Motivational Quotes

Character

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

Best Quotes about Character

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

Buddha

Keep in mind that the true measure of an individual is how he treats a person who can do him absolutely no good.

Landers, Ann

Character is our destiny.

Heraclitus

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

Confucius

Few people can distinguish the genuinely good from the reverse.

Juvenal, (Decimus Junius Juvenalis)

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

Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.

Michener, James A.

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

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

10.

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

Wilson, Woodrow T.

11.

I appreciate people who are civil, whether they mean it or not. I think: Be civil. Do not cherish your opinion over my feelings. There's a vanity to candor that isn't really worth it. Be kind.

Richard Greenberg

12.

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

13.

Character is the impulse reined down into steady continuance.

Parkhurst, Charles H.

14.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

15.

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

Aquinas, St. Thomas

16.

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

17.

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

Lippmann, Walter

18.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

19.

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

Aristotle

20.

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

21.

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

22.

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

Guideposts

23.

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

Angelou, Maya

24.

Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.

Oscar Levant

25.

An excellent man, like precious metal, is in every way invariable; A villain, like the beams of a balance, is always varying, upwards and downwards, himself his own dungeon.

Pandita, Saskya

26.

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

27.

Character is like the foundation of a house -- it is below the surface.

28.

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

Thurber, James

29.

Life every man holds dear; but the dear man holds honor far more precious dear than life.

Shakespeare, William

30.

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

31.

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

32.

Character matters; leadership descends from character.

Limbaugh, Rush

33.

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

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

34.

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

Fitzwater, P. B.

35.

Character is victory organized.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

36.

Character is a victory, not a gift.

37.

Wherever man goes to dwell his character goes with him.

Proverb, African

38.

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

Goldsmith, Oliver

39.

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

40.

You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.

James A. Froude

41.

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Montale, Eugenio

42.

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.

43.

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.

44.

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.

45.

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

Voltaire

46.

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