Motivational Quotes

Character

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

- Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Best Quotes about Character

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

Confucius

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

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

Chesterfield, Lord

Faced with crisis, the man of character falls back on himself. He imposes his own stamp of action, takes responsibility for it, makes it his own.

Gaulle, Charles De

Deep down, I'm pretty superficial.

Gardner, Ava

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

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

Wilson, Woodrow T.

What you possess in the world will be found at the day of your death to belong to someone else. But what you are will be yours forever.

Dyke, Henry Van

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

Hepburn, Katharine

10.

It takes a great deal of character strength to apologize quickly out of one's heart rather than out of pity. A person must possess himself and have a deep sense of security in fundamental principles and values in order to genuinely apologize.

Covey, Stephen R.

11.

The happiness of every country depends upon the character of its people, rather than the form of its government.

Haliburton, Thomas C.

12.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

13.

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

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

14.

One can acquire everything in solitude - except character.

Marie Henri Beyle

15.

A rich man has no need of character.

Proverb, Hebrew

16.

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

Menander

17.

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

Baldwin, Faith

18.

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

Elmer G. Letterman

19.

A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world.

Hall, Manly

20.

Integrity has no need of rules.

Camus, Albert

21.

Character in a saint means the disposition of Jesus Christ persistently manifested.

Chambers, Oswald

22.

Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.

Oscar Levant

23.

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

Proverb

24.

Character is always lost when a high ideal is sacrificed on the altar of conformity and popularity.

25.

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

26.

Character is to man what carbon is to steel.

Hill, Napoleon

27.

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

Maritain, Jacques

28.

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

Elihu Burritt

29.

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

30.

Be thou incapable of change in that which is right, and men will rely upon thee. Establish unto thyself principles of action; and see that thou ever act according to them. First know that thy principles are just, and then be thou

Akhenaton

31.

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

32.

The hell to be endured hereafter, of which theology tells, is no worse than the hell we make for ourselves in this world by habitually fashioned our characters in the wrong way.

James, William

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.

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

35.

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

Proverb, Chinese

36.

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

37.

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

38.

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

39.

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

Frankfurter, Felix

40.

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.

41.

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

Marden, Orison Swett

42.

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

43.

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

44.

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

Reynolds, Sir Joshua

45.

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.

46.

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.

47.

Wherever man goes to dwell his character goes with him.

Proverb, African

48.

Character development is the aim of education.

O'Shea

49.

There is no greater index of character so sure as the voice.

Disraeli, Benjamin

50.

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