Motivational Quotes

Character

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

Best Quotes about Character

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

Football doesn't build character. It eliminates weak ones.

Royal, Darrell

10.

The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.

Shakespeare, William

11.

Temperance is simply a disposition of the mind which binds the passion.

Aquinas, St. Thomas

12.

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

13.

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

Lois McMaster Bujold

14.

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

15.

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

Haliburton, Thomas C.

16.

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.

17.

Success is always temporary. When all is said and one, the only thing you'll have left is your character.

Gill, Vince

18.

Integrity has no need of rules.

Camus, Albert

19.

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

Proverb

20.

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

21.

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.

22.

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

23.

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

Taylor, Bayard

24.

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

Maritain, Jacques

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 the result of a system of stereotyped principles.

Hume, David

27.

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

28.

A man's character is his fate.

Heraclitus

29.

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

30.

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

31.

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

Thackeray, William M.

32.

Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

33.

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

James A. Froude

34.

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

Howell, Harry

35.

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

36.

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

Wilson, Woodrow T.

37.

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

Guideposts

38.

Character is another thing that is formed in youth and reformed in marriage.

39.

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

Confucius

40.

You can tell the character of every man when you see how he receives praise.

Seneca

41.

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

42.

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

43.

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

Proverb

44.

In attempts to improve your character, know what is in your power and what is beyond it.

Francis Thompson

45.

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

Hermann Hesse

46.

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.

Maurois, Andre

47.

Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

48.

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

Estrange, L.

49.

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

50.

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

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De