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

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

Thoreau, Henry David

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

James A. Froude

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

Taylor, Bayard

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.

Everyone has the obligation to ponder well his own specific traits of character. He must also regulate them adequately and not wonder whether someone else's traits might suit him better. The more definitely his own a man's character is, the better it fits him.

Cicero

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

Richards, Mary Caroline

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

Maritain, Jacques

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.

Personality can open doors, but only character can keep them open.

Elmer G. Letterman

10.

Character is our destiny.

Heraclitus

11.

Character is the indelible mark that determines the only true value of all people and all their work.

Marden, Orison Swett

12.

Few people can distinguish the genuinely good from the reverse.

Juvenal, (Decimus Junius Juvenalis)

13.

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

14.

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

Hermann Hesse

15.

Everyone has three characters, that which they exhibit, that which they have, and that which they think they have.

Karr, Alphonse

16.

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

17.

Character develops itself in the stream of life.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

18.

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.

19.

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

Chambers, Oswald

20.

Character matters; leadership descends from character.

Limbaugh, Rush

21.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

22.

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

23.

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

24.

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

25.

Character is to man what carbon is to steel.

Hill, Napoleon

26.

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

27.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

28.

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

29.

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

30.

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

Seneca

31.

It is better for the development of character and contentment to do certain things badly for yourself than to have them done better for you by someone else.

32.

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.

33.

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

34.

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

Proverb

35.

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

Mason, John L.

36.

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

37.

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.

38.

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

Bovee, Christian Nevell

39.

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

40.

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

41.

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

Lippmann, Walter

42.

Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.

Robbins, Anthony

43.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

44.

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

45.

Wherever man goes to dwell his character goes with him.

Proverb, African

46.

Clothes don't tell the character of the man, but they just as well talk for him as against him.

47.

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

48.

Character is victory organized.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

49.

Character isn't something you were born with and can't change, like your fingerprints. It's something you weren't born with and must take responsibility for forming.

Rohn, Jim

50.

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

Collins, Marva