150 Quotes on Character

• The highest qualities of character... must be earned.

  Author: Lyman Abbott

• I have been working up until recently with Neil Simon, who has been adapting the character to me.

  Author: Paula Abdul

• When you have to get into the character each morning, give it your voice, your face, it was torture.

  Author: Victoria Abril

• If I stunk for some reason, you can always blame it on the character.

  Author: Danny Aiello

• For the third season, we do a sit around on one episode where we were in character and then we commented on one episode just being ourselves, so - not really. I was comfortable, though. I wasn't nervous.

  Author: Carlos Alazraqui

• It's not like my old self - I'm not in character anymore, I'm me. I'm not hiding behind that anymore.

  Author: Damon Albarn

• She had a womanly instinct that clothes possess an influence more powerful over many than the worth of character or the magic of manners.

  Author: Louisa Alcott

• It makes it fun. When an actor plays a character, you want what that character wants. Otherwise it doesn't look authentic. So I really want to defeat Jimmy - I mean Jimmy as the character.

  Author: Alan Alda

• The law of harvest is to reap more than you sow. Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny.

  Author: James Allen

• I prefer the rather old and battered, things with character, to the brand new.

  Author: Rick Allen

• While I relish our warm months, winter forms our character and brings out our best.

  Author: Tom Allen

• Washington's character was rock solid. He came to stand for the new nation and its republican virtues, which was why he became our first President by unanimous choice.

  Author: Stephen Ambrose

• I am more spontaneous than my character.

  Author: Gillian Anderson

• You have to suspend disbelief a little bit to buy into your situation and to the story and to how the character will react. You have to tweak your credibility a little bit, is basically what it comes down to.

  Author: Richard Anderson

• The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and even belligerance. It is seldom accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors, and deserves respect if not enthusiastic acceptance.

  Author: Maya Angelou

• I didn't want to be greedy. It's a mark of bad character and I always believed that pigs go the slaughterhouse.

  Author: Walter Annenberg

• The test of character is having the ability to meet challenges.

  Author: Walter Annenberg

• I'm trying to learn to smoke, which is rather weird when everyone is trying to stop. I'm not a smoker. But my character only smokes as an affectation.

  Author: Francesca Annis

• It's hard being a hostage in somebody else's mouth - or a character in somebody else's novel.

  Author: David Antin

• Poverty is the schoolmaster of character.

  Author: Antiphanes

• Even among the married, sexual satisfaction must not be sought in a way which disregards man's character as a person and degrades him to the animal level.

  Author: Francis Arinze

• What the statesman is most anxious to produce is a certain moral character in his fellow citizens, namely a disposition to virtue and the performance of virtuous actions.

  Author: Aristotle

• Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion.

  Author: Aristotle

• Not a having and a resting, but a growing and becoming, is the character of perfection as culture conceives it.

  Author: Matthew Arnold

• I played a lot of character parts in school.

  Author: Matthew Ashford

• After doing this, going away, trying other things and working on other shows, this character, and working within Days of Our Lives, has been one of the most enjoyable experiences in my career.

  Author: Matthew Ashford

• When I draw a character, very often as I'm doing a face, my face mirrors the expression.

  Author: Matthew Ashford

• I'm 25, so I've already gone through what my character Ged goes through, though it's on a general scale because I haven't studied at a wizard's school.

  Author: Shawn Ashmore

• Playing a character who's dealing not only with a superpower but having a normal relationship is easy to associate with, because I feel that everyone has been through it.

  Author: Shawn Ashmore

• It's the difficulty we had with Mr. Bean, actually, when it went from TV to film. You certainly discover that you need to explain more about a character.

  Author: Rowan Atkinson

• When I was doing Bean more than I've done him in the last few years, I did strange things - like appearing on chat shows in character as Mr. Bean.

  Author: Rowan Atkinson

• I think the character does tend to suit an episodic thing, because what's fun about him is that he doesn't care about anyone else, and it's very difficult for a main character - a lead character - in a movie to not care about anybody else.

