Flawed Character Quotes

For any character, male or female, I think it's important to have ... it's cliche to say a flawed character, but to really think about the good and the bad and make sure that both are present, and it doesn't just become a glossed over icon of perfection. ~ Jane Jensen

I'd never blame anyone else who falls for the same brand of seduction. I embrace that we're all similarly flawed. That makes the self-inflicted wounds hurt less. I'd read Tennessee Williams. I just didn't expect to be living my own tainted little version of Suddenly Last Summer. ~ Dan Skinner

If you are the one perfect person in an imperfect world, you are flawed. ~ Palle Oswald

The best characters are always wretchedly flawed ~ Danai Gurira

He saw with sudden awful clarity that if he turned tail now and if, by some appalling miracle, she should survive, he'd never hear the end of it. She'd latch onto his flawed character and hold it up for relentless ridicule till the end of time, or thereabouts. ~ Helen Hodgman

A mattoid is a miscreant who seeks to elevate himself by destroying society. Examples include the Rothschilds, David Rockefeller, Franklin Roosevelt, Meyer Lansky, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Leo Tolstoy, Alexander Hamilton, and Josef Stalin. Often mattoids are of high intelligence, tainted geniuses, despite their flawed character and lack of any morality. ~ Oliver Cromwell

For me, 'The Social Network' isn't about Facebook. It certainly isn't about how people use it. It's about a flawed character and his pursuit of that grand idea that defines him and validates his life and how far he'll go to get it, and the repercussions that come as a result of that - what he gives up in the process. ~ Trent Reznor

I think the Greeks were the only people ever to nail character. Their heroes are deeply flawed. ~ Marlon James

When people realized I'm strong, some of them appeared to be morons who automatically assumed it meant they might feel free to "beat" me as hard as they liked to, supposing it had to be fine with me. ~ Sahara Sanders

For TV I don't think I could have gotten a better part than Uncle Junior because of the intimacy of the character based on David Chase's brilliant writing. ~ Dominic Chianese

I always would be happy to make a character even more unlikable, but you know, there's a limit and if you go there, you get into a very different kind of movie, man. ~ Paul Giamatti

How can you love me?" she asked, forcing herself to say the words that would kill the tenderness in his eyes. "You don't even know me. You know 'Lady Agatha,' a composite, a character, a role I played."

He shook his head, his negation gentle but certain. "I didn't fall in love with a character, a title, or an occupation. I didn't fall in love with you because of your past or despite it.
"I love you because of your intensity and passion, because you make me want to be better than I am, because seeing my reflection in your eyes makes me better than I am. I love you because you laugh easily and honestly. I love you because you carried an ugly mutt into a drawing room as though it were a prince and because you gave an old soldier a strawberry trifle. I love you, Letty. ~ Connie Brockway

If you once understand an author's character, the comprehension of his writings becomes easy. ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

In these two things the greatness of man consists, to have God dwelling in us as to impart His character to us, and to have Him dwelling in us, that we recognize His presence, and know that we are His, and He is ours. The one is salvation; the other, the assurance of it. ~ Frederick William Robertson

What I like about theatre is the responsibility you have with your character. ~ Audrey Tautou

With so much knowledge written down and disseminated and so many ardent workers and eager patrons conspiring to produce the new, it was inevitable that technique and style should gradually turn from successful trial and error to foolproof recipe. The close study of antique remains, especially in architecture, turned these sources of inspiration into models to copy. The result was frigidity - or at best cool elegance. It is a cultural generality that going back to the past is most fruitful at the beginning, when the Idea and not the technique is the point of interest. As knowledge grows more exact, originality grows less; perfection increases as inspiration decreases. In painting, this downward curve of artistic intensity is called by the sug- gestive name of Mannerism. It is applicable at more than one moment in the history of the arts. The Mannerist is not to be despised, even though his high competence is secondhand, learned from others instead of worked out for himself. His art need not lack individual character, and to some connoisseurs it gives the pleasure of virtuosity, the exercise of power on demand, but for the critic it poses an enigma: why should the pleasure be greater when the power is in the making rather than on tap? There may be no answer, but a useful corollary is that perfection is not a necessary characteristic of the greatest art. ~ Jacques Barzun

