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Quotes about character

276 quotes from 175 people

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That everyone is identical in their secret unspoken belief that way deep down they are different from everyone else. That this isn’t necessarily perverse.
David Foster Wallace1962–2008Infinite Jest (1996)
Words like virtue, nobility, honor, honesty, generosity, have become almost impossible to use or else they have acquired bastard meanings; language is no longer equipped for legitimately praising a man’s character.
Simone Weil1909–1943“The Responsibility of Writers”, in On Science, Necessity, and the Love of God (1968), p. 168
- Virtue
Strength is the outcome of need; security sets a premium on feebleness.
H. G. Wells1866–1946The Time Machine (1895), Chapter VIIn context
Would you believe in what you believe in if you were the only one who believed it?
Kanye Westborn 1977Thank You and You’re Welcome (2009), p.19
It was the old New York way of taking life “without effusion of blood”: the way of people who dreaded scandal more than disease, who placed decency above courage, and who considered that nothing was more ill-bred than “scenes,” except the behaviour of those who gave rise to them.
Edith Wharton1862–1937The Age of Innocence (1920), Book II, Chapter XXXIIIIn context
- Courage
You don’t luck into integrity. You work at it.
Betty White1922–2021If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won’t) (2011)
When a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude.
Elie Wiesel1928–2016Interview in O: The Oprah Magazine (November 2000)
Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900“The Relation of Dress to Art”, The Pall Mall Gazette (February 28, 1885)
The note of the perfect personality is not rebellion, but peace.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
All charming people, I fancy, are spoiled. It is the secret of their attraction.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900“The Portrait of Mr. W. H.”, Blackwood’s Magazine (July 1889)
The things people say of a man do not alter a man. He is what he is. Public opinion is of no value whatsoever.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
The true perfection of man lies, not in what man has, but in what man is.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900The Soul of Man under Socialism (1891)
Being natural is simply a pose, and the most irritating pose I know
Oscar Wilde1854–1900The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), Chapter IIn context
I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), Chapter IIn context