Quotes About Character

Not for the first time he was conscious of emotional lights and shades in his wife that could not be categorized, could not be named as sensuous or emotional as such, perhaps derived from each and gave to each but in essence grew out of a deeper fund of temperament that he still could not altogether apprehend. The simple miner's daughter was not simple in character at all.

Did I behave myself tonight, Ross?' she asked. 'Did I behave as Mrs Poldark should behave?' 'You misbehaved monstrously,' he said, 'and were a triumph.

Ill usage makes the sweetest of us vicious.

Of course he'll bring no money. Nor never will. He's not the type to--accumulate. But it's a good name to have. And he's becoming a personality in the county. One never knows quite why this happens, eh? Not so much what a man does. More a matter of character.

He was a goat tethered to the peg of his own character and could only consume the riches of the earth that came within his range. And she had bound herself to stay in his circle for the rest of her life…

It was the unexpected tribute that broke Ross up. He had hardened himself to all the rest. Not being a religious man, he had no resources to meet the loss of the child except his own resentful will. Inwardly he railed against heaven and circumstance, but the very cruelty of the blow touched his character at its toughest and most obstinate.

I am a miner's daughter, Demelza said. I was not brought up gentle. Gentleness –is that the right word?– came upon me when I was half grown. I have Ross to thank for that. And you. But it don't alter me underneath. I still have two marks on my back where Father used the belt. There's naught a few drunks could do but what I couldn't give them back. Tis all a matter of being in the mood.

Good and great are seldom in the same man.

You make all kinds of mistakes, but as long as you are generous and true and also fierce, you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her.

A modest little person, with much to be modest about.

the malice of the wicked was reinforced by the weakness of the virtuous;

It matters very little whether your judgments of people are true or untrue, and very much whether they are kind or unkind

He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.

Never trust a man who has not a single redeeming vice

Mr. Attlee is a modest man with much to be modest about.

Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because . . . it is the quality which guarantees all others.

Attlee is a modest man who has a great deal to be modest about.

How much easier it is to join bad companions than to shake them off!

Better a Zero than a Nero.

The use of force for the waging of war is not to be regulated simply by firm character and text-book maxims.

It is baffling to reflect that what men call honour does not correspond always to Christian ethics. Honour is often influenced by that element of pride which plays so large a part in its inspiration.

I lived in fact from mouth to hand.

I think it is desirable that persons concerned with the administration of justice should carefully acquaint themselves with the nature and character of any punishments which they may be authorised to order.

We Are The Sum Total Of Our Choices...