Motivational Quotes

Character

Character is to man what carbon is to steel.

- Hill, Napoleon

Best Quotes about Character

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

Richter, Jean Paul

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

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

Aristotle

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

Thurber, James

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.

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

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

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

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Montale, Eugenio

Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

Washington, Booker T.

10.

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

11.

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

12.

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

Voltaire

13.

Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconcious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character

Covey, Stephen R.

14.

Character is simply habit long continued.

Plutarch

15.

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

Elihu Burritt

16.

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

17.

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

18.

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

Royal, Darrell

19.

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

20.

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

Brown, Les

21.

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

Aquinas, St. Thomas

22.

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

Hay, Colin

23.

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

Baldwin, Faith

24.

The four cornerstones of character on which the structure of this nation was built are: initiative, imagination, individuality, and independence.

Rickenbacker, Edward Vernon

25.

Therefore keep in the midst of life. Do not isolate yourself. Be among men and things, and among troubles, and difficulties, and obstacles.

Drummond, Henry

26.

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

Collins, Marva

27.

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

Haliburton, Thomas C.

28.

Character is the impulse reined down into steady continuance.

Parkhurst, Charles H.

29.

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

30.

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

31.

The lord will not hold back the promises, even if the person who makes them is not worthy.

32.

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

33.

Few people can distinguish the genuinely good from the reverse.

Juvenal, (Decimus Junius Juvenalis)

34.

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

35.

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

Elmer G. Letterman

36.

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

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

37.

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.

38.

Put more trust in nobility of character than in an oath.

Solon

39.

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

Richter, Jean Paul

40.

Men show their characters in nothing more clearly than in what they think laughable.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

41.

Instill the love of you into all the world, for a good character is what is remembered.

Merikare

42.

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

Leneru, Marie

43.

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

Frankfurter, Felix

44.

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

45.

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.

46.

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

47.

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

48.

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

Menander

49.

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

Goldsmith, Oliver

50.

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

Lincoln, Abraham