Quotes about character
276 quotes from 175 people
I haven’t a particle of confidence in a man who has no redeeming petty vices whatsoever.
Mark Twain1835–1910“Answers to Correspondents”, The Californian, 17 June 1865. Anthologized in The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches (1867)Man is a make-believe animal — he is never so truly himself as when he is acting a part.
William Hazlitt1778–1830Notes of a Journey through France and Italy (1824), ch. XVIA wolf was no less a wolf because a whim of chance caused him to run with the watch-dogs.
Robert E. Howard1906–1936“Beyond the Black River” (1935)I mean to make myself a man, and if I succeed in that, I shall succeed in everything else.
James A. Garfield1831–1881A Dictionary of Thoughts: Being A Cyclopedia Of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors of the World, Both Ancient and Modern (1908) by Tryon Edwards, p. 327Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble.
Samuel Johnson1709–1784The Rambler (1750–1752), No. 135 (2 July 1751)Cunning is the art of concealing our own defects, and discovering other people’s weaknesses.
William Hazlitt1778–1830Characteristics, in the manner of Rochefoucauld’s Maxims (1823), No. 101Mutability of temper and inconsistency with ourselves is the greatest weakness of human nature.
Joseph Addison1672–1719The Spectator (1711–1714), No. 162 (5 September 1711)The lion who breaks the enemy’s ranks is a minor hero compared to the lion who overcomes himself.
Rumi1207–1273I, 1389Where the roots of private virtue are diseased, the fruit of public probity cannot but be corrupt.
Felix Adler1851–1933Founding Address (1876)
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882Journal (November 8, 1838)
Oscar Wilde1854–1900The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)- Joseph Addison1672–1719The Tatler, No. 192 (1 July 1710)
Sophocles496–406 BCAjax, Line 522–524 (tr. R. C. Trevelyan, 1919)- SHSydney J. Harris1917–1986On the Contrary (1964), Ch. 7
