Motivational Quotes

Character

It is with trifles and when he is off guard that a man best reveals his character.

- Schopenhauer, Arthur

Best Quotes about Character

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

Mason, John L.

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

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

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.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

Too often the strong, silent man is silent only because he does not know what to say, and is reputed strong only because he has remained silent.

Churchill, Winston

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

Shakespeare, William

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

Thurber, James

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

Proverb

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.

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

12.

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

Chambers, Oswald

13.

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

Voltaire

14.

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

15.

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

16.

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

Thoreau, Henry David

17.

Few people can distinguish the genuinely good from the reverse.

Juvenal, (Decimus Junius Juvenalis)

18.

I take it as a man's duty to restrain himself.

Lois McMaster Bujold

19.

Character, in great and little things, means carrying through what you feel able to do.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

20.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

21.

Character development is the aim of education.

O'Shea

22.

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

Estrange, L.

23.

You are not very good if you are not better than your best friends imagine you to be.

Lavater, Johann Kaspar

24.

Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principles.

Hume, David

25.

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

26.

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

27.

Character is a victory, not a gift.

28.

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

Angelou, Maya

29.

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

30.

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

Lippmann, Walter

31.

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

Reynolds, Sir Joshua

32.

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

33.

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

Hall, Manly

34.

It is with trifles and when he is off guard that a man best reveals his character.

Schopenhauer, Arthur

35.

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

Haliburton, Thomas C.

36.

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

37.

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.

38.

Honor is the inner garment of the Soul; the first thing put on by it with the flesh, and the last it layeth down at its separation from it.

Akhenaton

39.

Property may be destroyed and money may lose its purchasing power; but, character, health, knowledge and good judgment will always be in demand under all conditions.

Babson, Roger

40.

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved.

Keller, Helen

41.

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

42.

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

43.

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.

44.

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.

45.

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

46.

Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

Proverb, Chinese

47.

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

Collins, Marva

48.

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

Menander

49.

If you create an act, you create a habit. If you create a habit, you create a character. If you create a character, you create a destiny.