Motivational Quotes

Character

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

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Best Quotes about Character

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

Hepburn, Katharine

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

Bible

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

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

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

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

Voltaire

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

Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

Washington, Booker T.

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

Euripides

10.

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.

11.

The real character of a man is found out by his amusements.

Reynolds, Sir Joshua

12.

Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

13.

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

14.

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

15.

I have conquered an empire but I have not been able to conquer myself.

Peter The Great

16.

Some people are born hammers, others anvils.

Proverb

17.

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

18.

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

19.

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

Crisp, Quentin

20.

Nothing marks the character of a young man more than failure.

21.

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

Baldwin, Faith

22.

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

Elihu Burritt

23.

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

24.

Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.

Oscar Levant

25.

Character is to man what carbon is to steel.

Hill, Napoleon

26.

Wherever man goes to dwell his character goes with him.

Proverb, African

27.

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

Royal, Darrell

28.

The lord will not hold back the promises, even if the person who makes them is not worthy.

29.

Character development is the aim of education.

O'Shea

30.

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

31.

Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.

Robbins, Anthony

32.

The four cornerstones of character on which the structure of this nation was built are: initiative, imagination, individuality, and independence.

Rickenbacker, Edward Vernon

33.

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

Reagan, Ronald

34.

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

35.

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

Freeman, Robert

36.

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

Seneca

37.

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

Brown, Les

38.

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Montale, Eugenio

39.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

40.

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

Aristotle

41.

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

42.

Reputation is only a candle, of wavering and uncertain flame, and easily blown out, but it is the light by which the world looks for and finds merit.

Lowell, James Russell

43.

While he was not as dumb as an ox, he was not any smarter either.

Thurber, James

44.

They attack the one man with their hate and their shower of weapons. But he is like some rock which stretches into the vast sea and which, exposed to the fury of the winds and beaten against by the waves, endures all the violence

Virgil

45.

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

Aquinas, St. Thomas

46.

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

47.

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

48.

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

Marden, Orison Swett

49.

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

Karr, Alphonse

50.

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

Buddha