Character Quotes - Page 36

• You can judge a man's true character by the way he treats his fellow animals.

  Paul McCartney

  Animal, Men, Compassion

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• That perhaps is your task--to find the relation between things that seem incompatible yet have a mysterious affinity, to absorb every experience that comes your way fearlessly and saturate it completely so that your poem is a whole, not a fragment; to re-think human life into poetry and so give us tragedy again and comedy by means of characters not spun out at length in the novelist's way, but condensed and synthesized in the poet's way--that is what we look to you to do now.

  Virginia Woolf

  Mean, Thinking, Giving

  Virginia Woolf (1932). “A Letter to a Young Poet”

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• No government has the right to decide on the truth of scientific principles, nor to prescribe in any way the character of the questions investigated. Neither may a government determine the aesthetic value of artistic creations, nor limit the forms of literacy or artistic expression. Nor should it pronounce on the validity of economic, historic, religious, or philosophical doctrines. Instead it has a duty to its citizens to maintain the freedom, to let those citizens contribute to the further adventure and the development of the human race.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Religious, Philosophical, Adventure

  "The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen Scientist". Book by Richard Feynman, 1999.

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• For the traveler we see leaning on his neighbor is an honest and well-meaning man and full of melancholy, like those Chekhov characters so laden with virtues that they never know success in life.

  Orhan Pamuk

  Men, Honest, Success In Life

  FaceBook post by Orhan Pamuk from Mar 27, 2012

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• If God is an author and the universe is the biggest novel ever written, I may feel as if I'm the lead character in the story, but like every man and woman on Earth, I am a suporting player in one of billions of subplots. You know what happens to supporting players. Too often they are killed off in chapter 3, or in chapter 10, or in chapter 35. A supporting player always has to be looking over his shoulder.

  Dean Koontz

  Player, Men, Stories

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• We get a little further from perfection, each year on the road, I guess that's what they call character, I guess that's just the way it goes, better to be dusty than polished, like some store window mannequin, why don't you touch me where i'm rusty, let me stain your hands

  Ani DiFranco

  Hands, Years, Perfection

  Song: Imperfectly Complete Album

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• Seven Deadly Sins Wealth without work Pleasure without conscience Science without humanity Knowledge without character Politics without principle Commerce without morality Worship without sacrifice.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Inspirational, Happiness, Success

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• Her beauty satisfied [his] artistic eye, her peculiarities piqued his curiosity, her vivacity lightened his ennui, and her character interested him by the unconscious hints it gave of power, pride and passion. So entirely natural and unconventional was she that he soon found himself on a familiar footing, asking all manner of unusual questions, and receiving rather piquant replies.

  Louisa May Alcott

  Eye, Passion, Pride

  Louisa May Alcott (1997). “A Long Fatal Love Chase”, Thorndike Pr

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• She will look at you as women look at men, and she will judge you as a woman judge men, not on the strength of their arguments, and not in their cleverness or prowess in battle, but rather on the force of their character, the intensity of their passion, their strength of soul, their compassion, and... ah, this above all... their conversation.

  Orson Scott Card

  Passion, Men, Judging

  "Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus". Book by Orson Scott Card, 1996.

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• Anyone who knows me well must understand and be sympathetic to my genuine need to be my own greatest hero. It is not a flaw of character; it is a catastrophe.

  Pat Conroy

  Hero, Needs, Flaws

  Pat Conroy (2010). “The Lords of Discipline: A Novel”, p.81, Open Road Media

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• Dear God, I prayed, all unafraid (as we're inclined to do), I do not need a handsome man but let him be like You; I do not need one big and strong nor yet so very tall, nor need he be some genius, or wealthy, Lord, at all; but let his head be high, dear God, and let his eye be clear, his shoulders straight, whate'er his state, whate'er his earthly sphere; and let his face have character, a ruggedness if soul, and let his whole life show, dear God, a singleness of goal; then when he comes (as he will come) with quiet eyes aglow, I'll understand that he's the man I prayed for long ago.

  Ruth Graham

  Strong, Eye, Men

  Ruth Bell Graham (2007). “Footprints of a Pilgrim”, p.51, Thomas Nelson

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• You forget everything. The hours slip by. You travel in your chair through centuries you seem seem to see before you, your thoughts are caught up in the story, dallying with the details or following the course of the plot, you enter into characters, so that it seems as if it were your own heart beating beneath their costumes.

  Gustave Flaubert

  Heart, Forget Everything, Details

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• The main character of any living system is openness.

  Ilya Prigogine

  Openness, Main Characters

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• Nothing is more essential to the establishment of manners in a State than that all persons employed in places of power and trust must be men of unexceptionable characters.

  Samuel Adams

  Patriotic, Men, Voting

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• We mark some days as fair, some as foul, because we do not see that the character of every day as identical

  Charles Frazier

  Cold Mountain, Foul, Mark

  Charles Frazier (2007). “Cold Mountain: A Novel”, p.25, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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• Whatever we call it - mind, character, soul - we like to think we possess something that is greater than the sum of our neurons and that animates us.

  Susanna Kaysen

  Thinking, Soul, Mind

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• When I went to college, I lived on campus, and the guys I hung out with made the characters in Revenge of the Nerds look like the Rat Pack in 1962. I, myself made that kid Booger look like Remington Steele.

  Dennis Miller

  Revenge, Kids, College

  Dennis Miller (2001). “I Rant, Therefore I Am”, p.126, Crown Forum

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• What we call our destiny is truly our character and that character can be altered. The knowledge that we are responsible for our actions and attitudes does not need to be discouraging, because it also means that we are free to change this destiny. One is not in bondage to the past, which has shaped our feelings, to race, inheritance, background. All this can be altered if we have the courage to examine how it formed us. We can alter the chemistry provided we have the courage to dissect the elements.

  Anais Nin

  Attitude, Mean, Past

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• The company of just and righteous men is better than wealth and a rich estate.

  Euripides

  Men, Righteous Man, Wealth

  "Aegeus". Play by Euripides, 431 BCE.

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• 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

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• It isn't the big troubles in life that require character. Anybody can rise to a crisis and face a crushing tragedy with courage, but to meet the petty hazards of the day with a laugh - I really think that requires spirit. It's the kind of character that I am going to develop. I am going to pretend that all life is just a game which I must play as skillfully and fairly as I can. If I lose, I am going to shrug my shoulders and laugh - also if I win.

  Jean Webster

  Crush, Winning, Thinking

  Jean Webster (2012). “Daddy-Long-Legs”, p.38, Courier Corporation

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• Oh, Jeeves,' I said; 'about that check suit.' Yes, sir?' Is it really a frost?' A trifle too bizarre, sir, in my opinion.' But lots of fellows have asked me who my tailor is.' Doubtless in order to avoid him, sir.' He's supposed to be one of the best men in London.' I am saying nothing against his moral character, sir.

  P. G. Wodehouse

  Men, Order, Frost

  P. G. Wodehouse (2004). “Introducing Jeeves: Six Classic Stories”, p.65, Courier Corporation

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• 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.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Music, Joy, Sorrow

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• A language is an exact reflection of the character and growth of its speakers.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Reflection, People, Growth

  Mahatma Gandhi, Mohandas Gandhi, Homer A. Jack (2005). “The Wit and Wisdom of Gandhi”, p.158, Courier Corporation

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• The best books come from someplace deep inside.... Become emotionally involved. If you don't care about your characters, your readers won't either.

  Judy Blume

  Book, Writing, Care

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