Motivational Quotes

Character

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

Best Quotes about Character

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

Football doesn't build character. It eliminates weak ones.

Royal, Darrell

You don't get in life what you want; you get in life what you are.

Brown, Les

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

Marie Leneru

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

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.

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

Thoreau, Henry David

A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents.

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

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.

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

12.

An excellent man, like precious metal, is in every way invariable; A villain, like the beams of a balance, is always varying, upwards and downwards, himself his own dungeon.

Pandita, Saskya

13.

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

Wilson, Woodrow T.

14.

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

15.

The man who cannot believe in himself cannot believe in anything else. The basis of all integrity and character is whatever faith we have in our own integrity.

Smith, Roy L.

16.

Character is the sum and total of a person's choices.

Fitzwater, P. B.

17.

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

Baldwin, Faith

18.

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

19.

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

20.

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

21.

Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

Proverb, Chinese

22.

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

Reagan, Ronald

23.

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

Hermann Hesse

24.

Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principles.

Hume, David

25.

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

Euripides

26.

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

Merikare

27.

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

28.

Character is not made in a crisis -- it is only exhibited.

Freeman, Robert

29.

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

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

30.

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

Horace

31.

My father told me that if you saw a man in a Rolls Royce you could be sure he was not a gentleman unless he was the chauffeur.

Arran, Earl of

32.

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.

33.

Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.

Oscar Levant

34.

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

Thurber, James

35.

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

36.

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.

37.

Deep down, I'm pretty superficial.

Gardner, Ava

38.

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

Voltaire

39.

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

Lois McMaster Bujold

40.

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

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

41.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

42.

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

Leneru, Marie

43.

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

44.

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

45.

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.

46.

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

47.

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

48.

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

49.

Character is the impulse reined down into steady continuance.

Parkhurst, Charles H.

50.

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