Character quotes
14.8K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside character — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"Compassion may be called the fundamental of all good art because it alone can tell you what other beings feel and experience. Only compassion severs the bonds of your personal limitations, and gives you deep access into the inner life of the character you study, without which you cannot properly prepare it for the stage"
"As fire when thrown into water is cooled down and put out, so also a false accusation when brought against a man of the purest and holiest character, boils over and is at once dissipated, and vanishes."
"A revolution is coming – a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough – but a revolution which is coming whether we will it or not. We can affect its character; we cannot alter its inevitability."
"Misanthropy ariseth from a man trusting another without having sufficient knowledge of his character, and, thinking him to be truthful, sincere, and honourable, finds a little afterwards that he is wicked, faithless, and then he meets with another of the same character. When a man experiences this often, and more particularly from those whom he considered his most dear and best friends, at last, having frequently made a slip, he hates the whole world, and thinks that there is nothing sound at all in any of them."
"Show respect to people who don't deserve it. Not as a reflection of their character, but of yours."
"If I'm a character, it's a biographical movie. My character is as close to me as possible. As close to being myself as possible. So my character, J. Cole, is very close to Jermaine Cole."
"The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing...is a vice so mean and low, without any temptation, that every man of sense and character detests and despises it."
"Anyone can be a barbarian; it requires a terrible effort to remain a civilized man."
"Don't let your character change color with your environment. Find out who you are and let it stay it's true color."
"As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do."
"The writer's job is to get the main character up a tree, and then once they are up there, throw rocks at them."
"The government of the United States of America has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims."
"I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country; he is a bird of bad moral character; like those among men who live by sharping and robbing, he is generally poor, and often very lousy. The turkey is a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America."
"Music... will help dissolve your perplexities and purify your character and sensibilities, and in time of care and sorrow, will keep a fountain of joy alive in you."
"Character isn't developed when we get what we want. Character is developed when we don't get what we want."
"The Universe is a dream dreamed by a single dreamer where all the dream characters dream too."
"When you have decided what you believe, what you feel must be done, have the courage to stand alone and be counted"
"People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest."
"The pursuit of perfection often impedes improvement."
"Condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance"
