Motivational Quotes

Character

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

Best Quotes about Character

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

Character is made by many acts; it may be lost by a single one.

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

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.

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

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

Leneru, Marie

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

The highest qualities of character must be earned.

Abbott, Lyman

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

James A. Froude

10.

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

Aquinas, St. Thomas

11.

Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.

Oscar Levant

12.

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

Lincoln, Abraham

13.

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

Proverb

14.

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

Mohammed

15.

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

16.

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

Mason, John L.

17.

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

18.

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

19.

To keep your character intact you cannot stoop to filthy acts. It makes it easier to stoop the next time.

Hepburn, Katharine

20.

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

Confucius

21.

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

Howell, Harry

22.

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

Gill, Vince

23.

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

24.

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

Guideposts

25.

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.

26.

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

Chambers, Oswald

27.

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

Brown, Les

28.

He that has light within his own clear breast may sit in the center, and enjoy bright day: But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts benighted walks under the mid-day sun;

Milton, John

29.

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

30.

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

Bible

31.

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

32.

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

33.

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.

34.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

35.

People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

36.

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

Karr, Alphonse

37.

Characters do not change. Opinions alter, but characters are only developed.

Disraeli, Benjamin

38.

I appreciate people who are civil, whether they mean it or not. I think: Be civil. Do not cherish your opinion over my feelings. There's a vanity to candor that isn't really worth it. Be kind.

Richard Greenberg

39.

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

Francis Thompson

40.

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

Wilson, Woodrow T.

41.

I could never think well of a man's intellectual or moral character, if he was habitually unfaithful to his appointments.

Nathaniel Emmons

42.

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

Haliburton, Thomas C.

43.

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

Seneca

44.

Reputation is only a candle, of wavering and uncertain flame, and easily blown out, but it is the light by which the world looks for and finds merit.

Lowell, James Russell

45.

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

Shakespeare, William

46.

Be thou incapable of change in that which is right, and men will rely upon thee. Establish unto thyself principles of action; and see that thou ever act according to them. First know that thy principles are just, and then be thou

Akhenaton

47.

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

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

48.

People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

49.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

50.

Character develops itself in the stream of life.