Character Quotes - Page 30

• It is simply wrong to begin with a theme, symbol or other abstract unifying agent, and then try to force characters and events to conform to it.

  Thomas Pynchon

  Trying, Events, Agents

  Thomas Pynchon (2012). “Slow Learner”, p.9, Penguin

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• The rule for finding plots for character-centered novels, which is to ask: 'So what's the worst possible thing I can do to *this* guy?' And then do it.

  Lois McMaster Bujold

  Guy, Plot, Worst

  Lois McMaster Bujold (1999). “Cordelia's Honor”, p.389, Baen Books

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• A certain critic -- for such men, I regret to say, do exist -- made the nasty remark about my last novel that it contained 'all the old Wodehouse characters under different names.' He has probably by now been eaten by bears, like the children who made mock of the prophet Elisha: but if he still survives he will not be able to make a similar charge against Summer Lightning. With my superior intelligence, I have out-generalled the man this time by putting in all the old Wodehouse characters under the same names. Pretty silly it will make him feel, I rather fancy.

  P. G. Wodehouse

  Summer, Children, Regret

  P.G. Wodehouse (2009). “Summer Lightning: (Blandings Castle)”, p.10, Random House

  38 Copy quote

  Show source

• If I want to play mind games, I'd buy a Rubik's cube. ~ Acheron, a character.

  Sherrilyn Kenyon

  Games, Play, Mind

  4 Copy quote

• in addition to the conditions under which life is given to man on earth, and partly out of them, men constantly create their own, self-made conditions, which, their human origins notwithstanding, possess the same conditioning power as natural things. whatever touches or enters into a sustained relationship with human life immediately assumes the character of a condition of human existence. this is why men, no matter what they do, are always conditioned beings. whatever enters the human world of its own accord or is drawn into it by human effort becomes part of the human condition.

  Hannah Arendt

  Men, Self, Effort

  11 Copy quote

• My God, that scene in Monster Inc. where the monsters realise that their entire world is founded on hurting children -look at that for a change! Two galumphing cartoon characters making a shattering realisation about their world and their role in sustaining it. A truly epic moment. It's stunning.

  Russell T Davies

  Hurt, Children, Epic

  4 Copy quote

• There were definitely parts of my character I didn’t approve of, and maybe from time to time I had moments when I didn’t like myself much. But I got through each day as it came to me, and so far I’d survived every thing life had thrown at me. I could only hope that the survival was worth the price I’d paid.

  Charlaine Harris

  Survival, Each Day, Moments

  4 Copy quote

• The German people in its whole character is not warlike, but rather soldierly, that is, while they do not want war, they are not frightened by the thoughts of it.

  Adolf Hitler

  War, People, History

  Adolf Hitler (1994). “The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922-August 1939: An English Translation of Representative Passages Arranged Under Subjects and Edited by Norman H. Baynes”

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• But mostly they were lies I told; it wasn't my fault, I couldn't remember, because it was as though I'd been to one of those supernatural castles visited by characters in legends: once away, you do not remember, all that is left is the ghostly echo of haunting wonder.

  Truman Capote

  Lying, Echoes, Castles

  Truman Capote (2013). “Portraits and Observations”, p.20, Modern Library

  13 Copy quote

  Show source

• In this age, the mere example of non-conformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to custom, is itself a service. Precisely because the tyranny of opinion is such as to make eccentricity a reproach, it is desirable, in order to break through that tyranny, that people should be eccentric. Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character has abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage which it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the time.

  John Stuart Mill

  Order, Break Through, People

  John Stuart Mill (2003). “Mill's On Liberty”, p.81, Agora Publications, Inc.

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• I was once a fortunate man but at some point fortune abandoned me. But true good fortune is what you make for yourself. Good fortune: good character, good intentions, and good actions.

  Marcus Aurelius

  Men, Action, Good Intentions

  Marcus Aurelius (2002). “Meditations: A New Translation”, p.65, Modern Library

  15 Copy quote

  Show source

• You're breaking out of character, again.

