Motivational Quotes

Character

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

- Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

Best Quotes about Character

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

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

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

Character is our destiny.

Heraclitus

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

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

Brown, Les

It is part of the American character to consider nothing as desperate -- to surmount every difficulty by resolution and contrivance.

Jefferson, Thomas

Without an acquaintance with the rules of propriety, it is impossible for the character to be established.

Confucius

Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

Washington, Booker T.

10.

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

11.

Between ourselves and our real natures we interpose that wax figure of idealizations and selections which we call our character.

Lippmann, Walter

12.

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

13.

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

Bovee, Christian Nevell

14.

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

Proverb, Chinese

15.

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

16.

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.

17.

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.

18.

Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

Proverb, Chinese

19.

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

Hermann Hesse

20.

Good character is like a rubber ball -- thrown down hard -- it bounces right back. Good reputation is like a crystal ball -- thrown for gain -- shattered and cracked.

Linall Jr. A. L.

21.

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

Nathaniel Emmons

22.

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

23.

It is with trifles and when he is off guard that a man best reveals his character.

Schopenhauer, Arthur

24.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

25.

One stumble is enough to deface the character of an honorable life.

Estrange, L.

26.

Character is another thing that is formed in youth and reformed in marriage.

27.

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

Proverb

28.

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.

29.

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

Petrarch, Francesco

30.

A rich man has no need of character.

Proverb, Hebrew

31.

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

Euripides

32.

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

Maritain, Jacques

33.

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

34.

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

Horace

35.

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.

36.

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

37.

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

38.

To keep your character intact you cannot stoop to filthy acts. It makes it easier to stoop the next time.

Hepburn, Katharine

39.

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

40.

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Montale, Eugenio

41.

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

42.

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

Voltaire

43.

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

44.

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

Freeman, Robert

45.

Fame is what you have taken, character is what you give. When to this truth you awaken, then you begin to live.

Taylor, Bayard

46.

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

47.

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.

48.

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

49.

You can tell the character of every man when you see how he receives praise.

Seneca

50.

Honor is the inner garment of the Soul; the first thing put on by it with the flesh, and the last it layeth down at its separation from it.

Akhenaton