Motivational Quotes

Character

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

Best Quotes about Character

A rich man has no need of character.

Proverb, Hebrew

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

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

Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses or avoids.

Aristotle

Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.

Robbins, Anthony

It is well for the world that in most of us, by the age of thirty, the character has set like plaster, and will never soften again.

James, William

When about to commit a base deed, respect thyself, though there is no witness.

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

They attack the one man with their hate and their shower of weapons. But he is like some rock which stretches into the vast sea and which, exposed to the fury of the winds and beaten against by the waves, endures all the violence

Virgil

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

10.

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

Chesterfield, Lord

11.

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.

12.

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.

13.

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

Freeman, Robert

14.

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

Haliburton, Thomas C.

15.

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

Brown, Les

16.

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

Voltaire

17.

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

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

18.

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

19.

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

Gill, Vince

20.

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.

21.

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

Maritain, Jacques

22.

Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principles.

Hume, David

23.

A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes another s.

Richter, Jean Paul

24.

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.

25.

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

26.

Some people are born hammers, others anvils.

Proverb

27.

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

Elmer G. Letterman

28.

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

29.

Character is a victory, not a gift.

30.

Character is victory organized.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

31.

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

Shakespeare, William

32.

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.

33.

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

34.

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

35.

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

36.

Keep in mind that the true measure of an individual is how he treats a person who can do him absolutely no good.

Landers, Ann

37.

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

38.

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

39.

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

40.

Character is our destiny.

Heraclitus

41.

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

Hay, Colin

42.

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.

43.

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

44.

My father told me that if you saw a man in a Rolls Royce you could be sure he was not a gentleman unless he was the chauffeur.

Arran, Earl of

45.

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

Guideposts

46.

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.

47.

Forming characters! Whose? Our own or others? Both. And in that momentous fact lies the peril and responsibility of our existence.

Elihu Burritt

48.

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

49.

We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.

Lincoln, Abraham

50.

You can't go around hoping that most people have sterling moral characters. The most you can hope for is that people will pretend that they do.

Lebowitz, Fran