A talent is formed in stillness, a character in the world’s torrent. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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
One can acquire everything in solitude except character. Stendhal (Henri Beyle)
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. Abraham Lincoln
The real character of a man is found out by his amusements. Joshua Reynolds
The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good. Samuel Johnson
Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think. Ralph Waldo Emerson
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
Character is power. Booker T Washington
Most people say that is it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character. Albert Einstein
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
Of all the properties which belong to honourable men, not one is so highly prized as that of character. Henry Clay
No man can climb out beyond the limitations of his own character. John Morley
Simplicity of character is no hindrance to the subtlety of intellect. John Morley
Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character. Oscar Levant
Character is something you forge for yourself; temperament is something you are born with and can only slightly modify. Sydney J Harris
Wealth stays with us a little moment if at all: only our characters are steadfast, not our gold. Euripides
Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there. John Wooden
Each of us is meant to have a character all our own, to be what no other can exactly be, and do what no other can exactly do. William Ellery Channing
A man’s character never changes radically from youth to old age. What happens is that circumstances bring out characteristics which have not been obvious to the superficial observer. Hesketh Pearson
One never gets to know a person’s character better than by watching his behavior during decisive moments. Stefan Zweig
The analysis of character is the highest human entertainment. Isaac Bashevis Singer
You cannot build character and courage by taking away man’s initiative and independence. Abraham Lincoln
I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man. George Washington
A man’s character is his fate. Heraclitus
Character matters; leadership descends from character. Rush Limbaugh
A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
There is nothing so fatal to character as half-finished tasks. David Lloyd George
Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion. Aristotle.
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. August Strindberg