Motivational Quotes

Character

Some people are born hammers, others anvils.

- Proverb

Best Quotes about Character

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

Brown, Les

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

Bible

The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Macaulay, Thomas B.

If all I'm remembered for is being a good basketball player, then I've done a bad job with the rest of my life.

Thomas, Isiah

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

Lois McMaster Bujold

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

Freeman, Robert

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

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

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

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

10.

Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

Washington, Booker T.

11.

A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents.

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

12.

It is with trifles and when he is off guard that a man best reveals his character.

Schopenhauer, Arthur

13.

Character is like the foundation of a house -- it is below the surface.

14.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

15.

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

Seneca

16.

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

Reynolds, Sir Joshua

17.

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

Hepburn, Katharine

18.

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

Wilson, Woodrow T.

19.

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

Baldwin, Faith

20.

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

21.

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

Karr, Alphonse

22.

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

Chesterfield, Lord

23.

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

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

24.

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

25.

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

26.

If you create an act, you create a habit. If you create a habit, you create a character. If you create a character, you create a destiny.

Maurois, Andre

27.

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

Frankfurter, Felix

28.

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

29.

Character, in great and little things, means carrying through what you feel able to do.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

30.

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

31.

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

Reagan, Ronald

32.

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

33.

You can buy a person's time; you can buy their physical presence at a given place; you can even buy a measured number of their skilled muscular motions per hour. But you can not buy enthusiasm... you can not buy loyalty. You can not buy the devotion of hearts, minds, or souls. You must earn these.

Francis, Clarence

34.

It is part of the American character to consider nothing as desperate -- to surmount every difficulty by resolution and contrivance.

Jefferson, Thomas

35.

Few people can distinguish the genuinely good from the reverse.

Juvenal, (Decimus Junius Juvenalis)

36.

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

Lincoln, Abraham

37.

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

Merikare

38.

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

Thoreau, Henry David

39.

Integrity has no need of rules.

Camus, Albert

40.

If an ass goes traveling it will not come home a horse.

Proverb

41.

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

Shakespeare, William

42.

Character matters; leadership descends from character.

Limbaugh, Rush

43.

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.

44.

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.

45.

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

46.

Too many lives are needed to make just one.

Montale, Eugenio

47.

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.