  Author: Rowan Atkinson

• And what's interesting about him as a comic character is that the custard pie hardly ever ends up on his face.

  Author: Rowan Atkinson

• The mask of the character was already written into the show, but I actually lobbied for a denser and more complete mask than they initially considered.

  Author: Rene Auberjonois

• Infelicity is an ill to which all acts are heir which have the general character of ritual or ceremonial, all conventional acts.

  Author: J. Austin

• Of all virtues and dignities of the mind, goodness is the greatest, being the character of the Deity; and without it, man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing.

  Author: Francis Bacon

• I'm always happier and a better actor when I can really lose myself in a character and become somebody else.

  Author: Kevin Bacon

• An individual step in character training is to put responsibility on the individual.

  Author: Robert Baden-Powell

• In the best farce today we start with some absurd premise as to character or situation, but if the premises be once granted we move logically enough to the ending.

  Author: George Baker

• Character builds slowly, but it can be torn down within incredible swiftness.

  Author: Faith Baldwin

• But I learned that there's a certain character that can be built from embarrassing yourself endlessly. If you can sit happy with embarrassment, there's not much else that can really get to ya.

  Author: Christian Bale

• There are two ways to go about it. You can take a compass and draw a perfect circle and make two perfect eyes as neat as can be. Or you can do it freehand and have some fun with it. Like I did. Give it character.

  Author: Harvey Ball

• I wouldn't like to be a character in one of my books!

  Author: Iain Banks

• Usually, it gets worse and worse as they downsize your character; mine just kept getting better.

  Author: Christine Baranski

• What about Mickey Mouse? Disney tried very hard to make him a star. But Mickey Mouse is more of a symbol than a real character.

  Author: Joseph Barbera

• My initial response was to sue her for defamation of character, but then I realized that I had no character.

  Author: Charles Barkley

• Character is better than ancestry, and personal conduct is of more importance than the highest.

  Author: Thomas Barnardo

• During my eighty-seven years I have witnessed a whole succession of technological revolutions. But none of them has done away with the need for character in the individual or the ability to think.

  Author: Bernard Baruch

• When you have to play a character that seems to be a relatively decent person and seems to be like yourself, I think the trick in that kind of character, so that you don't become a cliche, is to find where their weaknesses are.

  Author: Jennifer Beals

• Oftentimes what happens is that the writer understands one character, but they don't understand the other one, and the other one ends up not being written as well.

  Author: Jennifer Beals

• Sharpe is my favorite role of all that I've played. He's a very complex character. He knows that he's a good soldier, but he will always have to fight the prejudice of aristocratic officers because of his rough working-class upbringing. On the battlefield, he's full of confidence - but off it, he is unsure, a bit shy and ill at ease.

  Author: Sean Bean

• If you have a very good concept of your character, you can snap into it.

  Author: Sean Bean

• I think that you always have something left, that you take something of the character with you.

  Author: Sean Bean

• Quite often my narrator or protagonist may be a man, but I'm not sure he's the more interesting character, or if the more complex character isn't the woman.

  Author: Ann Beattie

• By knowing your character so well you can't go wrong. All of us kind of fell into that.

  Author: Camilla Belle

• There is always one person on the set who has a lot of anxiety, an actor who is really intense and has to stay in character and holds himself away from the rest of us.

  Author: Maria Bello

• Martial arts is not about fighting; it's about building character.

  Author: Bo Bennett

• You don't realize how much a part of your character is part of yourself until you are no longer playing that character.

  Author: Julie Benz

• If you're offered something, you're not really sure exactly what is that they saw in you that they think is the character so it's a little scary, I feel.

  Author: Julie Benz

• Once the curtain is raised, the actor is ceases to belong to himself. He belongs to his character, to his author, to his public. He must do the impossible to identify himself with the first, not to betray the second, and not to disappoint the third.

