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Quotes about character

276 quotes from 175 people

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We despise and abhor the bully, the brawler, the oppressor, whether in private or public life, but we despise no less the coward and the voluptuary.
Theodore Roosevelt1858–1919Nobel lecture (1910)
- Courage
At the same time that I think discretion the most useful talent a man can be master of, I look upon cunning to be the accomplishment of little, mean, ungenerous minds.
Joseph Addison1672–1719The Spectator, No. 225 (17 November 1711)
- Wisdom
Tell me your relation to pain, and I will tell you who you are!
Ernst Jünger1895–1998On Pain (1934)
From childhood’s hour I have not been
As others were — I have not seen
As others saw
Edgar Allan Poe1809–1849Alone, ll. 1–3 (written 1829, published 1875)In context
If a man has character, everyone has confidence in him. Soldiers must have confidence in their leader.
Omar Bradley1893–1981On military character, in 19 Stars: A Study in Military Character and Leadership (1981) by Edgar F. Puryear Jr.
- Leadership
We do not escape our boundaries or our innermost being. We do not change. It is true we may be transformed, but we always walk within our boundaries, within the marked-off circle.
Ernst Jünger1895–1998The Glass Bees (1957)
- Change
Where ambition can be so happy as to cover its enterprizes, even to the person himself, under the appearance of principle, it is the most incurable and inflexible of all human passions.
David Hume1711–1776The History of England (1754-62)
- Motivation & Goals
Do not worry over the charge of treason to your masters, but be concerned about the treason that involves yourselves. Be true to yourself and you cannot be a traitor to any good cause on earth.
Eugene V. Debs1855–1926The Canton, Ohio Speech, Anti-War Speech (1918)
One can acquire everything in solitude — except character.
Stendhal1783–1842De L’Amour (On Love) (1822), Fragments
Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above it.
Washington Irving1783–1859The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon (1819–1820), “Philip of Pokanoket”
I’m not as soft or as generous a person as I would be if the world hadn’t changed me.
Bobby Fischer1943–2008Portrait of a Genius As a Young Chess Master (1961)
I prefer to remember Patton as a man, as a man with all the frailties and faults of a human being, as a man whose greatness is therefore all the more of a triumph.
Omar Bradley1893–1981A Soldier’s Story (1951), p. xii
There are few things as nauseating as pure obedience.
Patrick Rothfussborn 1973The Name of the Wind (2007), Chapter 75, “Interlude—Obedience” (p. 593)
Education has for its object the formation of character.
Herbert Spencer1820–1903Social Statics (1851), Pt. II, Ch. 17: The Rights of Children
- Education
What you react to in others, you strengthen in yourself.
Eckhart Tolleborn 1948A New Earth (2005)