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Wherever man goes to dwell his character goes with him.
-African Proverb
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If you stand straight, do not fear a crooked shadow.
-Chinese Proverb
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Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.
-Chinese Proverb
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Sow a thought and you reap an action;
sow an act and you reap a habit;
sow a habit and you reap a character;
sow a character and you reap a destiny.
Among the many attributions found for this: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Andre Maurois, Charles Reade, Buddist Proverb, Samuel Smiles, James Allen, George D. Boardman, and Francis E. Willard
-Anon., attributed to various sources
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An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life:
A fight is going on inside me, he said to the boy. It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too.
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather,Which wolf will win?
The old Cherokee simply replied, The one you feed.
-American Indian Proverb
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If an ass goes traveling it will not come home a horse.
-Proverb
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One can easily judge the character of a person by the way they treat people who can do nothing for them.
-Proverb
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Some people are born hammers, others anvils.
-Proverb
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A rich man has no need of character.
-Proverb
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The highest qualities of character must be earned.
-Lyman Abbott
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the highest qualities of character must be earned.
-Lyman Abbott
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Guard against the prestige of great names; see that your judgments are your own; and do not shrink from disagreement; no trusting without testing.
-Lord (John Emerich Edward Dalberg) Acton
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Character is the salesperson
-George M. Adams
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It is in the character of very few men to honor without envy a friend who has prospered.
-Aeschylus
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Honor is the inner garment of the Soul; the first thing put on by it with the flesh, and the last it layeth down at its separation from it.
-Akhenaton
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Be thou incapable of change in that which is right, and men will rely upon thee. Establish unto thyself principles of action; and see that thou ever act according to them. First know that thy principles are just, and then be thou
-Akhenaton
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It is not what he had, or even what he does which expresses the worth of a man, but what he is.
-Henri Frederic Amiel
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Temperance is simply a disposition of the mind which binds the passion.
-Thomas Aquinas
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Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses or avoids.
-Aristotle
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Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them.
-Aristotle
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My father told me that if you saw a man in a Rolls Royce you could be sure he was not a gentleman unless he was the chauffeur.
-Earl of Arran
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The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.
-Fred Astaire
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If you don't run your own life, somebody else will.
-John Atkinson
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Perfection of character consists in this; living each day as if it were the last, and spending each moment in peace.
-Marcus Aurelius
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When about to commit a base deed, respect thyself, though there is no witness.
-Decimus Magnus Ausonius
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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.
-Roger Babson
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We live in deeds, not years: In thoughts not breaths; In feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart throbs. He most lives Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.
-David Bailey
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Character builds slowly, but it can be torn down with incredible swiftness.
-Faith Baldwin
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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.
-Bernard Baruch
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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.
-Henry Ward Beecher
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The discipline you learn and character you build from setting and achieving a goal can be more valuable than the achievement of the goal itself.
-Bo Bennett, Year to Success
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As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23:7
-Bible
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Reflect upon the defects of your character: thoroughly realize their evils and the transient pleasures they give you, and firmly will that you shall try your best not to yield to them the next time.
-Helen P. Blavatsky
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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.
-George D. Boardman
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Character is victory organized.
-Napoleon Bonaparte
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Few persons are made of such strong fiber that they will make a costly outlay when surface work will pass as well in the market.
-E. M. Bounds
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All men are alike in their lower natures; it is in their higher characters that they differ.
-Christian Nevell Bovee
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The white light streams down to be broken up by those human prisms into all the colors of the rainbow. Take your own color in the pattern and be just that.
-Charles R. Brown
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Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.
-H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
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You don't get in life what you want; you get in life what you are.
-Les Brown
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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.
-Jean De La Bruyere
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Temperance is a tree which as for its root very little contentment, and for its fruit calm and peace.
-Buddha
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There is never a better measure of what a person is than what he does when he is absolutely free to choose.
-William M. Bulger
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The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back.
-Abigail Van Buren
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Do not wait for the last judgement. It takes place every day.
-Albert Camus
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Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of a man you are. It shows me what your ideal of manhood is, and what kind of a man you long to be.
-Thomas Carlyle
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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.
-Dale Carnegie
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Character in a saint means the disposition of Jesus Christ persistently manifested.
-Oswald Chambers
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Every human being is intended to have a character of his own; to be what no others are, and to do what no other can do.
-William Ellery Channing
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Be your character what it will, it will be known; and nobody will take it upon your word.
