Looking for inspirational quotes about building a great character? We have rounded up the best collection of character quotes, sayings, captions, and status (with images and pictures) to inspire you to always act with integrity, honesty, and courage to develop a strong character.
We form our character in defining moments because we commit to irreversible courses of action that shape our personal and professional identities. Character traits like honesty, strength, respect, and standing with the right are the attributes of a great character.
Also See: Quotes On Morality
These encouraging character quotes are very relevant for students, kids, and adults to lay a strong foundation for an invincible character.
How to Develop A Strong Character?
We are all products of our thoughts and habits. When we do the right thing and live by our principles and we breed a high character quality. Being humble and good at heart will always show in times of pressure how good a human we are.
Also See: Good Person Quotes
The mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual develop one personality and character. Always be a man of character means a man of his words and righteousness. These motivational quotes on high character will inspire you to be one.
If you like these meaningful quotations about having high morals, then check our posts on ethics quotes and integrity quotes to inspire you to to be fair and just in your work and life.
Famous Character Quotes
- “Character is destiny.” – Heraclitus”
- “Character is revealed when pressure is applied.” – Unknown
quotes about character
- “Beauty has a lot to do with character.” – Kevyn Aucoin
- “Reputation is for time; character is for eternity.” – J.B. Gough
quotes on character
- “Character is much easier kept than recovered.” – Thomas Paine
- “Better to be a man of character than a man of means.” – Irish Proverbs
- “One test of a person’s character is this: Will you lie?” – E. Stanley Jones
- “Primary greatness is on the inside. It’s about character.” – Stephen Covey
- “Knowledge will give you power, but character earns respect.” – Bruce Lee
Character Quotes
- “Your character is so much more important than your looks.” – Scott Sanford
- “The truth of your character is expressed through the choice of your actions.”
- “People are interested by talent. God is impressed by character.” – Rick Warren
- “Your character defines who you are by the actions you take.” – Catherine Pulsifer
character quotes for students
- “What a man’s mind can create, man’s character should control.” – Thomas Edison
- “Your character is formed by the challenges you face and overcome.” – Nick Vujicic
good character quotes
- “Character is the real foundation of all worthwhile success.” – John Hays Hammond
character quote
- “Profound sincerity is the only basis of talent as of character.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- “To understand personality it is necessary to study character formation.” – Margaret Mead
- “In the end, it is the person you become, not the things you achieve, that is most important.” – Les Brown
quotes for good character
- “If you want to know what a person’s character, take notice of how he acts when he loses money.” – Proverb
quote character
- “You are your most important critic and your conscience your most important judge of character.” – Denis Waitley
- “If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.” – J.K. Rowling
- “Character is the moral strength to do the right thing even when it costs more than you want to pay.” – Michael Josephson
- “Never does a man portray his character more vividly than when proclaiming the character of another.” – Winston Churchill
- “It can be said that any one person’s overall character and demeanor is but a reflection of the sum total of his or her thoughts.” – Beau Norton
- “Our characters are refined and tried by fire and when we have gone through the furnace, we emerge as pure gold and silver.” – Edward Dunedin
- “Some are blessed with physical and mental facility, but none are more prized than the one who has developed true character.” – Greg Henry Quinn
- “Our character is a composite of people we have watched, experiences we have had, but completely relies on the decisions that we make.” – Scott Schwab
- “The best index to a person’s character is how he treats people who can’t do him any good, and how he treats people who can’t fight back.” – Abigail Van Buren
- “Your reputation is in the hands of others. That’s what a reputation is. You can’t control that. The only thing you can control is your character.” – Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
- “Another excellent character trait is persistence. No matter whom you are or where you serve or work, persistence will pay off in many ways.” – Joe Allen and David Donaldson
- “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
- “Great and good character is often formed by imitation. And if we would shine in any sphere of life, we must consider some examples of illustrious men who have preceded us.” – Samuel Davies
- “Those who truly believe in their potential and know they can succeed have always pushed on forward, which basically reveals a strong character and the desire to be successful.” – Stephen Steel
- “Good, honest, hardheaded character is a function of the home. If the proper seed is sown there and properly nourished for a few years, it will not be easy for that plant to be uprooted.” – George A. Dorsey
- “Our attitude can be seen in our character, how we approach things, what our beliefs are, our perspective on issues, how we approach life, our position on topics, basically our view on life.” – Catherine Pulsifer
- “. . . a person that remains successful over the long run has to have certain qualities within their character. One of the biggest qualities of such a person is their ability to do things whether they feel like it or not.” – Peter Jenner
- “Every one person who trusts you will spread the word of that trust to at least a few of their associates, and word of your character will spread like wildfire. The value of the trust others have in you is far beyond anything that can be measured.” – Kevin Allen
- “Watch your thoughts; they lead to attitudes. Watch your attitudes; they lead to words. Watch your words; they lead to actions. Watch your actions; they lead to habits. Watch your habits; they form your character. Watch your character; it determines your destiny.”
