Character Quotes

That was the fun of acting, being a blank canvas you could transform into the character - Indian princess, 20s vamp, Mother Courage, Oxford don, 94-year-old wife.

~ Diana Quick

It has been my honor to support and work with President Barack Obama, a man who has brought courage and character to the presidency. President Obama's strength of character leads him to do the right thing, even when it isn't the easy thing.

~ Harry Reid

My first and most loved real novel was 'Little Women.' I identified with the Jo character even though we were opposites. Jo was very strong-minded and brave, and I was shy and kind of a wuss, everyplace but in my own home. I wanted to be Jo. She was my alter ego. I think reading that book gave me courage.

~ Rhea Perlman

If the great American people will only keep their temper, on both sides of the line, the troubles will come to an end, and the question which now distracts the country will be settled just as surely as all other difficulties of like character which have originated in this government have been adjusted.

~ Abraham Lincoln

Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones.

~ Phillips Brooks

The true index of a man's character is the health of his wife.

~ Cyril Connolly

I feel the less you project of yourself, the more you can be believable as a character. I also think it's just better for your own mental health. Then you can be a human being and change your mind, and nobody asks you questions about it!

~ Evelyne Brochu

As I travel the world, it seems that younger people identify me merely with some of the folklore in the 'Chuck Norris Facts' - those hyperbolic sayings that elevate my abilities beyond my capabilities. Others view me in light of the character I played in 'Walker, Texas Ranger' or in one of my 20 tough-guy films.

~ Chuck Norris

As far as 'Twilight' goes, I'm in love with my character. I'm in love with the whole series. I love doing the fan conventions around the world, I love to travel. So wherever it fits in, I'd love to continue doing that for the rest of my life. Just meeting the fans who made everything possible from around the world.

~ Kellan Lutz

Character is made of duty and love and sympathy, and, above all, of living and working for others.

~ Robert Green Ingersoll

I tend to foster drama via bleakness. If I want the reader to feel sympathy for a character, I cleave the character in half, on his birthday. And then it starts raining. And he's made of sugar.

~ George Saunders

It's hard to penetrate characters who are very cut off and lack empathy and to do it with sympathy. It's so easy to make a damaged character repugnant.

~ Siri Hustvedt

With a film, you just don't have time to build sympathy for the character. But I think we're moving away from that in TV. With TV, you have a little more leeway to allow them to rise and fall and rise again and be much more complicated beings.

~ Rachel Mcadams

I have to have a character worth caring about. I tend not to start writing books about people I don't have a lot of sympathy for because I'm just going to be with them too long.

~ Richard Russo

You have to have sympathy for and an empathy with a character in order to play them.

~ Laura Carmichael

I don't care about sympathy. I care about playing a character who's understandable and clear.

~ Anson Mount

The easiest way for readers to connect with characters and feel sympathy is to make the character entertaining, sympathetic and likeable.

~ Randa Abdel-Fattah

Confidence isn't optimism or pessimism, and it's not a character attribute. It's the expectation of a positive outcome.

~ Rosabeth Moss Kanter

All one needs to do is read - books, magazines, research the Internet - and pay attention to the influencers in their lives to discover the myriad people of strong moral character who have and still are making positive, meaningful contributions and differences in our world.

~ Zig Ziglar

I had creative control over my character, which means if they wanted me to do something that I didn't agree with, then I wouldn't do it. If it was good for the show, then I had no problem. If it was demeaning to the character and wasn't adding a positive light to the show, then I can guarantee that I wouldn't do it.

~ Bill Goldberg

If you believe - which I do - that acting is a bit like advocacy for your character, then of course I want to find the positive points.

~ Damian Lewis

Oscar is the exact opposite of how I think you should behave. I just think of it as a negative view of the positive mind I have. Big Bird is sweet and nice and also sympathetic, as kids can identify with him even though he looks like such a bizarre character - great 8 feet 2 inches, a beak 18 inches long.

~ Caroll Spinney

I did this role in Life Goes On as an HIV positive character and so emotionally that was the most challenging.

~ Chad Lowe

I believe that if writers want their readers to care about a character, they have to care themselves. I have to root for a detective who screws up as much as Thorne does, who shares my birthday, my North London stomping ground, and my love of country music, both alt and cheesy.

~ Mark Billingham

Funny story: I was hanging out with Adam Shankman for Samantha Ronson's birthday, and Lance Bass was there. I don't really know Lance, but he comes over to me and goes, 'Hey, I just wanted to let you know I'm a fan of 'Pretty Little Liars' and I'm rooting for your character.' It was surreal! That's how 'PLL' has changed my life.

~ Ryan Guzman

I think there's a character one has if you're a chief executive officer. Movies would suggest you're a bad person - if you're wealthy, if you've done well, oh, you must be bad. And frankly, winning the lottery doesn't change who you are; you're the same person inside. And I'm the same person I was as an 18-year-old who fell in love with Ann.

~ Mitt Romney

Movies are open doors, and at every door, I change character and life... I live for the present always. I accept this risk. I don't deny the past, but it's a page to turn.

~ Juliette Binoche

Books are a little better movies than just screenplays because there's more fat on the bone. There's more character development. There's more stuff to pick from.

~ Mike Binder

The thing with movies is, because you have so little time, I always feel like there are more things we could've done with the character. If we'd done a sequel to 'The Thomas Crown Affair,' what would that have been like? But for the most part, you try not to think of that, because it's just going to break your heart.

~ Denis Leary

The movies are all about visual, and television is all about character and dialogue.

~ Theresa Rebeck

I like the idea of movies having a magic element. How many times have you seen an actor in a movie who you know only as the character? It's wonderful, isn't it?

~ Christian Bale

I'll tell you what I really enjoy. We all go to the movies, we all watch television, we know what they're about, how they work. When the main character is a cop or a spy, it's very exciting, but I also very much enjoy when the main characters are nobodies - a trucker.

~ Nathan Fillion

After 'Prom Night' I did two movies where I was playing a prostitute. I gravitate towards characters that have some sort of inner turmoil or some sort of character arc. That's the great thing about acting, so many different things and being really diverse in your choices.

~ Brittany Snow

There is the moral spectrum in 'Fargo,' and you see it in other Coen brothers movies, where you have a very good character on one end and a very bad character on the other.

~ Noah Hawley

I'm not a huge fan of scary movies, but I love doing them because your character arc gets condensed, and everything is elevated, and so you kind of have this amazing opportunity to go in many different places.

~ Imogen Poots

You know what I loved about 'Sideways'? Well, the wine, of course. But it was one of the few movies in which being a writer was realistically depicted. I loved how the Paul Giamatti character tries so ineptly to talk about his book.

~ Kristan Higgins

Nothing can be better calculated to advance our interests and character than the establishment of a liberal and disinterested policy, enlightened by patriotism and guided by wisdom.

~ Sam Houston

The man who cannot believe in himself cannot believe in anything else. The basis of all integrity and character is whatever faith we have in our own integrity.

~ Roy L. Smith

God has entrusted us with his most precious treasure - people. He asks us to shepherd and mold them into strong disciples, with brave faith and good character.

~ John Ortberg

I just sort of take it from a character perspective, and I don't know if he was necessarily spiritual, but I do think he had hope. He was a character that was comfortable having hope in his life, and hope is faith.

~ Ryan Gosling