Motivational Quotes

Character

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.

Best Quotes about Character

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

Menander

Men show their characters in nothing more clearly than in what they think laughable.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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

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

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

Thoreau, Henry David

The hell to be endured hereafter, of which theology tells, is no worse than the hell we make for ourselves in this world by habitually fashioned our characters in the wrong way.

James, William

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

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

Guideposts

10.

Character is to man what carbon is to steel.

Hill, Napoleon

11.

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

12.

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

Chambers, Oswald

13.

Temperance is simply a disposition of the mind which binds the passion.

Aquinas, St. Thomas

14.

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

15.

Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

Proverb, Chinese

16.

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

17.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

18.

A man's character is his fate.

Heraclitus

19.

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.

20.

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

21.

We don't love qualities, we love persons; sometimes by reason of their defects as well as of their qualities.

Maritain, Jacques

22.

Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

23.

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

Richards, Mary Caroline

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.

The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.

Shakespeare, William

26.

Pity the man who has a character to support --it is worse than a large family -- he is silent poor indeed.

Thoreau, Henry David

27.

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

Baldwin, Faith

28.

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

Thurber, James

29.

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.

30.

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

31.

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.

32.

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

33.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

34.

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

Voltaire

35.

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

Leneru, Marie

36.

Wherever man goes to dwell his character goes with him.

Proverb, African

37.

There is no greater index of character so sure as the voice.

Disraeli, Benjamin

38.

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.

39.

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

Lavater, Johann Kaspar

40.

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

41.

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

Gill, Vince

42.

Character is our destiny.

Heraclitus

43.

Character is a victory, not a gift.

44.

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.

45.

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

46.

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.

47.

If an ass goes traveling it will not come home a horse.

Proverb

48.

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Montale, Eugenio

49.

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

Euripides

50.

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