Motivational Quotes

Character

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

Best Quotes about Character

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

Fitzwater, P. B.

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

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

Lois McMaster Bujold

The highest qualities of character must be earned.

Abbott, Lyman

Character contributes to beauty. It fortifies a woman as her youth fades.

Bisset, Jacqueline

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

Character is the indelible mark that determines the only true value of all people and all their work.

Marden, Orison Swett

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

Lavater, Johann Kaspar

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

Voltaire

10.

For character too is a process and an unfolding... among our valued friends is there not someone or other who is a little too self confident and disdainful; whose distinguished mind is a little spotted with commonness; who is a little pinched here and protuberant there with native prejudices; or whose better energies are liable to lapse down the wrong channel under the influence of transient solicitations?

Eliot, George

11.

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

12.

Character is a victory, not a gift.

13.

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

Solon

14.

It is better for the development of character and contentment to do certain things badly for yourself than to have them done better for you by someone else.

15.

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

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

16.

One can acquire everything in solitude - except character.

Marie Henri Beyle

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.

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

Chambers, Oswald

19.

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

20.

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

Aristotle

21.

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

Shakespeare, William

22.

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

Euripides

23.

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

Maritain, Jacques

24.

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.

25.

Character is to man what carbon is to steel.

Hill, Napoleon

26.

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

27.

Character isn't something you were born with and can't change, like your fingerprints. It's something you weren't born with and must take responsibility for forming.

Rohn, Jim

28.

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

Chesterfield, Lord

29.

During my eighty-seven years, I have witnessed a whole succession of technological revolutions. But none of them has done away with the need for character in the individual or the ability to think.

Baruch, Bernard M.

30.

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

31.

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

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

32.

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

Peter The Great

33.

How difficult it is to save the bark of reputation from the rocks of ignorance.

Petrarch, Francesco

34.

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

35.

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

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

36.

Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.

Robbins, Anthony

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.

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

Reynolds, Sir Joshua

39.

Wherever man goes to dwell his character goes with him.

Proverb, African

40.

A man's character is his fate.

Heraclitus

41.

To have character is to be big enough to take life on.

Richards, Mary Caroline

42.

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

Confucius

43.

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

Thomas, John M.

44.

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

Menander

45.

Character is the impulse reined down into steady continuance.

Parkhurst, Charles H.

46.

Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.

Oscar Levant

47.

The superior man will watch over himself when he is alone. He examines his heart that there may be nothing wrong there, and that he may have no cause of dissatisfaction with himself.

Confucius

48.

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

Marie Leneru

49.

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

50.

The formation of one's character ought to be everyone's chief aim.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von