Motivational Quotes

Character

Character development is the aim of education.

- O'Shea

Best Quotes about Character

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

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

Lincoln, Abraham

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

Taylor, Bayard

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

Seneca

Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principles.

Hume, David

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

Guideposts

Character is simply habit long continued.

Plutarch

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

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

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

Freeman, Robert

10.

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

11.

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

Wilson, Woodrow T.

12.

Good character is like a rubber ball -- thrown down hard -- it bounces right back. Good reputation is like a crystal ball -- thrown for gain -- shattered and cracked.

Linall Jr. A. L.

13.

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

Thoreau, Henry David

14.

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

Confucius

15.

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

16.

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

Elmer G. Letterman

17.

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

18.

I have only got down on to paper, really, three types of people: the person I think I am, the people who irritate me, and the people I'd like to be.

Forster, Edward M.

19.

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

20.

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

21.

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

22.

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

Rickenbacker, Edward Vernon

23.

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

Gill, Vince

24.

One can easily judge the character of a person by the way they treat people who can do nothing for them.

Proverb

25.

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

26.

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

27.

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

Chesterfield, Lord

28.

Deep down, I'm pretty superficial.

Gardner, Ava

29.

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

Royal, Darrell

30.

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

Michener, James A.

31.

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

32.

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

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

33.

Character isn't something you were born with and can't change, like your fingerprints. It's something you weren't born with and must take responsibility for forming.

Rohn, Jim

34.

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

35.

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

Thurber, James

36.

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

Buddha

37.

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

38.

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

Maritain, Jacques

39.

Instill the love of you into all the world, for a good character is what is remembered.

Merikare

40.

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

Aquinas, St. Thomas

41.

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

42.

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.

43.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

44.

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

45.

There's a fine line between character building and soul destroying.

Hay, Colin

46.

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

47.

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

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

48.

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

Bible

49.

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

James A. Froude

50.

Wherever man goes to dwell his character goes with him.