Character Quotes
Anyone else on this page has about a third as many entries as Shakespeare. Next come Pope, Milton, James Russell Lowell and Goethe. The sentence worth reading in context is Emerson’s, from The American Scholar (1837): character is higher than intellect, and a great soul will be strong to live as well as strong to think.
Shaw, in Man and Superman (1903), is here for a remark about marriage and morality, which shows how loosely the page’s topic is applied.
Three entries are flagged. Two sayings credited to the Roman mime-writer Publilius Syrus, one about character deciding every man’s fortune and one about doing nothing at once both hastily and prudently, are disputed. A passage credited to Joseph Addison, about imperfection being what complains of the imperfect, is marked misattributed.
Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see,
Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be.
Whose dear perfection hearts that scorn'd to serve
Humbly call'd mistress.
How many things by season season'd are
To their right praise and true perfection!
It is the witness still of excellency
To put a strange face on his own perfection.
Our stability is but balance, and conduct lies
In masterful administration of the unforseen.
Though equal to all things, for all things unfit;
Too nice for a statesman, too proud for a wit.
For contemplation he and valor formed,
For softness she and sweet attractive grace.
Now do I play the touch,
To try if thou be current gold indeed.
Now, if you can blush and cry, "guilty," cardinal,
You'll show a little honesty.
Whom conscience, ne'er asleep,
Wounds with incessant strokes, not loud, but deep.