Character Quotes
You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.Aristophanes, Knights, 424 B. C.
Movements born in hatred very quickly take on the characteristics of the thing they oppose.J. S. Habgood
Certainly it is a world of scarcity. But the scarcity is not confined to iron ore and available land. The most constricting scarcities are those of character and personality.William R Allen
The character of a man is known from his conversations.Menande
The universe seems bankrupt as soon as we begin to discuss the characters of individuals.Henry David Thoreau
To be a book - Collector is to combine the worst characteristics of a dope fiend with those of a miser.Robertson Davies, "The Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks".
The character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done.Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
It has been observed that a pure democracy if it were practicable would be the most perfect government. Experience has proved that no position is more false than this. The ancient democracies in which the people themselves deliberated never possessed one good feature of government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure deformity.Alexander Hamilton, Speech on 21 June 1788 urging ratification of the Constitution in New York.
Solitude, in the sense of being often alone, is essential to any depth of meditation or of character and solitude in the presence of natural beauty and grandeur, is the cradle of thought and aspirations which are not only good for the individual, but which society could ill do without.John Stuart Mill
The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished and it would have done somewhat more, if the government had not sometimes got in its way.Henry David Thoreau
It is in the character of very few men to honor without envy a friend who has prospered.Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Civilizations in decline are consistently characterised by a tendency towards standardization and uniformity.Arnold Toynbee
Character, in great and little things, means carrying through what you feel able to do.Johann von Goethe
Knowledge is essential to conquest; only according to our ignorance are we helpless. Thought creates character. Character can dominate conditions. Will creates circumstances and environment.Anne Besant
Choose your friends by their character and your socks by their color. Choosing your socks by their character makes no sense, and choosing your friends by their color is unthinkable.Anon.
The influence of a beautiful, helpful, hopeful character is contagious and may revolutionize a whole town.Eleanor H. Porte
The degradation which characterizes the state into which you plunge him by punishing him pleases, amuses, and delights him. Deep down he enjoys having gone so far as to deserve being treated in such a way.Marquis de Sade
It is the characteristic excellence of the strong man that he can bring momentous issues to the fore and make a decision about them. The weak are always forced to decide between alternatives they have not chosen themselves.Dietrich Bonhoeffe
If I had to select one quality, one personal characteristic that I regard as being most highly correlated with success, whatever the field, I would pick the trait of persistence. Determination. The will to endure to the end, to get knocked down seventy times and get up off the floor saying, Here comes number seventy - One.Richard M. Devos
Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.John Wooden
Through his mastery of storytelling techniques, he has managed to separate his character, in the public mind, from his actions as president. ... He has, in short, mesmerized us with that steady gaze.Jean Nathan Mille
Good government generally begins in the family, and if the moral character of a people once degenerate, their political character must soon follow.Elias Boudinot
In later life, as in earlier, only a few persons influence the formation of our character the multitude pass us by like a distant army.Jean Paul Friedrich Richte
Put more trust in nobility of character than in an oath.Solon
The ability to focus attention on important things is a defining characteristic of intelligence.Robert J. Shiller, Irrational Exuberance
Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous mind.Samuel Johnson
Thoughts lead on to purposes; purposes go forth in action; actions form habits; habits decide character; and character fixes our destiny.Tyron Edwards
One can acquire everything in solitude, except character.Marie Stendhal
I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their good intellects. A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
Thoughts lead on to purposes purposes go forth in action actions form habits habits decide character and character fixes our destiny.Tryon Edwards
