Motivational Quotes

Character

Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.

- Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

Best Quotes about Character

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Montale, Eugenio

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

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.

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

Menander

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

Aristotle

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

Karr, Alphonse

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

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

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

Petrarch, Francesco

10.

Good character is more to be praised than outstanding talent. Most talents are, to some extent, a gift. Good character, by contrast, is not given to us. We have to build it piece by piece-by thought, choice, courage and determination.

Luther, John

11.

You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips.

Goldsmith, Oliver

12.

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

13.

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

14.

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

15.

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

16.

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

Greeley, Horace

17.

You can buy a person's time; you can buy their physical presence at a given place; you can even buy a measured number of their skilled muscular motions per hour. But you can not buy enthusiasm... you can not buy loyalty. You can not buy the devotion of hearts, minds, or souls. You must earn these.

Francis, Clarence

18.

Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.

Robbins, Anthony

19.

Forming characters! Whose? Our own or others? Both. And in that momentous fact lies the peril and responsibility of our existence.

Elihu Burritt

20.

All men are alike in their lower natures; it is in their higher characters that they differ.

Bovee, Christian Nevell

21.

Character contributes to beauty. It fortifies a woman as her youth fades.

Bisset, Jacqueline

22.

Judge of your natural character by what you do in dreams.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

23.

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

24.

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

James A. Froude

25.

Some people are born hammers, others anvils.

Proverb

26.

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

27.

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

Marden, Orison Swett

28.

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.

29.

A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world.

Hall, Manly

30.

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

31.

Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

Washington, Booker T.

32.

Character is a victory, not a gift.

33.

A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes another s.

Richter, Jean Paul

34.

Character matters; leadership descends from character.

Limbaugh, Rush

35.

If you stand straight, do not fear a crooked shadow.

Proverb, Chinese

36.

We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.

Lincoln, Abraham

37.

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

38.

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

Thoreau, Henry David

39.

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

40.

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

Lavater, Johann Kaspar

41.

Character is victory organized.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

42.

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

Merikare

43.

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

44.

The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back.

Buren, Abigail Van

45.

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

Collins, Marva

46.

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

Guideposts

47.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

48.

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

49.

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.

50.

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

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus