You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.

The secret of a person's nature lies in their religion and what they really believes about the world and their place in it.

The endurance of the inequalities of life by the poor is the marvel of human society.

The better one is morally the less aware they are of their virtue.

The first duty of an historian is to be on guard against his own sympathies.

Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself.

A person possessed with an idea cannot be reasoned with.

Superior strength is found in the long run to lie with those who had right on their side.

The practical effect of a belief is the real test of its soundness.

Science rests on reason and experiment, and can meet an opponent with calmness; but a belief is always sensitive.

Age does not make us childish, as some say; it finds us true children.

As we advance in life, we learn the limits of our abilities.

Philosophy goes no further than probabilities, and in every assertion keeps a doubt in reserve.

We enter the world alone, we leave the world alone.

The essence of greatness is neglect of the self.

Experience teaches slowly, and at the cost of mistakes.

You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.

To deny the freedom of the will is to make morality impossible.

Fear is the parent of cruelty.

In everyday things the law of sacrifice takes the form of positive duty.

No person is ever good for much, that hasn't been swept off their feet by enthusiasm between ages twenty and thirty.

Instruction does not prevent wasted time or mistakes; and mistakes themselves are often the best teachers of all.

Human improvement is from within outward.

Experience teaches slowly and at the cost of mistakes.

Ignorance is the dominion of absurdity.

The solitary side of our nature demands leisure for reflection upon subjects on which the dash and whirl of daily business, so long as its clouds rise thick about us, forbid the intellect to fasten itself.

Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing.

In this watering-place I acted an heroic character, badly studied; and being a novice on such a stage, I forgot my part before a pair of lovely blue eyes.

I do like to embed a fictional character firmly in an occupation.

But even with a character like Cary who is relatively outlandish, at the end of the movie he's in a place where I wouldn't have expected him to be - taking on the responsibility of a woman who is pregnant and who used to be his best friend's wife.

Always, your work is the same: You have to tell a story, you have to make a character. It doesn't matter if there are thousands of dollars, millions behind it, or if there is nothing.

Each of us is meant to have a character all our own, to be what no other can exactly be, and do what no other can exactly do.

I liked Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, and that is the kind of character that I would like to have played. That would have been more in tune with who I really was.

It's the difficulty we had with Mr. Bean, actually, when it went from TV to film. You certainly discover that you need to explain more about a character.

In a lot of ways, the make-up was the character.

The more we study the Indian's character the more we appreciate the marked distinction between the civilized being and the real savage.

So many people have said that to me, that what they really like about Alex is what she brings out in Marissa, and what this situation brings out in her, a hint of happiness and another side to her character.

I've been on the show for six years and I don't even know what her history is. I sort of make things up in my mind, but I think it's hard for an audience to follow and invest in a character when they don't have the details.

It is not true that drink changes a man's character. It may reveal it more clearly.

Because I killed a guy in real life, and because my character kills a guy onstage, they said I could never do anything this great again. I resented that.

Well, I go to the theater today, and its curtain - there is no curtain in this play; the lights go down and go up - and we start. And I live this character for two hours. There are only two of us in the play. And It's a complete experience.

I just kind of understood it, and I threw my love for others and love for life into the character, and was having a blast. I loved playing Dharma. I loved it!

I think if you play a character that is fearless, then it's boring. I think that's what was so incredible about Harrison Ford, is that he always seemed like he was never going to survive it, he's always scared, and yet he always does survive it somehow.

If you look to lead, invest at least 40% of your time managing yourself - your ethics, character, principles, purpose, motivation, and conduct. Invest at least 30% managing those with authority over you, and 15% managing your peers.

Every character I play has to be the hero of his own story, the way we're all heroes of our own lives.

To be a character who feels a deep emotion, one must go into the memory's vault and mix in a sad memory from one's own life.

Character is power; it makes friends, draws patronage and support and opens the way to wealth, honor and happiness.

You have to understand the tone of the movie, because if it's supposed to be funny, it can be funny violent like the Home Alone stuff, but you have to really understand the tone of what you're doing and make the action work for that and for the character.

In Shakespearean tragedy the main source of the convulsion which produces suffering and death is never good: good contributes to this convulsion only from its tragic implication with its opposite in one and the same character.