  Author: Sarah Bernhardt

• The true worth of a race must be measured by the character of its womanhood.

  Author: Mary Bethune

• Character and emotionality don't always have to be relegated to quieter, more simple constructs.

  Author: Kathryn Bigelow

• In order for American Pie to have worked, you have to have a character who, even while he is humping a pie, the audience still likes.

  Author: Jason Biggs

• Wild Bill was a strange character. In person he was about six feet and one inch in height. He was a Plains-man in every sense of the word.

  Author: Buffalo Bill

• General Custer was a close observer and student of personal character.

  Author: Buffalo Bill

• Our cultural diversity has most certainly shaped our national character.

  Author: Julie Bishop

• The role of an actor is to make every character believable.

  Author: Orlando Bloom

• So if you want to have a great video game-based movie you have to keep the mood of the game, use the normal character setup - but you have to flesh out the story and provide more background for the characters.

  Author: Uwe Boll

• Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them.

  Author: Napoleon Bonaparte

• I think every leading man wants to be a character actor, and every character actor wants to be a leading man.

  Author: Bruce Boxleitner

• And while I might not always agree with the viewpoint I have to portray, because I play a district attorney, as an actress I can always tell myself that my character is trying to take the moral high ground.

  Author: Lara Boyle

• I put myself into character for my songs.

  Author: Michelle Branch

• Let your actions speak louder than your words, for integrity is built on deeds, not declarations.

  Author: Jennifer Lopez

• My favorite roles usually have to do with the story, if it's a good story I usually enjoy doing the character.

  Author: Beau Bridges

• What are the aspects of yourself that line up with the character? You magnify those, and the ones that don't match up you kind of kick to the curb.

  Author: Jeff Bridges

• I probably wouldn't make a good accountant. I don't even understand what my accountant tells me. But the character is a sort of exaggerated version of me, he's a little more frightened than I am, everything seems so much bigger to him than it does to me.

  Author: Matthew Broderick

• Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones.

  Author: Phillips Brooks

• Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.

  Author: H. Brown, Jr.

• From my sketch files I'll find a pose that shows the emotion behind a particular character's story.

  Author: Frank Bruno

• Show class, have pride, and display character. If you do, winning takes care of itself.

  Author: Paul Bryant

• Places I've lived since then had to have some kind of uniqueness and character about them. And logically Key West, and then Down Island. So, all of that stuff sort of had it's roots in New Orleans and went crazy.

  Author: Jimmy Buffett

• The main thing in acting is honesty, to feel the humanity and get to the essence of the character. You can't put anything into a character that you haven't got within you.

  Author: Genevieve Bujold

• Then there's going to be another project I am involved with, in fact, I'm going back to film it next week. It's a game for the Internet called Advance Warriors, and my character is Max, who is blind, but he has special powers. It will be a new game played on the Internet.

  Author: Jeremy Bulloch

• There's a button that goes On and I'm On. And when I go On, there is almost no me; there is just a character who is doing all this.

  Author: Gisele Bundchen

• We not only interpret the character of events... we may also interpret our interpretations.

  Author: Kenneth Burke

• Firmness in enduring and exertion is a character I always wish to possess. I have always despised the whining yelp of complaint and cowardly resolve.

  Author: Robert Burns

• Actually, I get a little say in what my character would or wouldn't do.

  Author: Steve Burton

• I talked with Quentin about where the character came from, and he told me Kansas City. I don't know how somebody talks from Kansas City, so I made him from New York.

  Author: Steve Buscemi

• Today we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation's promise through civility, courage, compassion and character.

  Author: George Bush

• I get to experiment with a lot of looks with my character so that's really fun for me. It's like getting to paint a new canvas everyday.

  Author: Sophia Bush

• Adversity reveals the true character of a person, for it is in times of struggle that our inner strength shines brightest.

  Author: Maya Angelou

• Hollywood didn't know if I was an actor or a nut or if I was this crazy character I was playing. I had developed an image of being a little bit unusual, different and wild.

