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Quotes about character

276 quotes from 175 people

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To speak frankly, I am not in favour of long engagements. They give people the opportunity of finding out each other’s character before marriage, which I think is never advisable.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), Third Act, spoken by Lady BracknellIn context
- Marriage
The same energy of character which renders a man a daring villain would have rendered him useful to society, had that society been well organized.
Mary Wollstonecraft1759–1797Letters Written in Sweden (1796), Letter 19
Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
John Wooden1910–2010
The strongest natures, when they are influenced, submit the most unreservedly: it is perhaps a sign of their strength.
Virginia Woolf1882–1941Books and Portraits (1977), “Thoreau”
The gentleman knows that whatever is imperfect and unrefined does not deserve praise.
Xunzi313–231 BCXunzi, ch. 1, “An Exhortation to Learning”; as translated in P. J. Ivanhoe and B. W. Van Norden (eds.), Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy (2001), p. 260
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
W. B. Yeats1865–1939The Second Coming (1920)In context
- Good & Evil