Quotes About Character

Is it really such an admirable trait not to let myself be influenced by others? Am I right in following my own conscience? To be honest, I can't imagine how anyone could say "I'm weak" and then stay that way. If you know that about yourself, why not fight it, why not develop your character? Their answer has always been: "Because it's much easier not to!

A la gente no se la conoce bien hasta que no se ha tenido una verdadera pelea con ella. Sólo entonces puede uno juzgar el carácter que tienen.

But there's the catch. I'd like to live that seemingly carefree and happy life for an evening, a few days, a week. At the end of that week I'd be exhausted, and would be grateful to the first person to talk to me about something meaningful. I want friends, not admirers. People who respect me for my character and my deeds, not my flattering smile. The circle around me would be much smaller, but what does that matter, as long as they're sincere?

Sometimes I think God is trying to test me, both now and in the future. I'll have to become a good person on my own, without anyone to serve as a model or advise me, but it'll make me stronger in the end.

I'll have to become a good person on my own, without anyone to serve as a model or advise me, but it'll make me stronger in the end.

Non impari a conoscer la gente se non quando ci hai ben litigato insieme. Soltanto allora ne puoi giudicare il carattere

Man lernt die Menschen erst gut kennen, wenn man einmal richtigen Streit mit ihnen gehabt hat. Erst dann kann man ihren Charakter beurteilen!

It's a good thing I'm not the grouchy type, because then I might become sour and bad-tempered.

Mother thinks that Mrs. van D. is too stupid for words, Margot that she's too unimportant, Pim that she's too ugly (literally and figuratively!), and after long observation (I'm never prejudiced at the beginning), I've come to the conclusion that she's all three of the above, and lots more besides. She has so many bad traits, why should I single out just one of them? PS. Will the reader please take into consideration that this story was written before the writter's fury had cooled?

Parents can only advise their children or point them in the right direction. Ultimately, people shape their own characters.

Peleándose abiertamente una buena vez es como se aprende a conocerse a fondo. ¡Es entonces cuando en realidad puede juzgarse un carácter!

I've learned one thing: you only really get to know a person after a row. Only then can you judge their true character!

Every child has to raise itself." Parents can only advise their children or point them in the right direction. Ultimately, people shape their own characters.

Man lernt die Menschen erst gut kennen, wenn man einmal richtigen Streit mit ihnen gehabt hat. Erst dann kann man ihren Charakter beurteilen. (S.58)

Muß ich ein guter Mensch werden, ohne Vorbilder und ohne Reden, damit ich später besonders stark werde. (S.74)

She has so many bad traits, why should I single out just one of them?

I wish I could ask God to give me another personality, one that doesn't antagonize everyone. But that's impossible. I'm stuck with the character I was born with, and yet I'm sure I'm not a bad person.

How noble and good everyone could be if, at the end of each day, they were to review their own behavior and weigh up the rights and wrongs.

Thursday, 6 July, 1944 ... Quite honestly, I can't imagine how anyone can say: I'm weak, and then remain so. After all, if you know it, why not fight against it, why not try to train your character? The answer was: Because it's so much easier not to! This reply rather discouraged me. Easy? Does that mean that a lazy, deceitful life is an easy life? Oh no, that can't be true, it mustn't be true, people can so easily be tempted by slackness...and money.

I don't want followers, but friends, admirers who fall not for a flattering smile but for what one does and for one's character.

You only really get to know a person after a fight. Only then can you judge their true character!

A nun I know once told me she kept begging God to take her character defects away from her. After years of this prayer, God finally got back to her: I'm not going to take anything away from you, you have to give it to Me.

Plot grows out of character. If you focus on who the people in your story are, if you sit and write about two people you are getting to know better every day, something is bound to happen.

There's no point in writing hopeless novels. We all know we're going to die; what's important is the kind of men and women we are in the face of this.