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

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

Lois McMaster Bujold

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

Some people are born hammers, others anvils.

Proverb

Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

Washington, Booker T.

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

Men of genius are admired, men of wealth are envied, men of power are feared; but only men of character are trusted.

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

Seneca

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

Bovee, Christian Nevell

10.

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.

11.

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

Chesterfield, Lord

12.

What you possess in the world will be found at the day of your death to belong to someone else. But what you are will be yours forever.

Dyke, Henry Van

13.

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

14.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

15.

A man with a so-called character is often a simple piece of mechanism; he has often only one point of view for the extremely complicated relationships of life.

Strindberg, J. August

16.

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

17.

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

Guideposts

18.

Deep down, I'm pretty superficial.

Gardner, Ava

19.

A rich man has no need of character.

Proverb, Hebrew

20.

Character in a saint means the disposition of Jesus Christ persistently manifested.

Chambers, Oswald

21.

It isn't the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog, that counts.

Howell, Harry

22.

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

Solon

23.

While an original is always hard to find, he is easy to recognize.

Mason, John L.

24.

Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

Proverb, Chinese

25.

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

Schopenhauer, Arthur

26.

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

Euripides

27.

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.

28.

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.

29.

Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.

Robbins, Anthony

30.

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.

31.

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

Menander

32.

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

Proverb

33.

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

34.

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

Thoreau, Henry David

35.

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

Hermann Hesse

36.

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

Baldwin, Faith

37.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

38.

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

39.

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

Wilson, Woodrow T.

40.

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

Elihu Burritt

41.

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

Wooden, John

42.

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

43.

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

44.

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.

45.

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

46.

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

Proverb

47.

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

48.

Look, we're all the same; a man is a fourteen-room house --in the bedroom he's asleep with his intelligent wife, in the living-room he's rolling around with some bareass girl, in the library he's paying his taxes, in the yard he's raising tomatoes, and in the cellar he's making a bomb to blow it all up.

Miller, Arthur

49.

Let us not say, every man is the architect of his own fortune; but let us say, every man is the architect of his own character.

Boardman, George D.

50.

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