Character Quotes

WIDOW, n. A pathetic figure that the Christian world has agreed to take humorously, although Christ's tenderness towards widows was one of the most marked features of his character.

WRATH, n. Anger of a superior quality and degree, appropriate to exalted characters and momentous occasions; as, "the wrath of God," "the day of wrath," etc. . . .

The palmist looks at the wrinkles made by closing the hand and says they signify character. The philosopher reads character by what the hand most loves to close upon.

Children are illuminated text-books, breviaries of doctrine, living bodies of divinity, open always and inviting their elders to peruse the characters inscribed on the lovely leaves.

An age deficient in idealism has ever been one of immorality and superficial attainment, since without the sense of ideas, nobility of character becomes of rare attainment, if possible.

One must be rich in thought and character to owe nothing to books.

When the writing is good and it suits your character, you don't have to memorize anything, because it just makes sense. You read it and you go, "Oh, that makes sense." And it's easy.

I'm more influenced by characters than standups. I love strong, comic women, because it's so hard and I have so much respect for anyone who can do it.

My characters always like themselves.

I'm more of a clown, a tragic clown. Yeah. I just like humor to come out of characters.

When you write for a show that's not yours, your job is to hear the voices of the characters and write as best you can for those voices.

The way television works is that directors come in and out, and they're not there all the time, following every character through every scene. They're vagabonds who go from one show to another.

Losing yourself in the character opens you up in a way that no amount of precise preparation can.

I just want to play interesting characters, and I want to work with the best directors I can work with.

Making a documentary, there are thousands of choices, all the time: the angles and the pace and the choice of characters, the choice of music.

Norman is a very up-close, personal, character drama and I'd like to do something more zoomed out, a little more pastoral, some sweeping epic. I'd like to try something different.

I'd love to adapt more contemporary novels. But there isn't really enough story and character to make a really satisfying serial, so they tend to be single dramas.

Look at Jane Austen. Her characters derive in a reasonably straight line from fairy tales.

The kind of actors I admire move through different characters and genres.

You ought to be able to wear your character like a Lycra bodysuit.

In sketch comedy, wear your character like a hat, not a suit of armor.

I get some acting jobs. I like it other than the constant slipping in and out of character.

I believe at the end of my career I'll be retired into the recurring character hall of fame.

Wong Kar Wai is a very intense character, very personable, and I believe in general he does not like and he would not want his actors to show their true looks and their true personality on screen.

The process of acting is no different [playing human or ape]. You're embodying the character. You're creating the psychology and the physicality. You're living the moment.

No matter how extreme things get, it still has that ring of truth about it that backs the characters - even though they're despicable and what they're doing isn't right you still care for their fate.

I love playing real characters... if they're not around anymore it's helpful because you won't get sued! But there's so much research involved and I love that part of the process.

Playing a character in a video game is different to other performances because your character can't lead the audience of players in one direction.

For film and games, there is now a fantastic method of actors portraying characters which don't necessarily look like themselves. And yet you've still got the heart and soul of the performance.

I do listen to myself sometimes and think, 'Is my moral compass so easily swayed by the characters I play, or is it me growing as a human being?'

Your character is who you really are.

Emotions serve characters' purposes. That is their motivation.

I don't think the Hulk is a superhero. He's the first Marvel character who is a tragic monster. Really an anti-hero.

I guess that in a lot of ways, my writing is more of a character to me than something that I feel personally attached to.

I think if you're able to do over the course of your career 20, 30, 50 very wonderful rich characters, you'd rather have that than an Oscar.

If you change a character too much, the audience falls out of love with the character, but characters need to evolve and grow over the years.

You learn the values that are inherent in the scene that the writer has written. You learn about who you as a character are in relation to those others who are working with you within that scene.

Acting is not pretending or lying. It's finding a side of yourself that's the character and ignoring your other sides. And there's a side of me that wonders what's wrong with being completely honest.

Every character is a part of you and a part of the character that you are going to evolve into that you are not yet.

I like to hide behind the characters I play.

I went through a period when I felt my film characters were having more fun than I was. It might partly explain why I ended up tattooed or doing certain extreme things in my life.

I think actors, because we're in the world of the characters and the movie, are more isolated, and it always really fun to wake up and be a family with the entire crew.

We get a little further from perfection each year. I think that's called character. I think that's just how it goes.

It was a great joy for me to develop a strong female character in the spirit of an Icelandic woman. Icelandic women tend to be very strong and very independent, and I think that came in very handy.

Whatever your relationship is to your sacred tradition in the West, you have some relationship to the Bible if only through the names of the characters.

Love and marriage are wonderful arenas in which to place a character. We are most likely to risk our morals and beliefs while in love. Betrayal gives tremendous insights into a character as well.

You put a character out there and you're in their power. You're in trouble if they're in yours.

Age is not so much a feature of your character, as the spot where you stand for a pretty fleeting time on the arc of your life.

Developing characters is a strange thing. In the beginning they are abstract and I wonder how to move on from there.

Gestating characters feels something like the mental equivalent of gestating a baby. In both cases, to create them you lose yourself. Or at least you reshape yourself to encompass them.