best quotations about
Character |
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Quotations
 | Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. — Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865, American President 17 likes |
 | To have a right estimate of a man's character, we must see him in misfortune. — Napoleon, 1769-1821, French Emperor 12 likes |
 | Character is destiny. — Heraclitus, 544-484 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 11 likes |
 | Nothing shows a man's character more than what he laughs at. — Wolfgang Goethe, 1749-1832, German poet & philosopher 10 likes |
| Perhaps a man's character was like a tree, and his reputation like its shadow; the shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing. — Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865, American President 9 likes |
 | The truth of a man is first and foremost what he hides. — André Malraux, 1901-1976, French writer & statesman 9 likes |
 | Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts. — Charles Dickens, 1812-1870, British writer 8 likes |
 | 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. — Martin Luther King, 1929-1968, American leader in the Civil Rights Movement 7 likes |
 | People do not seem to realise that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1884, American philosopher 7 likes |
 | There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud. — Carl Sandburg, 1878-1967, American poet 7 likes |
 | There is nothing so fatal to character as half finished tasks. — David Lloyd George, 1863-1945, British Prime Minister [1916-1922] 7 likes |
 | Happiness, whether consisting in pleasure or virtue, or both, is more often found with those who are highly cultivated in their minds and in their character, and have only a moderate share of external goods, than among those who possess external goods to a useless extent but are deficient in higher qualities. — Aristotle, 384-322 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 7 likes |
 | Ability can take you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there. — John Wooden, 1910-2010, American basketball coach 6 likes |
| Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are. — John Wooden, 1910-2010, American basketball coach 6 likes |
 | What Paul says about Peter tells us more about Paul than about Peter. — Baruch Spinoza, 1632-1677, Dutch philosopher 6 likes |
 | A man's character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation. — Mark Twain, 1835-1910, American writer 6 likes |
 | Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking. — H. Jackson Brown, Jr., 1940-2021, American self-help writer 6 likes |
 | When some English moralists write about the importance of having character, they appear to mean only the importance of having a dull character. — G. K. Chesterton, 1874-1936, English writer & critic 6 likes |
 | The test of a man or woman's breeding is how they behave in a quarrel. — George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish writer, Nobel 1925 5 likes |
| A talent is formed in stillness, a character in the world's torrent. — Wolfgang Goethe, 1749-1832, German poet & philosopher 5 likes |
 | It is with trifles and when he is off guard that a man best reveals his character. — Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788-1860, German philosopher 5 likes |
 | Every autobiography is concerned with two characters, a Don Quixote, the Ego, and a Sancho Panza, the Self. — W.H. Auden, 1907-1973, British poet 5 likes |
 | Rules cannot substitute for character. — Alan Greenspan, 1926-, American economist 4 likes |
 | It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering, for the most part, makes men petty and vindictive. — Somerset Maugham, 1874-1965, British writer 4 likes |
 | Often the best in us springs from the worst in us. — André Gide, 1869-1951, French writer, Nobel 1947 4 likes |
 | Good people are only half as good, and bad people only half as bad, as other people regard them. — Elbert Hubbard, 1856-1915, American writer 4 likes |
 | A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents. — Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, 1742-1799, German author of maxims 4 likes |
| The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching. — John Wooden, 1910-2010, American basketball coach 4 likes |
 | One can acquire everything by solitude, except character. — Stendhal, 1783-1842, French writer 3 likes |
| Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1884, American philosopher 3 likes |
| You get to know more of the character of a man in a round of golf than in six months of political experience. — David Lloyd George, 1863-1945, British Prime Minister [1916-1922] 3 likes |
 | Human character is smaller now, people don't have durable passions; they've replaced passions with excitement. — Saul Bellow, 1914-2005, Canadian-American writer, Nobel 1976 3 likes |
| In war, character and opinion make more than half of the reality. — Napoleon, 1769-1821, French Emperor 2 likes |
 | You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans. — Ronald Reagan, 1911-2004, American President [1981-1989] 2 likes |