Inspirational Character Building Quotes
A strong character is the magic ingredient that sets you apart from the rest. A good character is a blend of many qualities like honesty, integrity, sincerity, dependability, loyalty, compassion, diligence, respect, attentiveness, determination and more.
Also See: Moral Compass Quotes
Our character will determine our success and each of us has the ability and the potential to develop and strengthen our character.
- “Bad company corrupts good character.” 1 Corinthians 15:33 (Bible Verse)
- “Character is what a man is in the dark.” – Dwight L. Moody
quotes of character and integrity
- “Character is the fingerprint of your soul.” – Frank Sonnenberg
Quotes About Building Character
- “Put more trust in nobility of character than in an oath.” – Solon
- “If you don’t have enemies, you don’t have character.” – Paul Newman
- “Character, not circumstances, makes the man.” – Booker T. Washington
Powerful Character Quotes
- “Develop your character so that you are a person of integrity.” – Peter Cain
- “Wherever man goes to dwell, his character goes with him.” – African Proverb
- “Integrity is not something you show others. It is how you behave behind their back.”
- “Skills can be taught. Character you either have or you don’t have.” – Anthony Bourdain
- “When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.” – Japanese Proverb
- “People with good intentions make promises but people with good character keep them.” – Unknown
Best Character Quotes
- “Take on God’s character of Love and learn to love and forgive ourselves.” – Dawna Hetzler
- “Personality can open doors, but only character can keep them open.” – Elmer G. Letterman
- “Character builds slowly, but it can be torn down with incredible swiftness.” – Faith Baldwin
- “Sometimes I wonder if I’m a character being written, or if I’m writing myself.” – Marilyn Manson
- “It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not.” – Andre Gide
- “Having a happiness that is built into your character helps you to gain confidence.” – Steven Spencer
- “The price of your character will always be found in the value of your integrity.” – Michelle A. Homme
- “Hard conditions of life are indispensable to bringing out the best in human personality.” – Alexis Carrel
- “No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.” – Buddha
- “It is your character, and your character alone, that will make your life happy or unhappy.” – John Mccain
character of a man quotes
- “An individual step in character training is to put responsibility on the individual.” – Robert Baden-Powell
- “A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents.” – Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
- “You will know what kind of man he is not by the things he says, but by the things he does.” – Cassandra Clare
- “Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
- “Reputation is what men and women think of us. Character is what God and the angels know of us.” – Thomas Paine
true character quotes
- “Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for ‘bad company corrupts good character.’” – 1 Corinthians 15:33
- “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” – Kahlil Gibran
- “You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “The true measure of an individual is how he treats a person who can do him absolutely no good.” – Ann Landers
- “People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “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
- “We are not just products of our past; people in our present also influence us and help mold our character.” – David Packer
- “Our character is but the stamp on our souls of the free choices of good and evil we have made through life.” – John C. Geikie
- “People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Admitting one’s own faults is the first step to changing them, and it is a demonstration of true bravery and integrity.” – Philip Johnson
- “When people grow in character, they grow in the ability to set and receive boundaries in their marriages, and they mature.” – Henry Cloud
- “Such as are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.” – Marcus Aurelius
- “Surround yourself with people who strengthen your character, and remove yourself from people who compromise your character.” – Unknown
- “Courage. Kindness. Friendship. Character. These are the qualities that define us as human beings, and propel us, on occasion, to greatness.” – R.J. Palacio
- “I think that everything happens to you for a reason. The hard times that you go through build character, making you a much stronger person.” – Rita Mero
- “Power really is a test of character. In the hands of a person of integrity, it is of tremendous benefit; in the hands of a tyrant, it causes terrible destruction.” – John Maxwell
- “How important is the heart! It is there that character is formed. It alone holds the secrets of true success. Its treasures are priceless — but they can be stolen.” – Charles Swindoll
- “How we behave toward and around our children has much more influence on their character than if we only tell them about how they should or should not behave.” – Russell Kolts
- “When we see persons of worth, we should think of equaling them; when we see persons of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.” – Confucius
- “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
- “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 of Ephesus
- “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
- “If we are truly honest with ourselves, we can see that we each have many characteristic flaws. Especially when we are tired or hungry; these are the times that our character is tested.” – Sean PI
- “I can’t control behavior; nor do I want that burden… but I will not apologize for refusing to be disrespected, to be lied to, or to be mistreated. I have standards; step up or step out.” – Steve Maraboli
- “A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when flowers have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.” – Charles H. Spurgeon
- “Tolerance is a fundamental character trait of great people and a part of the attitudes and practices of those we admire and respect. People without tolerance are diminished and poor.” – John K. Carmack
- “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
- “One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.” – Maya Angelou
- “Character is not something that you buy; it is not a commodity that can be bartered for; it is not a quality suited for only the rich and famous; rather, the character is built upon the foundational commitment of love, honesty, and compassion for others.” – Byron R. Pulsifer
- “The development and contributing factors to good character is the continual process of understanding the components and actions of love. It is these components that provide the guidance for compassion, integrity, behaviors, and actions that transcend living only for self.” – Byron R. Pulsifer
- “A man is known by the books he reads, by the company he keeps, by the praise he gives, by his dress, by his tastes, by his distastes, by the stories he tells, by his gait, by the notion of his eye, by the look of his house, of his chamber; for nothing on earth is solitary but every thing hath affinities infinite.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Character Quotes For Students
Good character education can provide ground rules for life for kids, students, and young people, and also adults and it stresses the importance of helping children learn and practice behaviors that reflect universal ethical values.