-Lord Chesterfield
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Character must be kept bright as well as clean.
-Lord Chesterfield
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You must look into people, as well as at them.
-Lord Chesterfield
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If one sticks too rigidly to one's principles, one would hardly see anybody.
-Agatha Christie
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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.
-Sir Winston Churchill
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As fire when thrown into water is cooled down and put out, so also a false accusation when brought against a man of the purest and holiest character, boils over and is at once dissipated, and vanishes and threats of heaven and sea, himself standing unmoved.
-Marcus Tullius Cicero
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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.
-Marcus Tullius Cicero
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Of all the properties which belong to honorable men, not one is so highly prized as that of character.
-Henry Clay
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Character is what you know you are, not what others think you have.
-Marva Collins
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To be fond of learning is near to wisdom; to practice with vigor is near to benevolence; and to be conscious of shame is near to fortitude. He who knows these three things
-Confucius
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When we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.
-Confucius
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To see what is right, and not do it, is want of courage, or of principle.
-Confucius
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Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconcious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character
-Stephen Covey
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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.
-Stephen Covey
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Though intelligence is powerless to modify character, it is a dab hand at finding euphemisms for its weaknesses.
-Quentin Crisp
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No artist work is so high, so noble, so grand, so enduring, so important for all time, as the making of character is a child.
-Charlotte Saunders Cushman
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The circumstances amid which you life determine your reputation; the truth you believe determines your character.
Reputation is what you are supposed to be; character is what you are.
Reputation is the photograph; character is the face.
Reputation comes over one from without; character grows up from within.
Reputation is what you have when you come to a new community; character is what you have when you go away.
Your reputation is learned in an hour; your character does not come to light for a year.
Reputation is made in a moment; character is built in a lifetime.
Reputation grows like a mushroom; character grows like the oak.
A single newspaper report gives you your reputation; a life of toil gives you your character.
Reputation makes you rich or makes you poor; character makes you happy or makes you miserable.
Reputation is what men say about you on your tombstone;
character is what angels say about you before the throne of God.
-William Hersey Davis, (source unknown)
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Characters do not change. Opinions alter, but characters are only developed.
-Benjamin Disraeli
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There is no greater index of character so sure as the voice.
-Benjamin Disraeli
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You can construct the character of a man and his age not only from what he does and says, but from what he fails to say and do.
-Norman Douglas
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Therefore keep in the midst of life. Do not isolate yourself. Be among men and things, and among troubles, and difficulties, and obstacles.
-Henry Drummond
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To judge a man's character by only one of its manifestations is like judging the sea by a jugful of its water.
-Paul Eldridge
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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?
-George Eliot
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No change of circumstances can repair a defect of character.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Judge of your natural character by what you do in dreams.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
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People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
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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.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Gross and obscure natures, however decorated, seem impure shambles; but character gives splendor to youth, and awe to wrinkled skin and gray hairs.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Do what you know and perception is converted into character.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
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A character is like an acrostic or Alexandrian stanza; read it forward, backward, or across, it still spells the same thing.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
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One stumble is enough to deface the character of an honorable life.
-L. Estrange
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Wealth stays with us a little moment if at all: only our characters are steadfast, not our gold.
-Euripides
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When a man thinks he is reading the character of another, he is often unconsciously betraying his own.
-Joseph Farrell
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Character is the sum and total of a person's choices.
-P. B. Fitzwater
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character is the sum and total of a person's choices.
-P. B. Fitzwater
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To measure the man, measure his heart.
-Malcolm Stevenson Forbes
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I have only got down on to paper, really, three types of people: the person I think I am, the people who irritate me, and the people I'd like to be.
-E. M. Forster
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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.
-Clarence Francis
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Old age and sickness bring out the essential characteristics of a man.
-Felix Frankfurter
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Character is not made in a crisis -- it is only exhibited.
-Robert Freeman
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You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.
-James A. Froude
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Human improvement is from within outward.
-James A. Froude
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Deep down, I'm pretty superficial.
-Ava Gardner
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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.
-Charles De Gaulle
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Success is always temporary. When all is said and one, the only thing you'll have left is your character.
-Vince Gill
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Men show their character in nothing more clearly than what they think laughable.
-Johann von Goethe
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Talents are best nurtured in solitude. Character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world.
-Johann von Goethe
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Character develops itself in the stream of life.
-Johann von Goethe
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The formation of one's character ought to be everyone's chief aim.
