65 Quotes About Character: Why You Should Live by Your Values

1. "Character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking." - J. C. Watts

2. "Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there." - Stevie Wonder

3. "Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

4. "Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character." - Albert Einstein

5. "Character is simply habit long continued." - Plutarch

6. "Knowledge will give you power, but character respect." - Bruce Lee

7. "Our ability to handle life's challenges is a measure of our strength of character." - Les Brown

8. "Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking." - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

9. "Sports do not build character. They reveal it." - Heywood Broun

10. "The greatest test of a man's character is his tongue." - Oswald Chambers

11. "Character is much easier kept than recovered." - Thomas Paine

12. "Our character is determined by what we do if every restraint were removed." - Lettie Cowman

13. "Character is what you have left when you've lost everything you can lose." - Evan Esar

14. "Only a man's character is the real criterion of worth." - Eleanor Roosevelt

15. "No change of circumstances can repair a defect of character." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

1. "You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

2. "Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike." - Theodore Roosevelt

3. "I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! That is character!" - Theodore Roosevelt

4. "Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us." - Thomas Paine

5. "A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble." - Charles Spurgeon

6. "Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing." - Abraham Lincoln

7. "When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost." - Billy Graham

8. "Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness. People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness." - Anne Frank

9. "People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

10. "Sometimes it's the words we choose not to say that speak most loudly about our character." - Lysa TerKeurst

11. "Men of genius are admired, men of wealth are envied, men of power are feared; but only men of character are trusted." - Alfred Adler

12. "Character, in great and little things, means carrying through what you feel able to do." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

13. "Character is the moral strength to do the right thing even when it costs more than you want to pay." - Michael Josephson

14. "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." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

15. "If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters." - Alan K. Simpson

16. "Character lives in a man, reputation outside of him." - J. G. Holland

17. "True greatness is not measured by the headlines a person commands or the wealth he or she accumulates. The inner character of a person-the undergirding moral and spiritual values and commitments-is the true measure of lasting greatness." - Billy Graham

18. "There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in what they laugh at." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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

20. "Strong characters are brought out by change of situation, and gentle ones by permanence." - Jean Paul

1. "Watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habit." - Laozi

2. "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

3. "Goodness is about character - integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage, and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat other people." - Dennis Prager

4. "The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love and loyalty." - Zig Ziglar

5. "Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them." - Napoleon Bonaparte

6. "Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all." - Sam Ewing

7. "Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones." - Phillips Brooks

8. "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." - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

9. "You can tell the character of every man when you see how he receives praise." - Seneca the Younger

10. "Character contributes to beauty. It fortifies a woman as her youth fades. A mode of conduct, a standard of courage, discipline, fortitude, and integrity can do a great deal to make a woman beautiful." - Jacqueline Bisset

11. "The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out." - Thomas B. Macaulay

12. "Strength of character means the ability to overcome resentment against others, to hide hurt feelings, and to forgive quickly." - Lawrence G. Lovasik

13. "Winning takes talent; to repeat takes character." - John Wooden

14. "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

15. "Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries." - James A. Michener

16. "A reputation once broken may possibly be repaired, but the world will always keep their eyes on the spot where the crack was." - Joseph Hall

17. "Character is higher than intellect... A great soul will be strong to live, as well as strong to think." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

18. "Try not to become a man of success, but a man of value. Look around at how people want to get more out of life than they put in. A man of value will give more than he receives. Be creative, but make sure that what you create is not a curse for mankind." - Albert Einstein

19. "Action is character." - F. Scott Fitzgerald

20. "Our character is basically a composite of our habits." - Stephen Covey

1. "Character is the result of two things: mental attitude and the way we spend our time." - Elbert Hubbard

2. "Character building begins in our infancy and continues until death." - Eleanor Roosevelt

3. "People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built." - Eleanor Roosevelt

4. "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

5. "Self-control is the only possible road to character development" - Dennis Prager

6. "Character is developed one positive action at a time. Therefore nothing is actually trivial in our lives. To grow in character development, pay attention to seemingly trivial matters. Someone who grows from each minor life event will eventually reach high levels of character perfection." - Zelig Pliskin

7. "Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet." - Helen Keller

8. "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." - Heraclitus

9. "You don't build your character by doing what everybody else is doing." - Carlos Ghosn

10. "Character isn't inherited. One builds it daily by the way one thinks and acts, thought by thought, action by action. If one lets fear or hate or anger take possession of the mind, they become self-forged chains." - Helen Gahagan Douglas