C is quirky, flawed, and an enormous success. ~ Dennis M. Ritchie

He was a character.
A character who should still be here.
Damn it all to hell.
He should still be here. ~ Lisa Schroeder

The courage of the authoritarian character is essentially a courage to suffer what fate or its personal representative or "leader" may have destined him for. To suffer without complaining is his highest virtue - not the courage of trying to end suffering or at least to diminish it. Not to change fate, but to submit to it, is the heroism of the authoritarian character. ~ Erich Fromm

What is even more striking than the negational character of this political culture is the absence of robust and constructive affirmations. Vibrant cultures make space for leisure, philosophical reflection, scientific and intellectual mastery, and artistic and literary expression, among other things. Within the larger Christian community in America, one can find such vitality in pockets here and there. Yet where they do exist, they are eclipsed by the greater prominence and vast resources of the political activists and their organizations. What is more, there are few if any places in the pronouncements and actions of the Christian Right or the Christian Left (none that I could find) where these gifts are acknowledged, affirmed, or celebrated. What this means is that rather than being defined by its cultural achievements, its intellectual and artistic vitality, its service to the needs of others, Christianity is defined to the outside world by its rhetoric of resentment and the ambitions of a will in opposition to others. ~ James Davison Hunter

Winning takes character. Workers get the most out of themselves. When a body has limited talent, it must muster all its resources of character to overcome adversity. ~ Pete Carril

Be an independent thinker at all times, and ignore anyone who attempts to define you in a limiting way. ~ Sherry Argov

But I would encourage anyone who has a crush on my character to watch it again and examine how selfish he is. ~ Joseph Gordon-Levitt

I am very interested in place, and the influences of place on characters. ~ Tea Obreht

We can have all the facts in the world, but what it comes down to is character - Max Darling ~ Carolyn G. Hart

Is grey, and I like that about all the characters, the killer, the driver ... the movie has a very unlikely Hollywood ending, at the same time it helps you for a sequel too. Those are the things that I think are attractive, it's more, its real life, and people can identify with it and it just grounds it to a certain degree. That's the reason why. ~ George Tillman, Jr.

Character is the virtue of hard times. ~ Charles De Gaulle

It's quite quick for me to know if I want to play a character or not. ~ Juno Temple

To recognize yourself in a character onscreen, and to connect with them, you gotta recognize their flaws; they gotta feel like a real person. ~ Ryan Coogler

My only job as an actor is to try and understand the character and, to the best of my ability, bring this character to life. ~ Patrick Warburton

To say that Agatha Christie's characters are cardboard cut-outs is an insult to cardboard cut-outs. ~ Ruth Rendell

I'm Method trained. How is this character like me? What does she think of her mother? What does her mother think of her? It's like construction, and then, yes, you hope you're talented and that the universe aligns and captures the kind of laborer's work you've done and whatever else sprinkles down on you, and it's all caught on film or onstage. ~ Ellen Barkin

Honestly, when you're writing you try to stay on the story, on the character's mind, trying to throw stuff at them. There is danger, and the scares have to kick in the right places with the drama. And you try not to do too much to try to create those moments. Those moments create themselves. ~ Fede Alvarez

Every time I make a movie I have too many characters and too many locations. ~ Rob Zombie

As I get older, the character evolves tremendously because I'm married and have kids now and realize certain things are not funny anymore. I threw them out of my act. ~ Larry The Cable Guy

The character of American civilization is a bundle of contradictions, ~ James Davison Hunter

