Motivational Quotes

Character

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

Best Quotes about Character

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Montale, Eugenio

The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Macaulay, Thomas B.

Integrity has no need of rules.

Camus, Albert

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

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

Thoreau, Henry David

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

Thoreau, Henry David

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

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Character development is the aim of education.

O'Shea

10.

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

Lubbock, Sir John

11.

Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.

Oscar Levant

12.

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

Baldwin, Faith

13.

Strong feelings do not necessarily make a strong character. The strength of a man is to be measured by the power of the feelings he subdues not by the power of those which subdue him.

William Carleton

14.

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

15.

During my eighty-seven years, I have witnessed a whole succession of technological revolutions. But none of them has done away with the need for character in the individual or the ability to think.

Baruch, Bernard M.

16.

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

17.

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

Thoreau, Henry David

18.

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

19.

Some people are born hammers, others anvils.

Proverb

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.

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

Menander

22.

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

Chesterfield, Lord

23.

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

Angelou, Maya

24.

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.

25.

Wherever man goes to dwell his character goes with him.

Proverb, African

26.

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

Reagan, Ronald

27.

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

28.

You don't get in life what you want; you get in life what you are.

Brown, Les

29.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

30.

Character is our destiny.

Heraclitus

31.

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

32.

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

Goldsmith, Oliver

33.

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

34.

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

35.

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

Seneca

36.

Talents are best nurtured in solitude. Character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

37.

If anyone tells you someone has changed their character; don't believe it.

Mohammed

38.

To be fond of learning is near to wisdom; to practice with vigor is near to benevolence; and to be conscious of shame is near to fortitude. He who knows these three things

Confucius

39.

Few people can distinguish the genuinely good from the reverse.

Juvenal, (Decimus Junius Juvenalis)

40.

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

Michener, James A.

41.

Those who cross the sea change only the climate, not their character.

Horace

42.

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

43.

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

44.

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

45.

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

46.

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

47.

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

Freeman, Robert

48.

Wealth stays with us a little moment if at all: only our characters are steadfast, not our gold.

Euripides

49.

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.

50.

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