Motivational Quotes

Character

Wherever man goes to dwell his character goes with him.

- Proverb, African

Best Quotes about Character

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

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

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

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

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

Thoreau, Henry David

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

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

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

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

Goldsmith, Oliver

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

Wilson, Woodrow T.

10.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

11.

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

Greeley, Horace

12.

Character - the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life - is the source from which self respect springs.

Joan Didion

13.

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

Lois McMaster Bujold

14.

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

Maritain, Jacques

15.

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

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De

16.

Deep down, I'm pretty superficial.

Gardner, Ava

17.

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

Nathaniel Emmons

18.

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

19.

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

20.

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

Mohammed

21.

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

Guideposts

22.

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

Confucius

23.

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

Shakespeare, William

24.

The higher character a person supports the more they should regard their smallest actions.

25.

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

Collins, Marva

26.

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

Frankfurter, Felix

27.

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

Royal, Darrell

28.

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

Solon

29.

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

30.

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

31.

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

32.

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

Estrange, L.

33.

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

34.

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

35.

Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principles.

Hume, David

36.

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

Rickenbacker, Edward Vernon

37.

Fame is what you have taken, character is what you give. When to this truth you awaken, then you begin to live.

Taylor, Bayard

38.

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

Chambers, Oswald

39.

The highest qualities of character must be earned.

Abbott, Lyman

40.

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

41.

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

42.

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

43.

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

44.

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

45.

Our character...is an omen of our destiny, and the more integrity we have and keep, the simpler and nobler that destiny is likely to be.

George Santayana

46.

The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.

Shakespeare, William

47.

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.

48.

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

49.

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

50.

Too often the strong, silent man is silent only because he does not know what to say, and is reputed strong only because he has remained silent.

Churchill, Winston