Motivational Quotes

Character

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

Best Quotes about Character

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

Peter The Great

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

Elihu Burritt

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.

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.

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.

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

Richter, Jean Paul

Those who cross the sea change only the climate, not their character.

Horace

Few people can distinguish the genuinely good from the reverse.

Juvenal, (Decimus Junius Juvenalis)

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

Thoreau, Henry David

10.

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

11.

A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world.

Hall, Manly

12.

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

Nathaniel Emmons

13.

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

Francis Thompson

14.

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

Lippmann, Walter

15.

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.

16.

I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

King Jr. Martin Luther

17.

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

Euripides

18.

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

Seneca

19.

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.

20.

Character is our destiny.

Heraclitus

21.

Some people are born hammers, others anvils.

Proverb

22.

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

23.

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.

24.

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

25.

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

26.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

27.

The highest qualities of character must be earned.

Abbott, Lyman

28.

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

29.

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

30.

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

Elmer G. Letterman

31.

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

Lincoln, Abraham

32.

Deep down, I'm pretty superficial.

Gardner, Ava

33.

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

Reagan, Ronald

34.

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

Collins, Marva

35.

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

36.

Men of genius are admired, men of wealth are envied, men of power are feared; but only men of character are trusted.

37.

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

38.

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

Menander

39.

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

Aquinas, St. Thomas

40.

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

41.

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

42.

Integrity has no need of rules.

Camus, Albert

43.

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

Fitzwater, P. B.

44.

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

Frankfurter, Felix

45.

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

46.

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

Karr, Alphonse

47.

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

Maritain, Jacques

48.

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

49.

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.

50.

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

Mohammed