-Johann von Goethe
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Character, in great and little things, means carrying through what you feel able to do.
-Johann von Goethe
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Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.
-Johann von Goethe
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You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips.
-Oliver Goldsmith
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Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wing, and only character endures.
-Horace Greeley
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The happiness of every country depends upon the character of its people, rather than the form of its government.
-Thomas C. Haliburton
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A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world.
-Manly Hall
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To exercise good character daily is to be morally fit for life.
-Karen Hartz, CHARACTER COUNTS! in Caroline County
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There's a fine line between character building and soul destroying.
-Colin Hay
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To keep your character intact you cannot stoop to filthy acts. It makes it easier to stoop the next time.
-Katharine Hepburn
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A man's character is his guardian divinity.
-Heraclitus
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The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny
-Heraclitus
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Character is to man what carbon is to steel.
-Napoleon Hill
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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.
-John Holt
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Those who cross the sea change only the climate, not their character.
-Horace
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Character is power; it makes friends, draws patronage and support and opens the way to wealth, honor and happiness.
-John Howe
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It isn't the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog, that counts.
-Harry Howell
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Character is the result of two things: Mental attitude and the way we spend our time.
-Elbert Hubbard
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Many a man's reputation would not know his character if they met on the street.
-Elbert Hubbard
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Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principals.
-David Hume
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I have often thought the best way to define a man's character would be to seek out the particular mental or moral attitude in which, when it comes upon him, he felt himself most deeply and intensely active and alive. At such moments there is a voice inside which speaks and says: This is the real me!.
-William James
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It is well for the world that in most of us, by the age of thirty, the character has set like plaster, and will never soften again.
-William James
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It is part of the American character to consider nothing as desperate -- to surmount every difficulty by resolution and contrivance.
-Thomas Jefferson
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Few people can distinguish the genuinely good from the reverse.
-Juvenal
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Everyone has three characters, that which they exhibit, that which they have, and that which they think they have.
-Alphonse Karr
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Every man has three characters -- that which he exhibits, that which he has, and that which he thinks he has.
-Alphonse Karr
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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.
-Helen Keller
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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, Jr., "Strength to Love" speech (1963)
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By constant self-discipline and self-control you can develop greatness of character.
-Grenville Kleiser
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There have always been hard times. There have always been wars and troubles
-Louis L'Amour
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Keep in mind that the true measure of an individual is how he treats a person who can do him absolutely no good.
-Ann Landers
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To produce things and to rear them,
To produce, but not to take possession of them,
To act, but not to rely on one's own ability,
To lead them, but not to master them -
This is called profound and secret virtue.
-Lao-Tzu, The Way of Lao-Tzu
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You are not very good if you are not better than your best friends imagine you to be.
-Johann Kaspar Lavater
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Action, looks, words, steps, form the alphabet by which you may spell character.
-Johann Kaspar Lavater
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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.
-Fran Lebowitz
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To succeed is nothing -- it's an accident. But to feel no doubts about oneself is something very different: it is character.
-Marie Leneru
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Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.
-Oscar Levant
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Surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of a man he is? Surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth? If there are rats in a cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way the suddenness of the provocation does not make me an ill-tempered man; it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am. The rats are always there in the cellar, but if you go in shouting and noisily they will have taken cover before you switch on the light.
-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
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A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents.
-G. C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg
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Character matters; leadership descends from character.
-Rush Limbaugh
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Good character is like a rubber ball -- thrown down hard -- it bounces right back. Good reputation is like a crystal ball -- thrown for gain -- shattered and cracked.
-Linall Jr. A. L.
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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
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We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.
-Abraham Lincoln
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Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
-Abraham Lincoln
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Between ourselves and our real natures we interpose that wax figure of idealizations and selections which we call our character.
-Walter Lippmann
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In this world a man must either be anvil or hammer.
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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They are slaves who fear to speak, for the fallen and the weak.
-James Russell Lowell
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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.
-James Russell Lowell
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Your character will be what you yourself choose to make it.
-Sir John Lubbock
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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.
-John Luther
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The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.
-Thomas Babington Macaulay
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Sound character provides the power with which a person may ride the emergencies of life instead of being overwhelmed by them. Failure is... the highway to success.
-Og Mandino
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It is well to think well. It is divine to act well.
-Horace Mann
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It's good to shut up sometimes.
-Marcel Marceau
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Character is the indelible mark that determines the only true value of all people and all their work.
