"So far as I have myself observed, the distinctive character of a child is to live always in the tangible present."
Character quotes
Character
14.8K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Topics related to Character
Browse quotes that often appear alongside character — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Character quotes (page 44 of 739)
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"In my acting, I have to identify with something in the character. The big tough boy on the side of right - that's me. Simple themes. Same me from the nuances. All I do is sell sincerity and I've been selling the hell out of that ever since I started."
"I like playing characters that, you know, a couple could go see the movie and one person could love him and one person could hate him."
"The true character of epistolary style is playfulness and urbanity."
"Nobility of character manifests itself at loop-holes when it is not provided with large doors."
"It was a strange season coaching under that new [Alderson] regime. I felt like I was watching the deterioration of the Mets organization. They seemed to have no identity. My concern was that the character of the players they were looking for superseded the talent they brought to the table. Character on a team is important, but you've got to have the horses to win."
"Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them in order that the reader may see what they are made of."
"Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water."
"Whether he wants it or not, man is the instrument of nature; she imposes on him character and appearance."
"Rise to the challenges that life presents you. You can't develop genuine character and ability by sidestepping adversity and struggle."
"We are...a Divine work of art, something that God is making...something with which He will not be satisfied until it has a certain character."
"America, we weaken our ties when we allow our political dialogue to become so corrosive that people of good character aren't even willing to enter into public service; so coarse with rancor that Americans with whom we disagree are seen not just as misguided but as malevolent. We weaken those ties when we define some of us as more American than others, when we write off the whole system as inevitably corrupt, and when we sit back and blame the leaders we elect without examining our own role in electing them."
"By the study of their biographies, we receive each man as a guest into our minds, and we seem to understand their character as the result of a personal acquaintance, because we have obtained from their acts the best and most important means of forming an opinion about them. "What greater pleasure could'st thou gain than this?" What more valuable for the elevation of our own character?"
"For the man who makes everything that leads to happiness, or near to it, to depend upon himself, and not upon other men, on whose good or evil actions his own doings are compelled to hinge,--such a one, I say, has adopted the very best plan for living happily. This is the man of moderation; this is the man of manly character and of wisdom."
"Character is the only secure foundation of the state."
"It has not been my fortune to know very much of Freemasonry, but I have had the great fortune to know many Freemasons and have been able in that way to judge the tree by its fruit. I know of your high ideals. I have seen that you hold your meetings in the presence of the open Bible, and I know that men who observe that formality have high sentiments of citizenship, of worth, and character. That is the strength of our Commonwealth and nation."
"The imperative is to define what is right and do it."
"The Character which a youth acquires in the early part of his Life is of great importance towards his future prosperity-one false step may prove irretrievable to his future usefulness."
"Live truth instead of professing it."
"The English tradition offers the great tapestry novel, where you have the emotional aspect of a detective's personal life, the circumstances of the crime and, most important, the atmosphere of the English countryside that functions as another character."