“A character is what he does, yes - but even more, a character is what he means to do.”

—  Orson Scott Card

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "A character is what he does, yes - but even more, a character is what he means to do." by Orson Scott Card?
Orson Scott Card photo
Orson Scott Card586
American science fiction novelist 1951

Related quotes

Michelangelo Antonioni photo

“When we say a character in my films doesn't function, we mean he doesn't function as a person, but he does function as a character — that is, until you take him as a symbol. At that point it is you who are not functioning. Why not simply accept him as a character, without judging him? Accept him for what he is. Accept him as a character in a story, without claiming that he derives or acquires meaning from that story. There may be meanings, but they are different for all of us.”

Michelangelo Antonioni (1912–2007) Italian film director and screenwriter

Encountering Directors interview (1969)

Earl Warren photo

“The man of character, sensitive to the meaning of what he is doing, will know how to discover the ethical paths in the maze of possible behavior.”

Earl Warren (1891–1974) United States federal judge

Speech at the Louis Marshall Award Dinner of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Americana Hotel, New York City (11 November 1962)
1960s

John Bartholomew Gough photo

“A man is what he is, not what men say he is. His character no man can touch. His character is what he is before his God and his Judge; and only himself can damage that. His reputation is what men say he is. That can be damaged; but reputation is for time, character is for eternity.”

John Bartholomew Gough (1817–1886) Anglo-American temperance orator

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 46.

Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay photo

“The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.”

Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–1859) British historian and Whig politician

citation needed <br class="br">The earliest quotations of this give it as anonymous or unknown author. https://books.google.com/books?id=hPIsAAAAYAAJ&amp;pg=PA321&amp;dq=%22what+he+would+do+if+he+knew+it+would+never+be+found+out%22&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0CBwQ6AEwAGoVChMIlvi0prz_xwIVTwaSCh0hVwX5#v=onepage&amp;q=%22what%20he%20would%20do%20if%20he%20knew%20it%20would%20never%20be%20found%20out%22&amp;f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=i2MPAQAAIAAJ&amp;pg=PA16-IA71&amp;dq=%22what+he+would+do+if+he+knew+it+would+never+be+found+out%22&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0CB0Q6AEwAGoVChMIkMmp8rz_xwIV1BGSCh25lAO0#v=onepage&amp;q=%22what%20he%20would%20do%20if%20he%20knew%20it%20would%20never%20be%20found%20out%22&amp;f=false <br class="br">Attributed

Vera Stanley Alder photo

“Some say ‘Man is what he eats’ and some say ‘A man’s thinking determines his character’. It might be even more true to say ‘A man’s life and character are governed by his breathing’! This is because a person can neither digest what he eats nor act up to his ideas unless his breathing qualifies him to do so.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter XV The Essential Science of Breathing, p. 101

Michelangelo Antonioni photo

“Is it important to show why a character is what he is? No. He is. That's all.”

Michelangelo Antonioni (1912–2007) Italian film director and screenwriter

Encountering Directors interview (1969)

Stephen King photo

“A good novelist does not lead his characters, he follows them. A good novelist does not create events, he watches them happen and then writes down what he sees.”

Stephen King book Finders Keepers

Source: Finders Keepers

Lucian Truscott photo

“Character is what you are. Reputation is what others think you are. The reason that some fail to climb the ladder of success, or of leadership if you want to call it that, is that there is a difference between reputation and character. The two do not always coincide. A man may be considered to have sterling character. Opportunity might come to that man; but if he has the reputation for something he is not, he may fail that opportunity. I think character is the foundation of successful leadership.”

Lucian Truscott (1895–1965) Recipient of the Purple Heart medal

Quoted in Air Force Journal of Logistics, March 22, 2005, Notable quotes.(Lucien Truscott)(Brief Article)

Ayn Rand photo

“But what man does out of despair, is not necessarily a key to his character. I have always thought that the real key is in that which he seeks for his enjoyment.”

Ayn Rand (1905–1982) Russian-American novelist and philosopher

Related topics