-Orison Swett Marden
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We don't love qualities, we love persons; sometimes by reason of their defects as well as of their qualities.
-Jacques Maritain
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While an original is always hard to find, he is easy to recognize.
-John L. Mason
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When you choose your friends, don't be short-changed by choosing personality over character.
-W. Somerset Maugham
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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.
-Andr
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No man could bring himself to reveal his true character, and, above all, his true limitations as a citizen and a Christian, his true meannesses, his true imbecilities, to his friends, or even to his wife. Honest autobiography is therefore a contradiction in terms: the moment a man considers himself, even in petto, he tries to gild and fresco himself. Thus a man's wife, however realistic her view of him, always flatters him in the end, for the worst she sees in him is appreciably better, by the time she sees it, than what is actually there.
-H. L. Mencken, The Art Eternal, "New York Evening Mail, 1918"
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Instill the love of you into all the world, for a good character is what is remembered.
-Merikare
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Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.
-James A. Michener
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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;
-John Milton
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A man's reputation is what other people think of him; his character is what he really is.
-Jack Miner
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If anyone tells you someone has changed their character; don't believe it.
-Mohammed
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If we have need of a strong will in order to do good, it is still more necessary for us in order not to do evil.
-Mole
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Too many lives are needed to make just one.
-Eugenio Montale
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Character is what you are in the dark.
-Dwight L. Moody
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The most spiritual men, as the strongest, find their happiness where others would find their destruction: in the labyrinth, in hardness against themseleves and others, in experiments. Their joy is self-conquest. Difficult tasks are a priviledge to them; to play with burdens that crush others, a recreation. They are the most venerable kind of man: that does not preclude their being the most cheerful and the kindliest.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
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A character is a completely fashioned will.
-Novalis
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Character development is the aim of education.
-O'Shea
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Reputation is what men and women think of us. Character is what God and the angels know of us.
-Thomas Paine
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Character is much easier kept than recovered.
-Thomas Paine
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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.
-Saskya Pandita
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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.
-Saskya Pandita
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Character is the impulse reined down into steady continuance.
-Charles H. Parkhurst
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I have conquered an empire but I have not been able to conquer myself.
-Peter The Great
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How difficult it is to save the bark of reputation from the rocks of ignorance.
-Francesco Petrarch
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When men speak ill of thee, live so as nobody may believe them.
-Plato
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I would rather be adorned by beauty of character than jewels. Jewels are the gift of fortune, while character comes from within.
-Plautus
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Character is simply habit long continued.
-Plutarch
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Honor and shame from no condition rise; Act well your part, there all the honor lies.
-Alexander Pope
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You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jelly beans.
-Ronald Reagan
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The real character of a man is found out by his amusements.
-Sir Joshua Reynolds
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To have character is to be big enough to take life on.
-Mary Caroline Richards
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A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes another s.
-Jean Paul Richter
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Strong characters are brought out by change of situation, and gentle ones by permanence.
-Jean Paul Richter
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The four cornerstones of character on which the structure of this nation was built are: Initiative, Imagination, Individuality and Independence.
-Edward Rickenbacker
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Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.
-Anthony Robbins
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Weakness of character is the only defect which cannot be amended.
-Fran
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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.
-Jim Rohn
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Football doesn't build character. It eliminates weak ones.
-Darrell Royal
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Character is the foundation stone upon which one must build to win respect. Just as no worthy building can be erected on a weak foundation, so no lasting reputation worthy of respect can be built on a weak character.
-R. C. Samsel
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Character is the basis of happiness and happiness the sanction of character.
-George Santayana
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It is with trifles and when he is off guard that a man best reveals his character.
-Arthur Schopenhauer
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I admire men of character and I judge character not by how men deal with their superiors, but mostly how they deal with their subordinates. And that, to me, is where you find out what the character of a man is.
-Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf
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Life every man holds dear; but the dear man holds honor far more precious dear than life.
-William Shakespeare
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The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.
-William Shakespeare
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Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character.
-Sri Swami Sivananda
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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.
-Roy L. Smith
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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.
-J. August Strindberg
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Noble character is best appreciated in those ages in which it can most readily develop.
-Tacitus
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Fame is what you have taken, character is what you give. When to this truth you awaken, then you begin to live.
-Bayard Taylor
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If a man character is to be abused there's nobody like a relative to do the business.
-William Makepeace Thackeray
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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.
