"Let me give you a tip on a clue to men's characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it."
~
Atlas Shrugged
by
Ayn Rand
"Jealousy is a strange transformer of characters."
~
The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor
by
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
She prized the frank, the open-hearted, the eager character beyond all others. Warmth and enthusiasm did captivate her still. She felt that she could so much more depend upon the sincerity of those who sometimes looked or said a careless or a hasty thing, than of those whose presence of mind never varied, whose tongue never slipped.
~
Persuasion
by
Jane Austen
We should be slower to think that the man at his worst is the real man, and certain that the better we are ourselves the less likely is he to be at his worst in our company. Every time he talks away his own character before us he is signifying contempt for ours.
~
The Little Minister
by
James M. Barrie
Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives, than I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart - one of the indivisible primary faculties, or sentiments, which give direction to the character of Man.
~
The Black Cat
by
Edgar Allan Poe
"The test of a man or woman's breeding is how they behave in a quarrel. Anybody can behave well when things are going smoothly."
~
The Philanderer
by
George Bernard Shaw
If she did not wish to lead a virtuous life, at least she desired to enjoy a character for virtue.
~
Vanity Fair
by
William Makepeace Thackeray
His knowledge was greater than his wisdom, and his powers were far superior to his character.
~
The Leather Funnel
by
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
"My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have frequently gained my first real insight into the character of parents by studying their children."
~
The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
by
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
"I wish you could make a friend of me, Lizzie. Do you think you could? I have no more of what they call character, my dear, than a canary-bird, but I know I am trustworthy."
~
Our Mutual Friend
by
Charles Dickens