Motivational Quotes

Character

Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses or avoids.

- Aristotle

Best Quotes about Character

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

Peter The Great

To be fond of learning is near to wisdom; to practice with vigor is near to benevolence; and to be conscious of shame is near to fortitude. He who knows these three things

Confucius

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

Clothes don't tell the character of the man, but they just as well talk for him as against him.

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

Elihu Burritt

Too often the strong, silent man is silent only because he does not know what to say, and is reputed strong only because he has remained silent.

Churchill, Winston

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

Frankfurter, Felix

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

Keep in mind that the true measure of an individual is how he treats a person who can do him absolutely no good.

Landers, Ann

10.

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

Schopenhauer, Arthur

11.

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

12.

You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jelly beans.

Reagan, Ronald

13.

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

14.

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

Euripides

15.

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

Proverb, Chinese

16.

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

Richter, Jean Paul

17.

Character is our destiny.

Heraclitus

18.

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

Bovee, Christian Nevell

19.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

20.

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

21.

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

Lippmann, Walter

22.

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

23.

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

Joan Didion

24.

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.

25.

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

26.

A man's character is the reality of himself; his reputation, the opinion others have formed about him; character resides in him, reputation in other people; that is the substance, this is the shadow.

Beecher, Henry Ward

27.

Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

Washington, Booker T.

28.

While he was not as dumb as an ox, he was not any smarter either.

Thurber, James

29.

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

Rickenbacker, Edward Vernon

30.

The formation of one's character ought to be everyone's chief aim.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

31.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

32.

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

33.

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

Solon

34.

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

Menander

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.

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

37.

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.

38.

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

Collins, Marva

39.

Everyone has the obligation to ponder well his own specific traits of character. He must also regulate them adequately and not wonder whether someone else's traits might suit him better. The more definitely his own a man's character is, the better it fits him.

Cicero

40.

Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

Proverb, Chinese

41.

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

Guideposts

42.

In attempts to improve your character, know what is in your power and what is beyond it.

Francis Thompson

43.

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

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.

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

Elmer G. Letterman

46.

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

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

47.

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

48.

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

49.

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

Chambers, Oswald

50.

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

Merikare