Motivational Quotes

Character

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.

Best Quotes about 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

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

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

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

Shakespeare, William

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

Thurber, James

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

Thomas, John M.

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

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

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

Horace

10.

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

Thoreau, Henry David

11.

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

12.

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

Confucius

13.

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

14.

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

Royal, Darrell

15.

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

Proverb, Chinese

16.

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

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

17.

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.

18.

Character is simply habit long continued.

Plutarch

19.

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

Chesterfield, Lord

20.

Old age and sickness bring out the essential characteristics of a man.

Frankfurter, Felix

21.

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

Voltaire

22.

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

23.

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.

24.

Your character will be what you yourself choose to make it.

Lubbock, Sir John

25.

One stumble is enough to deface the character of an honorable life.

Estrange, L.

26.

Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconcious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character

Covey, Stephen R.

27.

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

28.

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

Crisp, Quentin

29.

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

Francis Thompson

30.

Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.

Oscar Levant

31.

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

Proverb

32.

The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.

Shakespeare, William

33.

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

Leneru, Marie

34.

Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.

Robbins, Anthony

35.

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

36.

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

Baldwin, Faith

37.

Some people are born hammers, others anvils.

Proverb

38.

Gross and obscure natures, however decorated, seem impure shambles; but character gives splendor to youth, and awe to wrinkled skin and gray hairs.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

39.

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

40.

Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, and riches take wings. Only one thing endures and that is character.

Greeley, Horace

41.

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

Solon

42.

Character is made by many acts; it may be lost by a single one.

43.

Success is always temporary. When all is said and one, the only thing you'll have left is your character.

Gill, Vince

44.

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

45.

Deep down, I'm pretty superficial.

Gardner, Ava

46.

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

Thoreau, Henry David

47.

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

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

48.

Character - the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life - is the source from which self respect springs.

Joan Didion

49.

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

Seneca

50.

You can buy a person's time; you can buy their physical presence at a given place; you can even buy a measured number of their skilled muscular motions per hour. But you can not buy enthusiasm... you can not buy loyalty. You can not buy the devotion of hearts, minds, or souls. You must earn these.

Francis, Clarence