Motivational Quotes

Character

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

- Jefferson, Thomas

Best Quotes about Character

It takes a great deal of character strength to apologize quickly out of one's heart rather than out of pity. A person must possess himself and have a deep sense of security in fundamental principles and values in order to genuinely apologize.

Covey, Stephen R.

Some people are born hammers, others anvils.

Proverb

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

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

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

That which we call character is a reserved force which acts directly by presence, and without means. It is conceived of as a certain undemonstrable force, a familiar or genius, by whose impulses the man is guided, but whose counsels he cannot impart.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

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

Though intelligence is powerless to modify character, it is a dab hand at finding euphemisms for its weaknesses.

Crisp, Quentin

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

Hepburn, Katharine

10.

Character is to man what carbon is to steel.

Hill, Napoleon

11.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

12.

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

Lincoln, Abraham

13.

Temperance is simply a disposition of the mind which binds the passion.

Aquinas, St. Thomas

14.

The happiness of every country depends upon the character of its people, rather than the form of its government.

Haliburton, Thomas C.

15.

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

16.

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

Nathaniel Emmons

17.

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

Freeman, Robert

18.

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

Proverb

19.

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

Proverb, Chinese

20.

Personality can open doors, but only character can keep them open.

Elmer G. Letterman

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.

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

23.

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

Richter, Jean Paul

24.

You must regulate your life by the standards you admire when you are at your best.

Thomas, John M.

25.

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

Elihu Burritt

26.

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

27.

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

28.

Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.

Robbins, Anthony

29.

The depth and strength of a human character are defined by its moral reserves. People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life, for only then do they have to fall back on their reserves.

Trotsky, Leon

30.

Character is the sum and total of a person's choices.

Fitzwater, P. B.

31.

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

Marden, Orison Swett

32.

Our character...is an omen of our destiny, and the more integrity we have and keep, the simpler and nobler that destiny is likely to be.

George Santayana

33.

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

Karr, Alphonse

34.

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

Mason, John L.

35.

You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jelly beans.

Reagan, Ronald

36.

Character is the impulse reined down into steady continuance.

Parkhurst, Charles H.

37.

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

Confucius

38.

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

Seneca

39.

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

40.

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

Maritain, Jacques

41.

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.

42.

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

Taylor, Bayard

43.

The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.

Shakespeare, William

44.

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

Leneru, Marie

45.

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

Guideposts

46.

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

Solon

47.

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

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.

Pity the man who has a character to support --it is worse than a large family -- he is silent poor indeed.

Thoreau, Henry David

50.

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

Francis Thompson