Also See: Having A Good Heart Quotes
A person with a good character will always be respected. Character education helps children and youth become to be conscious of the right thing to do. These powerful quotes on character are inspiring and help us to work with integrity, discipline, determination, and sincerity.
- “All cruelty springs from weakness.” – Seneca
- “Conduct is the best proof of character.” – Unknown
- “Character is simply habit long continued.” – Plutarch
- “The measure of a man is what he does with power.” – Plato
a persons character quotes
- “Character is how you treat those who can do nothing for you.”
- “Beauty catches the attention, but character catches the heart.”
- “Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.” – George S. Patton
- “Circumstances do not make a man, they reveal him.” – Wayne Dyer
Character Quotes Images
- “A man’s true character comes out when he’s drunk.” – Charlie Chaplin
- “Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.” – Albert Einstein
Famous Character Quotes
- “To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice.” – Confucius
- “Character is the sum total of all our everyday choices.” – Margaret Jensen
- “A man is about as big as the things that make him angry.” – Winston Churchill
- “The real ornament of woman is her character, her purity.” – Mohandas Gandhi
- “Ability can take you the top, but it takes character to keep you there.” – Zig Ziglar
- “He who conquers others is strong; He who conquers himself is mighty.” – Lao Tzu
- “Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.” – H. Jackson Brown
- “Character is doing what you don’t want to do but know you should do.” – Joyce Meyer
- “A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “You can tell a lot about a fellow’s character by his way of eating jellybeans.” – Ronald Reagan
- “Our ability to handle life’s challenges is a measure of our strength of character.” – Les Brown
- “You can judge a man’s true character by the way he treats his fellow animals.” – Paul McCartney
- “It is in the character of very few men to honor without envy a friend who has prospered.” – Aeschylus
- “Reputation is what strangers think of you. Character is what your friends think of you.” – Ricky Gervais
- “Your character must be above suspicion and you must be truthful and self-controlled.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “How can they expect a harvest of thought who have not had the seed time of character.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses or avoids.” – Aristotle
- “You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” – Marcus Aurelius
- “When you choose your friends, don’t be short-changed by choosing personality over character.” – W. Somerset Maugham
- “Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike.” – Theodore Roosevelt
- “Character is the indelible mark that determines the only true value of all people and all their work.” – Orison Swett Marden
- “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
- “Solid character will reflect itself in consistent behavior, while poor character will seek to hide behind deceptive words and actions.”
- “How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them.” – Benjamin Franklin
- “To keep your character intact you cannot stoop to filthy acts. It makes it easier to stoop the next time.” – Katharine Hepburn
- “Worry about your character, not your reputation. Your character is who you are and your reputation is what others think you are.”