Character contributes to beauty. ~ Jacqueline Bisset

Michael Koryta is that rare author who is at once a compelling story teller and a fantastic writer. From the first sentence of THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD, you'll be under his spell. His characters are living, breathing people you'll care about; his setting is a place you'll visit and stay-long after you've decided to leave because you're scared. You can't leave; you're trapped. There are too many nerve-jangling, beautifully written, razor sharp moments and you won't want to miss a single one. This is an absolute sizzler. ~ Lisa Unger

Wit makes its own welcome and levels all distinctions. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The preservation of liberty depends upon the intellectual and moral character of the people. As long as knowledge and virtue are diffused generally among the body of a nation, it is impossible they should be enslaved. . . . ~ David McCullough

Fortunately I've got a weak character, so I never did decide to dedicate myself to only one of my professions. And I'm very glad. After all, if I'd rejected chess or music then my life wouldn't have been two times, but a hundred times less interesting. ~ Mark Taimanov

Unlike novel characters, comic book characters last an eternity. When a character is changed beyond recognition, there's no longer the merchandising aspect. ~ Grant Morrison

An occupying power has no right to make significant alterations in the character of the occupied society, to change the laws all around, without a strong security reason and so forth. ~ Juan Cole

I was very excited to hone in on John Goodman. Casting John first really set the tone. He's very good at being terrifying and being hilarious, and I loved the idea of that character not being merely 'moustache-twirly'. I enjoyed being scared by him. ~ Dan Trachtenberg

Inspector Rebus is a great character, so when the opportunity came up to revive the role for 'BBC Children in Need,' and really have a bit of fun with it, I was happy to take part. ~ Ken Stott

The delineation between the actor and his part is a practical matter. When the camera runs, you want the actor to be the character. ~ Mike Leigh

I felt like I was flying without a net. But once I realized that the audience was my partner, I was flying a jet, because the people would allow me to develop the character on stage. ~ Loretta Swit

Pandora decided to take another tack. "You do not want to marry me, my lord. I would be the worst wife imaginable. I'm forgetful and stubborn, and I can never sit still for more than five minutes. I'm always doing things I shouldn't. I eavesdrop on other people, I shout and run in public, and I'm a clumsy dancer. And I've lowered my character with a great deal of unwholesome reading material." Pausing to draw breath, she noticed that Lord St. Vincent didn't appear properly impressed by her list of faults. "Also, my legs are skinny. Like a stork's. ~ Lisa Kleypas

I have not thought too much about the psychology or life of the character Jonas in some time. ~ Corin Nemec

I liked Jim Morrison a lot as a person. He was this very poetic character, and death was always on his mind. And it showed up in his songs - I mean, almost every song he wrote had something to do with dying. He was an American treasure that went way too soon. ~ Alice Cooper

A criminal has a kind of freedom by definition that the ordinary citizen doesn't have. The criminal's able to realize himself in ways not available to the general population, if you want to put it that way. They're interesting and unpredictable. Characters always have to break some sort of bound or other to be interesting. It also helps if they're paradoxical. ~ William Monahan

The bottom line always remains the same: What is the basic humanity of the character? How do I make them resonate with the reader? ~ Len Wein

I think some of the big characters, you know, they do these adventures, but they've got something about them, they've got this charisma, and they've got to have a sense of humor. Because whether it be very dry, or very silly, they've got to be likable. ~ Rhys Darby

Granny said tardiness was nothing but bad manners, and that people with bad manners lacked character. Erlene ~ Scott Pratt

The writer's job is to get the main character up a tree, and then once they are up there, throw rocks at them. ~ Vladimir Nabokov

I was cut out of The Doors. I was Okie Girl, a groupie. The powers that be thought that my character made Jim Morrison look too sleazy, if you can imagine. I saw the movie-it was so loud I had a headache for three days. ~ Jennifer Tilly

One of my favorite things to do is formulate powers for a character, then come up with their corresponding weaknesses and liabilities. And I delight in world-building: melding the supernatural with the natural, then tweaking and polishing until it feels organic. ~ Kresley Cole