-Isiah Thomas
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You must regulate your life by the standards you admire when you are at your best.
-John M. Thomas
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We know but a few men, a great many coats and breeches.
-Henry David Thoreau
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Pity the man who has a character to support --it is worse than a large family -- he is silent poor indeed.
-Henry David Thoreau
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The universe seems bankrupt as soon as we begin to discuss the characters of individuals.
-Henry David Thoreau
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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.
-Henry David Thoreau
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While he was not as dumb as an ox, he was not any smarter either.
-James Thurber
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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.
-Leon Trotsky
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To arrive at a just estimate of a renowned man's character one must judge it by the standards of his time, not ours.
-Mark Twain
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Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
-Source Unknown
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You can't truthfully explain your smallest action without fully revealing your character.
-Source Unknown
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Before you advise anyone Be yourself! reassess his character.
-Source Unknown
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The test of any man's character is how he takes praise.
-Source Unknown
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The higher character a person supports the more they should regard their smallest actions.
-Source Unknown
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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.
-Source Unknown
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Nothing marks the character of a young man more than failure.
-Source Unknown
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Clothes don't tell the character of the man, but they just as well talk for him as against him.
-Source Unknown
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Men of genius are admired, men of wealth are envied, men of power are feared; but only men of character are trusted.
-Source Unknown
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Testimony is like an arrow shot from a long bow and the force of it depends on the strength of the arm from which it was shot. Argument is like a bullet fired from a gun and has equal force even when issued from a child.
-Source Unknown
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If you don't like your own character there may be a new one ready-made and waiting for you. The snake sheds its skin with impunity, relying on the same nature which you rely on.
-Source Unknown
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Character is made by many acts; it may be lost by a single one.
-Source Unknown
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The lord will not hold back the promises, even if the person who makes them is not worthy.
-Source Unknown
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Character is like the foundation of a house -- it is below the surface.
-Source Unknown
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Character is another thing that is formed in youth and reformed in marriage.
-Source Unknown
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Character is always lost when a high ideal is sacrificed on the altar of conformity and popularity.
-Source Unknown
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Character is a victory, not a gift.
-Source Unknown
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What you possess in the world will be found at the day of your death to belong to someone else. But what you are will be yours forever.
-Henry Van Dyke
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They attack the one man with their hate and their shower of weapons. But he is like some rock which stretches into the vast sea and which, exposed to the fury of the winds and beaten against by the waves, endures all the violence
-Virgil
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The only way to compel men to speak good of us is to do it.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
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Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.
-Kurt Vonnegut
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Character is power.
-Booker T. Washington
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Character, not circumstances, makes the man.
-Booker T. Washington
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To point out the importance of circumspection in your conduct, it may be proper to observe that a good moral character is the first essential in a man, and that the habits contracted at your age are generally indelible, and your conduct here may stamp your character through life. It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned but virtuous.
-George Washington, in a letter to his nephew, 1790
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In order to form correct habits, we should seek the company of persons of sound moral and religious influence. We should constantly bear in mind that we may be fitting to inhabit the heavenly courts. The precious hours of probation are granted that we may remove every defect from the character; and we should seek to do this, not only that we may obtain the future life, but that we may be useful here. Young men and women should regard a good character as a capital of more value than gold or silver or stocks. It will be unaffected by panics and failures, and will bring rich returns when earthly possessions shall be swept away.
-Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church Volume Four (1875 - 1881)
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He is like a good prewar house-solidly built. They don't build them that way anymore. He's also been repainted several times.
-Theodore White
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Nothing endures but personal qualities.
-Walt Whitman
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Give fools their gold, and knaves their power;
Let fortune's bubbles rise and fall;
Who sows a field, or trains a flower,
Or plants a tree, is more than all.
-John Greenleaf Whittier, A Song of Harvest
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No fate could rob us of our own--
No circumstance can make it less;
What time removes was but a loan,
For what was ours we still possess.
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Possession
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also found in Daily Reflections for the day October 7
-Bill Wilson, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 88
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If you will think about what you ought to do for other people, your character will take care of itself. Character is a by-product, and any man who devotes himself to its cultivation in his own case will become a selfish prig.
-Woodrow Wilson
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Character is a by-product; it is produced in the great manufacture of daily duty.
-Woodrow Wilson
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-Woodrow Wilson
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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
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The man that makes a character, makes foes.
-Edward Young
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Books about Character
