Motivational Quotes

Character

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

Best Quotes about Character

Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.

Robbins, Anthony

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

You must look into people, as well as at them.

Chesterfield, Lord

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

Reynolds, Sir Joshua

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

What you possess in the world will be found at the day of your death to belong to someone else. But what you are will be yours forever.

Dyke, Henry Van

We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.

Lincoln, Abraham

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

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

10.

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

11.

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.

12.

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

13.

Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.

Oscar Levant

14.

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

15.

It is not what he had, or even what he does which expresses the worth of a man, but what he is.

Amiel, Henri Frederic

16.

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

Elihu Burritt

17.

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

18.

The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back.

Buren, Abigail Van

19.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

20.

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

Karr, Alphonse

21.

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

Francis Thompson

22.

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

James A. Froude

23.

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

Euripides

24.

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

Elmer G. Letterman

25.

A man with a so-called character is often a simple piece of mechanism; he has often only one point of view for the extremely complicated relationships of life.

Strindberg, J. August

26.

The highest qualities of character must be earned.

Abbott, Lyman

27.

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

28.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

29.

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.

30.

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

31.

To succeed is nothing, it's an accident. but to feel no doubts about oneself is something very different: it is character.

Marie Leneru

32.

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

Bible

33.

As fire when thrown into water is cooled down and put out, so also a false accusation when brought against a man of the purest and holiest character, boils over and is at once dissipated, and vanishes and threats of heaven and sea, himself standing unmoved.

Cicero, Marcus T.

34.

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

Baldwin, Faith

35.

The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.

Shakespeare, William

36.

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.

37.

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

38.

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

Solon

39.

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.

40.

Character matters; leadership descends from character.

Limbaugh, Rush

41.

If a man character is to be abused there's nobody like a relative to do the business.

Thackeray, William M.

42.

Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principles.

Hume, David

43.

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

44.

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.

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.

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

48.

To succeed is nothing -- it's an accident. But to feel no doubts about oneself is something very different: it is character.

Leneru, Marie

49.

People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest.

Hermann Hesse

50.

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