Motivational Quotes

Character

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved.

- Keller, Helen

Best Quotes about Character

Character development is the aim of education.

O'Shea

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

Aristotle

Character develops itself in the stream of life.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

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

Voltaire

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

Menander

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

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

Howell, Harry

Character is a victory, not a gift.

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

Bible

10.

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

Euripides

11.

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

Schopenhauer, Arthur

12.

You are not very good if you are not better than your best friends imagine you to be.

Lavater, Johann Kaspar

13.

If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how -- the very best I can. And I mean to keep on doing it to the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me will not amount to anything. If the end brings me out all wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.

Lincoln, Abraham

14.

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

Proverb, Chinese

15.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

16.

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

17.

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.

18.

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

Hepburn, Katharine

19.

The superior man will watch over himself when he is alone. He examines his heart that there may be nothing wrong there, and that he may have no cause of dissatisfaction with himself.

Confucius

20.

No artist work is so high, so noble, so grand, so enduring, so important for all time, as the making of character in a child.

Cushman, Charlotte Saunders

21.

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

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

22.

The character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

23.

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

24.

Characters do not change. Opinions alter, but characters are only developed.

Disraeli, Benjamin

25.

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

Aquinas, St. Thomas

26.

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

27.

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

Leneru, Marie

28.

Testimony is like an arrow shot from a long bow and the force of it depends on the strength of the arm from which it was shot. Argument is like a bullet fired from a gun and has equal force even when issued from a child.

29.

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

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

30.

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

Guideposts

31.

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Montale, Eugenio

32.

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

Horace

33.

The man who cannot believe in himself cannot believe in anything else. The basis of all integrity and character is whatever faith we have in our own integrity.

Smith, Roy L.

34.

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

35.

Before you advise anyone Be yourself! reassess his character.

36.

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

37.

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

38.

A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents.

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

39.

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.

40.

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

41.

The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by formal education.

Angelou, Maya

42.

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

43.

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.

44.

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

45.

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

Solon

46.

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

Maritain, Jacques

47.

Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.