Motivational Quotes

Character

Character is simply habit long continued.

- Plutarch

Best Quotes about Character

Character is to man what carbon is to steel.

Hill, Napoleon

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

Thomas, John M.

If a man character is to be abused there's nobody like a relative to do the business.

Thackeray, William M.

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

Baldwin, Faith

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

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

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

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

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

Solon

10.

To have character is to be big enough to take life on.

Richards, Mary Caroline

11.

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

Hay, Colin

12.

Strong characters are brought out by change of situation, and gentle ones by permanence.

Richter, Jean Paul

13.

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

14.

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

Howell, Harry

15.

Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.

Oscar Levant

16.

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

Freeman, Robert

17.

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

Shakespeare, William

18.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

19.

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

20.

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

21.

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

Hall, Manly

22.

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

23.

Few people can distinguish the genuinely good from the reverse.

Juvenal, (Decimus Junius Juvenalis)

24.

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

James A. Froude

25.

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

26.

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

Chesterfield, Lord

27.

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

Thoreau, Henry David

28.

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

29.

People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest.

Hermann Hesse

30.

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

31.

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

Haliburton, Thomas C.

32.

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.

33.

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

Proverb, Chinese

34.

Deep down, I'm pretty superficial.

Gardner, Ava

35.

Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

Proverb, Chinese

36.

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

37.

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

Estrange, L.

38.

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

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.

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

Wooden, John

41.

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.

42.

You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jelly beans.

Reagan, Ronald

43.

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

Wilson, Woodrow T.

44.

Wherever man goes to dwell his character goes with him.

Proverb, African

45.

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

Guideposts

46.

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

Thurber, James

47.

Judge of your natural character by what you do in dreams.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

48.

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

Taylor, Bayard

49.

Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of a man you are. It shows me what your ideal of manhood is, and what kind of a man you long to be.

Carlyle, Thomas

50.

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