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Quotes about character

276 quotes from 175 people

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If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings⁠—nor lose the common touch
Rudyard Kipling1865–1936If— (1910)In context
- Virtue
For ’tis the mind that makes the body rich;
And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds,
So honour peereth in the meanest habit.
What, is the jay more precious than the lark
Because his feathers are more beautiful?
William Shakespeare1564–1616The Taming of the Shrew (c. 1591), Act IV, Scene III, spoken by PetruchioIn context
- Beauty
Wilt thou draw near the nature of the gods?
Draw near them then in being merciful.
Sweet mercy is nobility’s true badge.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Titus Andronicus (c. 1592), Act I, Scene I, spoken by TamoraIn context
- Forgiveness
His nature is too noble for the world.
He would not flatter Neptune for his trident
Or Jove for’s power to thunder.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Coriolanus (c. 1608), Act III, Scene I, spoken by MeneniusIn context
I’ll never
Be such a gosling to obey instinct, but stand
As if a man were author of himself,
And knew no other kin.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Coriolanus (c. 1608), Act V, Scene III, spoken by CoriolanusIn context
Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one’s mind.
W. Somerset Maugham1874–1965Of Human Bondage (1915), Chapter XXXIXIn context
- Decisions
The emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning. I assure you that the most winning woman I ever knew was hanged for poisoning three little children for their insurance-money, and the most repellant man of my acquaintance is a philanthropist who has spent nearly a quarter of a million upon the London poor.
Arthur Conan Doyle1859–1930The Sign of the Four (1890), Chapter IIIn context
- Emotion
- Thinking
The noble soul has reverence for itself.
Friedrich Nietzsche1844–1900Beyond Good and Evil (1886), Chapter IXIn context
- Pride
Human nature is not a machine to be built after a model, and set to do exactly the work prescribed for it, but a tree, which requires to grow and develop itself on all sides, according to the tendency of the inward forces which make it a living thing.
John Stuart Mill1806–1873On Liberty (1859), Chapter IIIIn context
I distrust a man that says when. If he’s got to be careful not to drink too much it’s because he’s not to be trusted when he does.
Dashiell Hammett1894–1961The Maltese Falcon (1930), Chapter 11In context
He was beaten (he knew that); but he was not broken.
Jack London1876–1916The Call of the Wild (1903), Chapter IIn context
- Courage
The beauty or ugliness of a character lay not only in its achievements, but in its aims and impulses; its true history lay, not among things done, but among things willed.
Thomas Hardy1840–1928Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891), Phase the Sixth: The Convert, Chapter XLIXIn context
Is the world to go to pot, or am I to go without my tea? I say that the world may go to pot for me so long as I always get my tea.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky1821–1881Notes from Underground (1864), Part II: À Propos of the Wet Snow, Chapter IXIn context
Those whose own conduct’s most ridiculous,
Are always quickest to speak ill of others;
Molière1622–1673Tartuffe (1664–1669), Act I, Scene I, spoken by DorineIn context
- Talking
A human being should be entirely beautiful: the face, the clothes, the mind, the thoughts.
Anton Chekhov1860–1904Uncle Vanya (1897), Act II, spoken by AstroffIn context
- Beauty