Motivational Quotes

Character

A rich man has no need of character.

- Proverb, Hebrew

Best Quotes about Character

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

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

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

Voltaire

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

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

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

Sometimes people carry to such perfection the mask they have assumed that in due course they actually become the person they seem.

W. Somerset Maugham

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

Confucius

10.

Wherever man goes to dwell his character goes with him.

Proverb, African

11.

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

12.

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

Howell, Harry

13.

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

Wilson, Woodrow T.

14.

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

15.

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

Baldwin, Faith

16.

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

17.

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

Buddha

18.

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

Thurber, James

19.

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.

20.

I would rather be adorned by beauty of character than jewels. Jewels are the gift of fortune, while character comes from within.

Plautus, Titus Maccius

21.

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

22.

Some people are born hammers, others anvils.

Proverb

23.

Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

Washington, Booker T.

24.

As fire when thrown into water is cooled down and put out, so also a false accusation when brought against a man of the purest and holiest character, boils over and is at once dissipated, and vanishes and threats of heaven and sea, himself standing unmoved.

Cicero, Marcus T.

25.

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

Michener, James A.

26.

For character too is a process and an unfolding... among our valued friends is there not someone or other who is a little too self confident and disdainful; whose distinguished mind is a little spotted with commonness; who is a little pinched here and protuberant there with native prejudices; or whose better energies are liable to lapse down the wrong channel under the influence of transient solicitations?

Eliot, George

27.

Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

28.

A rich man has no need of character.

Proverb, Hebrew

29.

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

30.

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

Maritain, Jacques

31.

While an original is always hard to find, he is easy to recognize.

Mason, John L.

32.

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

33.

The highest qualities of character must be earned.

Abbott, Lyman

34.

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

Reagan, Ronald

35.

The formation of one's character ought to be everyone's chief aim.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

36.

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

Hay, Colin

37.

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.

38.

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

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

39.

It is part of the American character to consider nothing as desperate -- to surmount every difficulty by resolution and contrivance.

Jefferson, Thomas

40.

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.

41.

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

Joan Didion

42.

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

Lippmann, Walter

43.

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

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

44.

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.

45.

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

46.

A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you, and were helped by you, will remember you when forget-me-nots are withered. Carve your name on hearts, and not on marble

Spurgeon, Charles Haddon

47.

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

Greeley, Horace

48.

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.

49.

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

50.

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.