  Author: Nicolas Cage

• Character, I am sure, lies in the genes.

  Author: Taylor Caldwell

• I think I may have become an actor to hide from myself. You can escape into a character.

  Author: John Candy

• I try to bring elements of my own personality to every character I've played, but I think I'm pretty similar to the character I'm playing now. The biggest departure would have to have been Freaks and Geeks Sara, who was this sort of subordinate and shy girl.

  Author: Lizzy Caplan

• The darker the character, the more interesting.

  Author: Robert Carlyle

• I don't mind playing the same character, but if it's not well done, then I'm not interested.

  Author: Charisma Carpenter

• In Halloween, I viewed the characters as simply normal teenagers. Laurie, Jamie Lee's character, was shy and somewhat repressed. And Michael Myers, the killer, is definitely repressed. They have certain similarities.

  Author: John Carpenter

• Usually I'm frustrated when I look at my films and I don't believe that I've made a real transformation beyond my usual sets of gestures and expressions. I still have this nagging feeling that it's me, that I didn't create a unique character.

  Author: Helena Carter

• You learn to rely on a few basic movements and use your voice to the greatest extent possible to convey your emotions. So there was a technical challenge there and a responsibility to create a character from behind the mask.

  Author: Helena Carter

• What I loved about playing the corpse is that obviously somebody else got to do the physical part. It appeals to the part of me that likes playing character parts and getting the chance to get away from my own physicality.

  Author: Helena Carter

• It was a challenge to be able to create a character without being able to use one's normal set of expressions. All the rubber and makeup attached to your face left you with only a modest range of facial movements.

  Author: Helena Carter

• I leave to others the decision as to the good or evil tendencies of my character, but such as it is it shines upon my countenance, and there it can easily be detected by any physiognomist.

  Author: Giacomo Casanova

• I've flown out of character so many times. In that sense I've been lucky, because I've been given the liberty to do just about anything I've wanted to do in my lifetime.

  Author: June Cash

• The implementation measures of both Covenants, but especially those of the Covenant concerning civil and political rights, were considerably weakened to the point where they assumed an optional character.

  Author: Rene Cassin

• As a consequence of these hesitations and of the vague character of such innovations, the Commission on Human Rights itself had doubts from the beginning about its role and its functions in general.

  Author: Rene Cassin

• The nice thing is that, at least in Los Angeles, I'm known as a character actor and I do auditions for other things besides just cartoon shows.

  Author: Dan Castellaneta

• It's a different way of getting across an emotion. You're trying to get it across to the animator because the animator is inspired by the voicetrack in terms of how to animate the character.

  Author: Dan Castellaneta

• It's the weirdest thing. When you go into acting, you expect to be a huge star and to be recognized... It did happen, but not in the way you expect it to... In L.A., I'm just another character actor.

  Author: Dan Castellaneta

• The Missouri is, perhaps, different in appearance and character from all other rivers in the world; there is a terror in its manner which is sensibly felt, the moment we enter its muddy waters from the Mississippi.

  Author: George Catlin

• We pledge to fight the dark forces high in the counsels of the Republican Party which have made political capital out of the techniques of character assassination by innuendo.

  Author: Emanuel Celler

• The most difficult character in comedy is that of the fool, and he must be no simpleton that plays that part.

  Author: Miguel Cervantes

• The only way I can be there and really get into the character is if I'm her.

  Author: Lacey Chabert

• But to be part of helping create a character and be a part of something from the beginning - the excitement of it - it doesn't get any better.

  Author: Sarah Chalke

• I would like to think that I'm more different from my character than I am.

  Author: Sarah Chalke

• Character in a saint means the disposition of Jesus Christ persistently manifested.

  Author: Oswald Chambers

• In this watering-place I acted an heroic character, badly studied; and being a novice on such a stage, I forgot my part before a pair of lovely blue eyes.

