Motivational Quotes

Character

I have only got down on to paper, really, three types of people: the person I think I am, the people who irritate me, and the people I'd like to be.

- Forster, Edward M.

Best Quotes about Character

Character develops itself in the stream of life.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

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

Leneru, Marie

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

Lois McMaster Bujold

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

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

Guideposts

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

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

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

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

Horace

10.

Character is victory organized.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

11.

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

Freeman, Robert

12.

Strong characters are brought out by change of situation, and gentle ones by permanence.

Richter, Jean Paul

13.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

14.

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

Euripides

15.

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

16.

A rich man has no need of character.

Proverb, Hebrew

17.

If anyone tells you someone has changed their character; don't believe it.

Mohammed

18.

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

Karr, Alphonse

19.

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

Francis Thompson

20.

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

21.

Few people can distinguish the genuinely good from the reverse.

Juvenal, (Decimus Junius Juvenalis)

22.

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

Chesterfield, Lord

23.

I have conquered an empire but I have not been able to conquer myself.

Peter The Great

24.

One can easily judge the character of a person by the way they treat people who can do nothing for them.

Proverb

25.

Character, in great and little things, means carrying through what you feel able to do.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

26.

Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.

Robbins, Anthony

27.

Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

Proverb, Chinese

28.

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

Proverb

29.

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

30.

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

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

31.

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

32.

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

33.

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

34.

Character is what you know you are, not what others think you have.

Collins, Marva

35.

Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses or avoids.

Aristotle

36.

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

37.

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

Thoreau, Henry David

38.

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

39.

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

Wilson, Woodrow T.

40.

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

41.

Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principles.

Hume, David

42.

Property may be destroyed and money may lose its purchasing power; but, character, health, knowledge and good judgment will always be in demand under all conditions.

Babson, Roger

43.

Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

44.

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.

45.

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

Nathaniel Emmons

46.

Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

Abraham Lincoln

47.

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

48.

I would rather be adorned by beauty of character than jewels. Jewels are the gift of fortune, while character comes from within.