"Anyone who ever gave you confidence, you owe them a lot". ~Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany's, 1958, spoken by the character Holly Golightly"
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Character quotes
Character
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Character quotes (page 26 of 739)
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"You can tell the character of every man when you see how he receives praise."
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"A sovereign of high character and intelligence must be able to know the right man, should place the responsibility on him, and expect results."
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"The ear participates, and helps arrange marriages; the eye has already made love with what it sees. The eye knows pleasure, delights in the body's shape: the ear hears words that talk about all this. When hearing takes place, character areas change; but when you see, inner areas change. If all you know about fire is what you have heard see if the fire will agree to cook you! Certain energies come only when you burn. If you long for belief, sit down in the fire! When the ear receives subtly; it turns into an eye. But if words do not reach the ear in the chest, nothing happens."
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"True character stands the test of emergencies. Do not be mistaken, it is weakness from which the awakening is rude."
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"The men who are great live with that which is substantial, they do not stay with that which is superficial; they abide with realities, they do not remain with what is showy. The one they discard, the other they hold."
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"It isn't that I dislike artists, but I can't stand anyone who puts on those ponderous airs of a man of character."
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"Put it out of the power of truth to give you an ill character. If anybody reports you not to be an honest man let your practice give him the lie."
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"Weakness of character is the only defect which cannot be amended."
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"A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts."
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"Vivisection is a social evil because if it advances human knowledge, it does so at the expense of human character."
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"You can't have virtue without sin. What I'm after is having my characters' virtues defined by how they operate in a very sinful environment. That's how you test people."
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"All combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community."
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"My ardent desire is, and my aim has been, to comply strictly with all our engagements, foreign and domestic, but to keep the United States free from political connections with every other country; to see that they may be independent of all and under the influence of none."
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"I'm a vagabond. I have a suitcase that is ready to go at a moment's notice. The thought of being in one place for a long time, or playing one character for a long time, is terrifying for me."
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"Humor and pathos, tears and laughter are, in the highest expression of human character and achievement, inseparable."
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"It so happens that the major relationships in the novel [The Kite Runner] are between men, dictated not by any sort of prejudice or discomfort with female characters, but rather by the demands of the narrative."
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"A writer must refuse to allow himself to be transformed into an institution, even if it takes place in the most honorable form."
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"The first time I was privileged to meet president Mandela was during his visit to Malawi... shortly after he was released from prison. I was amazed by his humility and his great sense of leadership... Mandela's character has shaped my life."
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"Does character develop over time? In novels, of course it does: otherwise there wouldn't be much of a story. But in life? I sometimes wonder. Our attitudes and opinions change, we develop new habits and eccentricities; but that's something different, more like decoration. Perhaps character resembles intelligence, except that character peaks a little later: between twenty and thirty, say. And after that, we're just stuck with what we've got. We're on our own. If so, that would explain a lot of lives, wouldn't it? And also - if this isn't too grand a word - our tragedy."
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