Motivational Quotes

Character

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

- Thoreau, Henry David

Best Quotes about Character

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

Mohammed

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

Brown, Les

The highest qualities of character must be earned.

Abbott, Lyman

You can buy a person's time; you can buy their physical presence at a given place; you can even buy a measured number of their skilled muscular motions per hour. But you can not buy enthusiasm... you can not buy loyalty. You can not buy the devotion of hearts, minds, or souls. You must earn these.

Francis, Clarence

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

Gill, Vince

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

Reynolds, Sir Joshua

Strong characters are brought out by change of situation, and gentle ones by permanence.

Richter, Jean Paul

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

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

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

Seneca

10.

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

Baldwin, Faith

11.

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

12.

That which we call character is a reserved force which acts directly by presence, and without means. It is conceived of as a certain undemonstrable force, a familiar or genius, by whose impulses the man is guided, but whose counsels he cannot impart.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

13.

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

Marden, Orison Swett

14.

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

15.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

16.

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

Wilson, Woodrow T.

17.

Character is the sum and total of a person's choices.

Fitzwater, P. B.

18.

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Montale, Eugenio

19.

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

Confucius

20.

A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents.

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

21.

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

Richards, Mary Caroline

22.

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.

23.

Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

24.

Old age and sickness bring out the essential characteristics of a man.

Frankfurter, Felix

25.

To succeed is nothing -- it's an accident. But to feel no doubts about oneself is something very different: it is character.

Leneru, Marie

26.

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

Proverb, Chinese

27.

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

Aquinas, St. Thomas

28.

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

Maritain, Jacques

29.

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

Bible

30.

There's a fine line between character building and soul destroying.

Hay, Colin

31.

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

32.

No artist work is so high, so noble, so grand, so enduring, so important for all time, as the making of character in a child.

Cushman, Charlotte Saunders

33.

Integrity has no need of rules.

Camus, Albert

34.

Character - the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life - is the source from which self respect springs.

Joan Didion

35.

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

Bisset, Jacqueline

36.

Character is victory organized.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

37.

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

38.

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

39.

Character is the impulse reined down into steady continuance.

Parkhurst, Charles H.

40.

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

Royal, Darrell

41.

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

Thurber, James

42.

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.

43.

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

Hermann Hesse

44.

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

45.

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

Reagan, Ronald

46.

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

Euripides

47.

Character development is the aim of education.

O'Shea

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.

I have conquered an empire but I have not been able to conquer myself.

Peter The Great

50.

The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back.

Buren, Abigail Van