big enough to take life on.

Richards, Mary Caroline

11.

Some people are born hammers, others anvils.

Proverb

12.

If anyone tells you someone has changed their character; don't believe it.

Mohammed

13.

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

Frankfurter, Felix

14.

I have often thought the best way to define a man's character would be to seek out the particular mental or moral attitude in which, when it comes upon him, he felt himself most deeply and intensely active and alive. At such moments there is a voice inside which speaks and says: This is the real me!.

James, William

15.

Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.

Michener, James A.

16.

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

17.

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.

18.

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

Solon

19.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

20.

A rich man has no need of character.

Proverb, Hebrew

21.

Character development is the aim of education.

O'Shea

22.

Character is our destiny.

Heraclitus

23.

It is part of the American character to consider nothing as desperate -- to surmount every difficulty by resolution and contrivance.

Jefferson, Thomas

24.

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.

25.

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

Proverb, Chinese

26.

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

Wooden, John

27.

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

Goldsmith, Oliver

28.

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

Shakespeare, William

29.

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

30.

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

Elihu Burritt

31.

All men are alike in their lower natures; it is in their higher characters that they differ.

Bovee, Christian Nevell

32.

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

Gill, Vince

33.

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

34.

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

35.

Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

Proverb, Chinese

36.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

37.

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

38.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

39.

You must regulate your life by the standards you admire when you are at your best.

Thomas, John M.

40.

Character is to man what carbon is to steel.

Hill, Napoleon

41.

A man's character is his fate.

Heraclitus

42.

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

Lois McMaster Bujold

43.

Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

Washington, Booker T.

44.

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.

45.

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

46.

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.

47.

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

Wilson, Woodrow T.

48.

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

49.

Wherever man goes to dwell his character goes with him.

Proverb, African

50.

Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.