Motivational Quotes

Character

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

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Best Quotes about Character

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

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

Bible

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

Guideposts

Nothing marks the character of a young man more than failure.

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

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Character is our destiny.

Heraclitus

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

People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

An excellent man, like precious metal, is in every way invariable; A villain, like the beams of a balance, is always varying, upwards and downwards, himself his own dungeon.

Pandita, Saskya

10.

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

Baldwin, Faith

11.

Character is what you know you are, not what others think you have.

Collins, Marva

12.

Character is to man what carbon is to steel.

Hill, Napoleon

13.

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

Proverb, Chinese

14.

Integrity has no need of rules.

Camus, Albert

15.

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

Howell, Harry

16.

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

17.

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

Proverb

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.

All men are alike in their lower natures; it is in their higher characters that they differ.

Bovee, Christian Nevell

20.

Characters do not change. Opinions alter, but characters are only developed.

Disraeli, Benjamin

21.

How difficult it is to save the bark of reputation from the rocks of ignorance.

Petrarch, Francesco

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.

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

Voltaire

24.

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

Lubbock, Sir John

25.

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

Greeley, Horace

26.

If all I'm remembered for is being a good basketball player, then I've done a bad job with the rest of my life.

Thomas, Isiah

27.

One can acquire everything in solitude - except character.

Marie Henri Beyle

28.

Character is the impulse reined down into steady continuance.

Parkhurst, Charles H.

29.

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

30.

The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by formal education.

Angelou, Maya

31.

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

Estrange, L.

32.

Men of genius are admired, men of wealth are envied, men of power are feared; but only men of character are trusted.

33.

A man's character is his fate.

Heraclitus

34.

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

35.

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

36.

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

Solon

37.

Character matters; leadership descends from character.

Limbaugh, Rush

38.

You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips.

Goldsmith, Oliver

39.

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

40.

Character contributes to beauty. It fortifies a woman as her youth fades.

Bisset, Jacqueline

41.

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

Richards, Mary Caroline

42.

Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

Proverb, Chinese

43.

Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses or avoids.

Aristotle

44.

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

Reagan, Ronald

45.

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

Elihu Burritt

46.

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

Lincoln, Abraham

47.

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

48.

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

49.

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

Confucius

50.

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