Motivational Quotes

Character

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

- Fitzwater, P. B.

Best Quotes about Character

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

Brown, Les

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Montale, Eugenio

Strong feelings do not necessarily make a strong character. The strength of a man is to be measured by the power of the feelings he subdues not by the power of those which subdue him.

William Carleton

Few people can distinguish the genuinely good from the reverse.

Juvenal, (Decimus Junius Juvenalis)

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

Leneru, Marie

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

Maritain, Jacques

The highest qualities of character must be earned.

Abbott, Lyman

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

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

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.

10.

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

Proverb

11.

Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.

Michener, James A.

12.

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

Karr, Alphonse

13.

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.

14.

There is never a better measure of what a person is than what he does when he is absolutely free to choose.

Bulger, William M.

15.

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

Marie Leneru

16.

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

17.

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.

18.

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

19.

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

20.

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

Solon

21.

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

22.

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

Horace

23.

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

Euripides

24.

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

25.

Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.

Oscar Levant

26.

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

27.

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved.

Keller, Helen

28.

The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.

Shakespeare, William

29.

Character is like the foundation of a house -- it is below the surface.

30.

Some people are born hammers, others anvils.

Proverb

31.

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

32.

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.

33.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

34.

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

35.

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

36.

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

Aquinas, St. Thomas

37.

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

38.

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.

39.

A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you, and were helped by you, will remember you when forget-me-nots are withered. Carve your name on hearts, and not on marble

Spurgeon, Charles Haddon

40.

Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.

Robbins, Anthony

41.

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

42.

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

Thackeray, William M.

43.

The higher character a person supports the more they should regard their smallest actions.

44.

Nothing marks the character of a young man more than failure.

45.

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

46.

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

47.

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

James A. Froude

48.

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

Guideposts

49.

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.

50.

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