- “Talents are best nurtured in solitude. Character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- “Character — the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life — is the source from which self-respect springs.” – Joan Didion
- “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
- “I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their good intellects.” – Oscar Wilde
- “A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” – Christopher Reeve
- “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
- “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.” – Andre Maurois
- “We do not need more intellectual power, we need more spiritual power. We do not need more knowledge, we need more character.” – Calvin Coolidge
- “All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride.” – Sophocles, Antigone
- “Parents can only give [their children] good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.” – Anne Frank
- “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” – Nelson Mandela
- “If there was no money and everything depended on your moral standard, the way that you behaved, and the way that you treated people, how would you be doing in life?” – Tupac Shakur
- “Money doesn’t make a man. Muscles don’t make a man. Tattoos don’t make a man. Character is what makes a man! Let a man’s character be his currency; that will tell you what he’s really worth!” – Tony A Gaskins Jr
- “The habits of feeling, action and judgment that comprise good character depend on personal self-discipline and powerful aspiration to become a good person, all of which must be drawn from within.” – Edwin Delattre
Great Quotes On Character
- “Action is character.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald
- “The greatest test of a man’s character is his tongue.” – Oswald Chambers
- “Character is a diamond that scratches every other stone.” – Cyrus Bartol
- “One can acquire everything in solitude except character.” – Henri Stendhal
- “Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “Character is doing what you don’t want to do but know you should do.” – Joyce Meyer
- “Tell me thy company, and I’ll tell thee what thou art.” – Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote
- “If someone lacks character, “Be yourself!” is the worst advice you can give.” – Jeremiah Say
- “Show me a man with a tattoo and I’ll show you a man with an interesting past.” – Jack London
- “We are masters of our characters and in turn, slaves of their outgrowth.” – Mohammed Ali Bapir
- “Before we determine character from behavior, we must consider the context.” – Dr. Stephen Lennox
- “If you pay too much attention to your reputation, you could lose your character.” – Michael Josephson
- “It is with trifles, and when he is off guard, that a man best reveals his character.” – Arthur Schopenhauer
- “Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Of all the properties which belong to honorable men, not one is so highly prized as that of character.” – Henry Clay
- “Character is the line in the sand between the worst of the good people and the best of the bad ones.” – Johnny Flora
- “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “In order to persevere, a person often needs other character attributes such as open-mindedness.” – Rohen Phoenix
- “Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.” – Albert Einstein
- “Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.” – Albert Einstein
- “You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.” – Aristotle
- “Character is determined more by the lack of certain experiences than by those one has had.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
- “We are like chameleons, we take our hue and the color of our moral character, from those who are around us.” – John Locke
- “Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “Conduct reveals character, and we best understand integrity when we see it lived out in a person’s life.” – Charles H. Dyer
- “Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, and riches take wings. Only one thing endures and that is character.” – Horace Greeley
- “When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.” – German Proverb
- “If you will think about what you ought to do for other people, your character will take care of itself.” – Woodrow Wilson
- “Men of genius are admired, men of wealth are envied, men of power are feared; but only men of character are trusted.” – Alfred Adler
- “Character forms a life regardless of how obscurely that life is lived and how little light falls on it from the stars.” – James Hillman
- “The ability to remain calm before, during, and after the storm reveals one’s true strength of character.” – Christine E. Szymanski
- “I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through.” – Zig Ziglar
- “Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.” – General H. Norman Schwarzkopf
- “Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain – and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.” – Dale Carnegie
- “Character is not cut in marble – it is not something solid and unalterable. It is something living and changing, and may become diseased as our bodies do.” – George Eliot
- “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
- “Character is one of the greatest motive powers in the world. In its noblest embodiments, it exemplifies human nature in its highest forms, for it exhibits man at his best.” – Samuel Smiles
- “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.
- “Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition – such as lifting weights – we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.” – Stephen Covey
- “Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing.” – August Wilson
- “Sometimes refinement of character happens naturally as we grow older, but for many people that growth is fostered by spiritual practices adopted and followed in a disciplined way.” – Rachel Cowan
- “Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that’s right is to get by, and the only thing that’s wrong is to get caught.” – J. C. Watts
- “The within is ceaselessly becoming the without. From the state of a man’s heart doth proceed the conditions of his life; his thoughts blossom into deeds, and his deeds bear the fruitage of character and destiny.” – James Allen
- “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” – Maya Angelou
- “What we call our destiny is truly our character and that character can be altered. The knowledge that we are responsible for our actions and attitudes does not need to be discouraging, because it also means that we are free to change this destiny.” – Anais Nin
- “Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It’s a state of mind – you could call it character in action.” – Vince Lombardi
- “Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward.” – Henry Ford
- “Over time, for better or worse, most leaders exhibit consistent patterns of leadership behavior. The pattern shapes their reputation (how they are known and perceived by others), is considered a reflection of their character, and largely determines their standing and status with others.” – Gene Klann
- “Persuasion is achieved by the speaker’s personal character when the speech is so spoken as to make us think him credible. We believe good men more fully and more readily than others: this is true generally whatever the question is, and absolutely true where exact certainty is impossible and opinions are divided.” – Aristotle
People often use the words character and reputation interchangibly. But the two words are quite different in meaning.
Character is who you are (internal), but reputation is how the society sees you (external). A person with a strong character will have high morals, integrity and principles to live his life.
Character is the distinctive qualities of an individual whereas reputation is the general opinion of others of a person. Character takes years to build whereas reputation is built in a very short period.
If you like these inspirational principles and great character quotations, then also check our collection of generosity quotes and helping others quotes to inspire you to be kind and positive in all situations.
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