character quotes

Strength of character means the ability to overcome resentment against others, to hide hurt feelings, and to forgive quickly.

• 446

You're under no obligation to be the same person you were 5 minutes ago.

• 416

Courage: the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.

• 373

It is far better to be alone, than to be in bad company.

• 283

If you want to see the true measure of a man, watch how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.

• 236

It is easy to be brave from a distance.

• 232

Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.

• 210

Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.

• 204

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

• 193

Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.

• 187

It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through.

• 187

Men are like steel. When they lose their temper, they lose their worth.

• 183

If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.

• 173

Character is made by what you stand for; reputation by what you fall for.

• 165

You are creating through your choices, even now. Choose wisely.

• 156

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

• 134

Be congruent, be authentic and be yourself.

• 133

We should come home from adventures and perils and discoveries with new experiences and character.

• 131

The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.

• 127

You've got to learn to survive a defeat. That's when you develop character.

• 112

One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself. How to do it?

• 110

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.

• 89

It is in the character of very few men to honor without envy a friend who has prospered.

• 78

Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character.

• 78

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

• 73

Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.

• 58

Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

• 56

Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.

• 53

The difficulty with marriage is that we fall in love with a personality, but must live with a character.

• 48

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

• 45

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

• 45

Make the most of yourself....for that is all there is of you.

• 35

When we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.

• 33

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.

• 25

If you stand straight, do not fear a crooked shadow.

• 19

Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

• 18

The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.

• 17

Leadership to me means duty, honor, country. It means character, and it means listening from time to time.

• 17

People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.

• 16

One can easily judge the character of a person by the way they treat people who can do nothing for them.

• 16

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

• 16

When men speak ill of thee, live so as nobody may believe them.

• 14

The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.

• 14

A person born to be a flower pot will not go beyond the porch.

• 14

Character is much easier kept than recovered.

• 13

Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.

• 13

When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.

• 13

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

• 12

By constant self-discipline and self-control you can develop greatness of character.

• 12

Do not wait for the last judgement. It takes place every day.

• 11

Deep down, I'm pretty superficial.

• 11

The real ornament of woman is her character, her purity.

• 11

Character is what you are in the dark.

• 11

Character is simply habit long continued.

• 10

Reputation is what men and women think of us. Character is what God and the angels know of us.

• 10

The Japanese have a strong tendency to suppress their own feelings. That's the Japanese character. They kill their own emotions.

• 10

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

• 10

Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.

• 10

It's good to shut up sometimes.

• 10

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

• 10

No change of circumstances can repair a defect of character.

• 10

Success is always temporary. When all is said and one, the only thing you'll have left is your character.

• 10

The true test of character is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don't know what to do.

• 10

Wherever man goes to dwell his character goes with him.

• 9

Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

• 9

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

• 9

Nothing marks the character of a young man more than failure.

• 9

Talents are best nurtured in solitude. Character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world.

• 9

In this world a man must either be anvil or hammer.

• 9

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

• 8

Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them.

• 8

Keep in mind that the true measure of an individual is how he treats a person who can do him absolutely no good.

• 8

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

• 8

What man's mind can create, man's character can control.

• 8

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.

• 8

Character is to man what carbon is to steel.

• 7

Character is power.

• 7

All in all, Kirk's character is something I am very proud of.

• 7

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

• 7

All violent feelings have the same effect. They produce in us a falseness in all our impressions of external things, which I would generally characterize as the pathetic fallacy.

• 7

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

• 7

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

• 7

Character is the basis of happiness and happiness the sanction of character.

• 6

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

• 6

Few people can distinguish the genuinely good from the reverse.

• 6

Character is always lost when a high ideal is sacrificed on the altar of conformity and popularity.

• 6

Somehow I kept my head above water. I relied on the discipline, character, and strength that I had started to develop as that little girl in her first swimming pool.

• 6

Character matters; leadership descends from character.

• 6

Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.

• 5

There have always been hard times. There have always been wars and troubles

• 5

When you choose your friends, don't be short-changed by choosing personality over character.

• 5

It is well to think well. It is divine to act well.

• 5

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

• 5

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

• 5

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

• 5

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

• 5

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

• 5

Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wing, and only character endures.

• 5

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

• 5

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

• 5