There is so much pressure in life to be great, do great things, don’t screw up, make a difference, don’t be too different – so much that we often lose sight of some simple, yet powerful truths about life. Sometimes you can learn a lot from characters on TV. Gregory House is a great example of character who shines with brilliance in his arrogance and callousness, but also one that shows humor. It was also one of my favorite shows.

Here are twenty powerful life quotes about character that that have helped me stay focused and grounded. Hopefully they (and other great quotes out there) can do the same for you.

1. “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” – Mark Twain
2. “Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well.” – Josh Billings
3. “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
4. “Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today.” – James Dean
5. “You will either step forward into growth, or you will step backward into safety.” – Abraham Maslow
6. “If you wait to do everything until you’re sure it’s right, you’ll probably never do much of anything.” – Win Borden
7. “The essence of life is finding something you really love and then making the daily experience worthwhile.” – Denis Waitley
8. “A tough lesson in life that one has to learn is that not everybody wishes you well.” – Dan Rather
9. “People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
10. “The man who cannot believe in himself cannot believe in anything else. The basis of all integrity and character is whatever faith we have in our own integrity.” – Roy Smith
11. “Do whatever you can to capture, or recapture, your life spark – unless it harms others, in which case suffer with as much happiness as you can muster. Your nobility of spirit will spark itself.” – Corri Alius
12. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” – Thomas Edison
13. “A gem is not polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.” – Lucius Seneca
14. “Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.” – George Washington Carver
15. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
16. “The difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is how you use them.” – Unknown
17. “It takes two to speak truth — one to speak, and another to hear.” – Henry David Thoreau
18. “There comes a time in each man’s education in which he comes to the conclusion that envy is ignorance, imitation is suicide, and society in in conspiracy against each one of its members.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
19. “Everyone is trying to accomplish something big, not realizing that life is made up of little things.” – Frank A. Clark
20. “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill

If you like these quotes, or have one I missed, please share it in the comments below.