 | Character is the virtue of hard times. — Charles de Gaulle, 1890-1970, French President 2 likes |
 | It is what we are forced to do that forms our character, not what we do of our own free will. |
 | No man who has once heartily and wholly laughed can be altogether irreclaimably bad. |
 | Fear is in the imagination, cowardice in character. |
 | Knowledge will give you power, but character respect. |
 | A second class mind, but a first class temperament. — Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., 1841-1935, (his opinion of Theodore Roosevelt) |
 | A large nose is in fact the sign of an affable man, good, courteous, witty, liberal, courageous, such as I am. — Edmond Rostand, 1868-1918, French playwright (“Cyrano de Bergerac”) |
 | People remain what they are even if their faces fall apart. |
 | A man reveals his character even in the simplest things he does. |
| It is fortunate to be of high birth, but it is no less so to be of such character, that people do not care to know whether you are or are not. |
 | We grow neither better or worse as we get old, but more like ourselves. — Bernard Baruch, 1870-1965, American businessman & statesman |
| During my 87 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. — Bernard Baruch, 1870-1965, American businessman & statesman |
 | The measure of any man’s virtue is what he would do, if he had neither the laws nor public opinion, nor even his own prejudices, to control him. |
| To be capable of steady friendship or lasting love, are the two greatest proofs, not only of goodness of heart, but of strength of mind. |
| Look up, laugh loud, talk big, keep the colour in your cheek and the fire in your eye, adorn your person, maintain your health, your beauty, and your animal spirits, and you will pass for a fine man. |
 | Generosity, pleasing address, courage and propriety of conduct are not acquired, but are inbred qualities. |
 | A man without childishness is a monster. |
 | People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest. |
 | Persistence is to the character of man as carbon is to steel. |
 | In great affairs men show themselves as they wish to be seen, in small things they show themselves as they are. |
| Woe to him who is clever, but has no strong character. If you took Diogenes’ lantern in your hand, you must also hold his stick in the other. |
| Luck, in order to reach me, passes through circumstances created by my character. |
| A man without principles is usually without character. Because if he had a good character, he would feel the need to create principles as well. |
 | Personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures. |
 | A strong character is one that will not be unbalanced by the most powerful emotions. — Carl von Clausewitz, 1780-1831, Prussian military theorist |
 | When we are told today that someone has no personality, we know that it is a simple, righteous, honest person. |
Quotes in Verse
 | Of two sisters one is always the watcher, one the dancer. — Louise Glück, 1943-, American poet, Nobel 2020 5 likes |
Funny Quotes
 | Nothing spoils fun like finding out it builds character. — Bill Watterson, 1958-, American cartoonist 2 likes |
Ancient Greek
| Character is destiny. Ήθος ανθρώπω δαίμων. — Heraclitus, 544-484 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 26 likes |
| Don’t ask who is now, but who he has always been. Μηδέ ποίος τις νυν, αλλά ποίος τις ην αεί. — Aristotle, 384-322 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 23 likes |
 | True to his own spirit. Κατά τον δαίμονα εαυτού. — Inscription, in Greek, on Jim Morrison’s tombstone in Paris 18 likes |
 | It’s not easy to change a bad character. Φύσιν πονηρά μεταβαλείν ου ράδιον. — Menander, 4th cent. BC, Ancient Greek dramatist (New Comedy) 13 likes |
 | Character lies in polite and friendly speaking. Ήθος το πράον και το προσηνές ρήμα. — Aesop, 620-560 BC, Ancient Greek fabulist 12 likes |
 | Those with a well-ordered character will have a well-ordered life too. Οίσιν ο τρόπος εστίν εύτακτος, τούτοισι και ο βίος συντέτακται. — Democritus, 470-370 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 11 likes |
 | The real ornament of woman is her character, not jewelry. Γυναικί κόσμος οι τρόποι, ουχί χρυσία. — Αρχαιοελληνική παροιμία 10 likes |
 | In men, the worse things are more than the good things. Τα χείρονα πλείω βροτοίσιν εστι των αμεινόνων. — Euripides, 480-406 BC, Ancient Greek tragedian ‐ Rhesus 8 likes |
 | The character of the state reflects the character of its governors. Το της πόλεως όλης ήθος, ομοιούται τοις άρχουσιν. — Isokrates, 436-338 BC, Ancient Greek rhetorician 7 likes |
| The noble deeds are known and emulated by those who have a natural inclination to these things. Τα καλά γνωρίζουσι και ζηλούσιν οι ευφέες προς αυτά. — Democritus, 470-370 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 6 likes |
| Good breeding for the animals means bodily strength and for the men grace of character. Κτηνέων μεν ευγένεια η του σκήνεος ευσθένεια, ανθρώπων δε η του ήθεος ευτροπίη. — Democritus, 470-370 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 5 likes |
