Motivational Quotes

Character

Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.

- Michener, James A.

Best Quotes about Character

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

Richter, Jean Paul

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

Hepburn, Katharine

One stumble is enough to deface the character of an honorable life.

Estrange, L.

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

Lippmann, Walter

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.

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

Solon

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

Lincoln, Abraham

Character is a victory, not a gift.

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.

10.

Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.

Oscar Levant

11.

I take it as a man's duty to restrain himself.

Lois McMaster Bujold

12.

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

13.

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

14.

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

15.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

16.

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

Howell, Harry

17.

Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principles.

Hume, David

18.

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

Haliburton, Thomas C.

19.

Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

Abraham Lincoln

20.

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

Francis Thompson

21.

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

22.

Though intelligence is powerless to modify character, it is a dab hand at finding euphemisms for its weaknesses.

Crisp, Quentin

23.

The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by formal education.

Angelou, Maya

24.

Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, and riches take wings. Only one thing endures and that is character.

Greeley, Horace

25.

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

26.

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

27.

Character is the impulse reined down into steady continuance.

Parkhurst, Charles H.

28.

You are not very good if you are not better than your best friends imagine you to be.

Lavater, Johann Kaspar

29.

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

James A. Froude

30.

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

31.

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

Freeman, Robert

32.

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

33.

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

34.

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

Mason, John L.

35.

Before you advise anyone Be yourself! reassess his character.

36.

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

37.

Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

38.

Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.

Michener, James A.

39.

If a man character is to be abused there's nobody like a relative to do the business.

Thackeray, William M.

40.

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

Merikare

41.

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.

42.

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

Goldsmith, Oliver

43.

You must regulate your life by the standards you admire when you are at your best.

Thomas, John M.

44.

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

Reynolds, Sir Joshua

45.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

46.

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Montale, Eugenio

47.

Temperance is a tree which as for its root very little contentment, and for its fruit calm and peace.

Buddha

48.

Honor is the inner garment of the Soul; the first thing put on by it with the flesh, and the last it layeth down at its separation from it.

Akhenaton

49.

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

50.

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