  Dave Eggers

  Dave Eggers (2000). “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius”

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• To women who please me only by their faces, I am the very devil when I find out they have neither souls nor hearts — when they open to me a perspective of flatness, triviality, and perhaps imbecility, coarseness, and ill-temper: but to the clear eye and eloquent tongue, to the soul made of fire, and the character that bends but does not break — at once supple and stable, tractable and consistent — I am ever tender and true. (Mr Rochester to Jane)

  Charlotte Bronte

  Eye, Heart, Fire

  Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, Anne Bronte (2009). “The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)”, p.213, Penguin

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• The sisters and brothers that you meet give you the materials which your character uses to build itself. It is said that some people are born great, others achieve it, some have it thrust upon them. In truth, the ways in which your character is built have to do with all three of those. Those around you, those you choose, and those who choose you.

  Maya Angelou

  Brother, People, Giving

  "America's Renaissance Woman". The Academy of Achievement interview, www.achievement.org. January 22, 1997.

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• A strong and well-constituted man digests his experiences (deeds and misdeeds all included) just as he digests his meats, even when he has some tough morsels to swallow.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Strong, Men, Experience

  Friedrich Nietzsche “Delphi Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche (Illustrated): Friedrich Nietzsche”, Delphi Classics

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• But when you read books you almost feel like you're out there in the world. Like you're going on this adventure right with the main character. At least, that's the way I do it. It's actually not that bad. Even if it is mad nerdy.

  Matt de la Pena

  Book, Adventure, Mad

  7 Copy quote

• My love of pleasure seems to be the only consistent side of my character. Is it because I have not read enough?

  Francoise Sagan

  Sides, Enough, Pleasure

  FRANCOISE SAGAN (1955). “BONOUR TRISTESSE”

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Fame is a vapor, popularity is an accident, riches take wings, those who cheer today may curse tomorrow and only one thing endures - character.

  Horace Greeley

  Wisdom, Cheer, Wings

  40 Copy quote

• Drugs age you after mental excitement. Lethargy then. Why? Reaction. A lifetime in a night. Gradually changes your character.

  James Joyce

  Night, Drug, Age

  James Joyce (2016). “ULYSSES (Modern Classics Series)”, p.81, e-artnow

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• I would so hate to be a first-person character! Always on your guard, always having people read your thoughts!

  Jasper Fforde

  Hate, People, Firsts

  Jasper Fforde (2013). “The Thursday Next Collection 1-3: The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots”, p.462, Hachette UK

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• ''Women of the Gallagher Academy, who comes here?" she asked. Just then, every girl at every table (even the newbies) stood and said in unison, "We are the sisters of Gillian." "Why do you come?" my mother asked. "To learn her skills. Honor her sword. And keep her secrets." "To what end do you work?" "To the cause of justice and light." "How long will you strive?" "For all the days of our lives," we finished and I felt a little like a character in one of my grandma's soap operas.

  Ally Carter

  Girl, Mother, Grandma

  "Gallagher Girls: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You". Book by Ally Carter, April 1, 2006.

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• Vice does not lose its character by becoming fashionable.

  John Wesley

  Religion, Vices, Doe

  25 Copy quote

• With thought, patience, and discrimination, book passion becomes the signature of a person's character.

  Nicholas A. Basbanes

  Book, Passion, Signatures

  Nicholas A. Basbanes (1995). “A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books”, Henry Holt & Company

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.

  James Allen

  Life, Men, Thinking

  James Allen (2013). “As A Man Thinketh (Annotated with Biography about James Allen)”, p.20, Golgotha Press

  18 Copy quote

  Show source

• In the end you should always do the right thing even if it's hard.

  Nicholas Sparks

  Inspirational, Integrity, Ends

  Nicholas Sparks (2009). “The Last Song”, p.149, Hachette UK

  12 Copy quote

  Show source