"It is one of the defects of my character that I cannot altogether dislike anyone who makes me laugh."
Read quote
6 likes
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 72 of 739)
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"I thought some of Mrs. White's material was prophetic. I felt some of her insights were extremely helpful and I regarded her as a sister in the Lord. I wasn't out to attack Ellen White's character."
Read quote
6 likes
"The very difference of character in marriage produces a harmonious combination."
Read quote
6 likes
"In civilized life, where the happiness, and indeed almost the existence, of man depends so much upon the opinion of his fellow-men, he is constantly acting a studied part. The bold and peculiar traits of native character are refined away or softened down by the levelling influence of what is termed good-breeding, and he practises so many petty deceptions and affects so many generous sentiments for the purposes of popularity that it is difficult to distinguish his real from his artificial character."
Read quote
6 likes
"Every thing in human character goes to wreck, under the reign of procrastination, while prompt action gives to all things a corresponding and proportional life and energy."
Read quote
6 likes
"Hemingway was a prisoner of his style. No one can talk like the characters in Hemingway except the characters in Hemingway. His style in the wildest sense finally killed him."
Read quote
6 likes
"Imprint deep upon your minds the principles of piety towards God, and a reverence and fear of His holy name. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and its consummation is everlasting felicity. Possess yourselves of just and elevated notions of the Divine character, attributes, and administration, and of the end and dignity of your own immortal nature as it stands related to Him."
Read quote
6 likes
"Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I ha' lost my reputation, I ha' lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial!"
Read quote
6 likes
"Watch your habits, they determine your character."
Read quote
6 likes
"We want the spirit of America to be efficient; we want American character to be efficient; we want American character to display itself in what I may, perhaps, be allowed to call spiritual efficiency - clear disinterested thinking and fearless action"
Read quote
6 likes
"Reputation is what you have when you come to a new community; character is what you have when you go away."
Read quote
6 likes
"I'm starting to be a lot more comfortable with allowing people to decide for themselves and almost creating a situation that forces people to decide for themselves whether they like it or don't like it or agree with the character or disagree with the character."
Read quote
6 likes
"I've always been attracted to characters with insurmountable odds and obstacles, because innately, however inarticulately I've always believed that my dreams and my desires can command and bend time and space to be the things that I want them to be."
Read quote
6 likes
"I had to focus and create a character in Bagger Vance, not just do my 'Will Smith' thing and get paid."
Read quote
6 likes
"All my characters have got a big slice of me in them. A big piece of me, because it's my dialogue and this is the way I think and talk."
Read quote
6 likes
"In a one-woman show, there must be compelling material that you adore. In both of these there are conversations with you and another character. My Second City (improvisation) background comes in very handy for accent and body posture."
Read quote
6 likes
"If you're a fiction writer, though, I can tell you how to let people talk through you. Listen. Just be quiet, and listen. Let the character talk. Don't censor, don't control. Listen, and write."
Read quote
6 likes
"I believe that all novels, ... deal with character, and that it is to express character – not to preach doctrines, sing songs, or celebrate the glories of the British Empire, that the form of the novel, so clumsy, verbose, and undramatic, so rich, elastic, and alive, has been evolved ... The great novelists have brought us to see whatever they wish us to see through some character. Otherwise they would not be novelists, but poet, historians, or pamphleteers."
Read quote
6 likes
"Love and happiness inextricably combined? I wanted love stories to coincide with war stories, I wanted hope for my characters, I wanted a sense of a future. So do they. So does the reader. But perhaps I shouldn't speak for everyone when I say that love and happiness are interdependent. In my own experience, happiness came with love. Specifically, my wife. That's when my own apathy and stasis ended for good."
Read quote
6 likes
"Spirituality is based on development of character and philosophy."
Read quote
6 likes