  Author: Adelbert Chamisso

• Each of us is meant to have a character all our own, to be what no other can exactly be, and do what no other can exactly do.

  Author: William Channing

• Every human being is intended to have a character of his own; to be what no others are, and to do what no other can do.

  Author: William Channing

• A man's true character comes out when he's drunk.

  Author: Charlie Chaplin

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

  Author: Cesar Chavez

• Character must be kept bright as well as clean.

  Author: Lord Chesterfield

• For TV I don't think I could have gotten a better part than Uncle Junior because of the intimacy of the character based on David Chase's brilliant writing.

  Author: Dominic Chianese

• I know, because I tried all sorts of ways of being in character, and the best way is to be totally straight.

  Author: Tommy Chong

• I'm gonna be a character in a Happy Meal.

  Author: Claudia Christian

• I would quite like to do a different accent or play something so different from myself because Olivia, the character I play in this film, is similar to me.

  Author: Charlotte Church

• Nothing goes further toward a man's liberation than the act of surviving his need for character.

  Author: John Ciardi

• Success is not measured by the amount of wealth or fame one acquires, but by the impact they have on others.

  Author: Maya Angelou

• A man's own manner and character is what most becomes him.

  Author: Marcus Cicero

• 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 and threats of heaven and sea, himself standing unmoved.

  Author: Marcus Cicero

• It is not by muscle, speed, or physical dexterity that great things are achieved, but by reflection, force of character, and judgment.

  Author: Marcus Cicero

• Yeah, it is, because it's a real discovery of your inner resources, you know. That's what my character is all about and what my playing is all about. But to get up there and just go inside and draw out something that makes you feel good first and foremost.

  Author: Eric Clapton

• Reduced to its lowest terms, the great struggle which now rocks the whole earth more and more takes on the character of a struggle of the individual versus the state.

  Author: J. Clark

• They've turned this character into a human being.

  Author: Melinda Clarke

• I always try to approach character first and foremost viscerally.

  Author: Patricia Clarkson

• I think it kind of took being a character actor to kind of now enter into leading ladies.

  Author: Patricia Clarkson

• I am in no mood to be deceived any longer by the crafty devil and false character whose greatest pleasure is to take advantage of everyone.

  Author: Camille Claudel

• Clothes are part of the character. They can't but help inform who you are.

  Author: Jill Clayburgh

• The harm which is done by credulity in a man is not confined to the fostering of a credulous character in others, and consequent support of false beliefs.

  Author: William Clifford

• Luck relies on chance, labor on character.

  Author: Richard Cobden

• I guess there's a certain amount of poking fun at certain characters, but that's because there is something amusing about them or about the way they behave, so I guess you can say that that's poking fun at the character. But the character is your own invention, so who cares?

  Author: Joel Coen

• Shamelessness is a wonderful part of the character.

  Author: Stephen Colbert

• And one cannot discharge the duty of loyalty without the patient and an open minded study of the institution that marked the country and defined its character.

  Author: Bainbridge Colby

• No not pigeon holed me as an actor, or as a character, or as to what I could do - but what I would do... and the fact is the things you don't do are almost as important as as the things that you do.

  Author: Dabney Coleman

• I think is very beneficial to relax yourself so that when you are doing it you are not staggering for lines and your concentration is not on what I am going to say - but the scene itself, the character that you are talking to.

  Author: Dabney Coleman

• Where was Paris Hilton a year ago? She's a fabulous character to write about.

  Author: Jackie Collins

• There starts to be an overlap between you and the character.

  Author: Stephen Collins

• A scientist is an unlikely character to put at the center of a movie.

  Author: Bill Condon

• When we see persons of worth, we should think of equaling them; when we see persons of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.

  Author: Confucius

• What is overriding that and most important is that readers generally are interested in a good character. They might be more comfortable with Harry because they think they know him, but they always seem willing to give somebody new a chance.

  Author: Michael Connelly