Motivational Quotes

Character

It is well for the world that in most of us, by the age of thirty, the character has set like plaster, and will never soften again.

- James, William

Best Quotes about Character

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

Mohammed

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

I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

King Jr. Martin Luther

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.

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

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

Hepburn, Katharine

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

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

Voltaire

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

10.

To have character is to be big enough to take life on.

Richards, Mary Caroline

11.

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

Lippmann, Walter

12.

I have often thought the best way to define a man's character would be to seek out the particular mental or moral attitude in which, when it comes upon him, he felt himself most deeply and intensely active and alive. At such moments there is a voice inside which speaks and says: This is the real me!.

James, William

13.

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

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

14.

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

15.

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.

16.

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

Solon

17.

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

18.

Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

Proverb, Chinese

19.

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

Goldsmith, Oliver

20.

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

21.

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.

22.

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

Maritain, Jacques

23.

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.

24.

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7]

Bible

25.

Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principles.

Hume, David

26.

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.

27.

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

28.

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

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

29.

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

Richter, Jean Paul

30.

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

Baldwin, Faith

31.

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

Guideposts

32.

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.

33.

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

34.

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

Proverb

35.

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

36.

Temperance is a tree which as for its root very little contentment, and for its fruit calm and peace.

Buddha

37.

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

Lincoln, Abraham

38.

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

Royal, Darrell

39.

Character isn't something you were born with and can't change, like your fingerprints. It's something you weren't born with and must take responsibility for forming.

Rohn, Jim

40.

Character is simply habit long continued.

Plutarch

41.

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

Proverb

42.

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

43.

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

Marden, Orison Swett

44.

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

Taylor, Bayard

45.

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

46.

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.

47.

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

Elihu Burritt

48.

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

Thoreau, Henry David

49.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

50.

Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.