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

Reputation is only a candle, of wavering and uncertain flame, and easily blown out, but it is the light by which the world looks for and finds merit.

Lowell, James Russell

Without an acquaintance with the rules of propriety, it is impossible for the character to be established.

Confucius

There's a fine line between character building and soul destroying.

Hay, Colin

I could never think well of a man's intellectual or moral character, if he was habitually unfaithful to his appointments.

Nathaniel Emmons

Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

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

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

Marden, Orison Swett

Few people can distinguish the genuinely good from the reverse.

Juvenal, (Decimus Junius Juvenalis)

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

10.

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.

11.

One stumble is enough to deface the character of an honorable life.

Estrange, L.

12.

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

13.

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

14.

Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character.

Sivananda, Sri Swami

15.

We know but a few men, a great many coats and breeches.

Thoreau, Henry David

16.

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

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

17.

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

18.

Character is our destiny.

Heraclitus

19.

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

Howell, Harry

20.

A rich man has no need of character.

Proverb, Hebrew

21.

Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, and riches take wings. Only one thing endures and that is character.

Greeley, Horace

22.

The character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

23.

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

Euripides

24.

I appreciate people who are civil, whether they mean it or not. I think: Be civil. Do not cherish your opinion over my feelings. There's a vanity to candor that isn't really worth it. Be kind.

Richard Greenberg

25.

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Montale, Eugenio

26.

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

27.

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

28.

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

29.

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

Wilson, Woodrow T.

30.

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

Chesterfield, Lord

31.

One can acquire everything in solitude - except character.

Marie Henri Beyle

32.

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.

33.

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

34.

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

35.

Before you advise anyone Be yourself! reassess his character.

36.

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

37.

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

38.

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

39.

How difficult it is to save the bark of reputation from the rocks of ignorance.

Petrarch, Francesco

40.

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

41.

Those who cross the sea change only the climate, not their character.

Horace

42.

Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

Proverb, Chinese

43.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

44.

Character is the impulse reined down into steady continuance.

Parkhurst, Charles H.

45.

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.

46.

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

Gill, Vince

47.

Character is always lost when a high ideal is sacrificed on the altar of conformity and popularity.

48.

Though intelligence is powerless to modify character, it is a dab hand at finding euphemisms for its weaknesses.

Crisp, Quentin

49.

Character is another thing that is formed in youth and reformed in marriage.

50.