Quotes & Sayings About Judging Character

Just because I'm telling a story about a woman losing faith is not my rebellion against what I grew up in. If anything, it really affected the way I approached the story, and in fact, approach everything. I don't judge my characters. — Vera Farmiga

I can't play a character that I am judging. — Rachelle Lefevre

We judge our own character by our best intentions and most noble acts, but we will be judged by our last worst act. — Michael Josephson

Enough generations of socialist policies have now passed for us to judge their effects. They are bleak. Socialism undermines the character of a nation and of its citizens. In simpler words, socialism makes people worse. — Dennis Prager

A monarch frequently represents his subjects better that an elected assembly; and if he is a good judge of character he is likely to have more capable and loyal advisers. — William Ralph Inge

Millions of men give all their energies, as well as their very souls, for the acquisition of gold. And this will continue as long as society is ignorant enough and hypocritical enough to hold in high esteem the man of wealth without the slightest regard to the character of the man ... In judging of the rich, two things should be considered: How did they get it, and what are they doing with it? Was it honestly acquired? Is it being used for the benefit of mankind? — Robert Green Ingersoll

You can never judge your characters. You have to love them, really care about them. You're never just playing a villain or the crazy lady. — Annabella Sciorra

One cannot, without reflection, make some into bearers of goodness and others into miscreants, judging them by relative positive or negative criteria. These, like everything else, change according to historical circumstances, the character of a society, the time and subjective points of view. — Daisaku Ikeda

A first impression works like a magic mirror; it reflects what intrigues us rather than echoing a truthful picture. A first impression is the creating of an imagined character born from personal desires, perceptions, and biases. Though sparked by an introduction to a real, living, breathing individual, the person remains a mystery long after parting. It is a fictitious ghost masked with similar features that remains. A first impression is rarely accurate; therefore, it should never be trusted. — Richelle E. Goodrich

Twenty-five, 30 years ago, the barometer of human rights in the United States were black people. That is no longer true. The barometer for judging the character of people in regard to human rights is now those who consider themselves gay, homosexual, lesbian. — Bayard Rustin

We are fonder of visiting our friends in health than in sickness. We judge less favorably of their characters when any misfortune happens to them; and a lucky hit, either in business or reputation, improves even their personal appearance in our eyes. — William Hazlitt

If you judge the character, you cant play it. — Alan Rickman

It's not the job of an actor to judge your character — Daniel Craig

We judge nothing so hastily as character, and yet there is nothing over which we should be more cautious ... I have always found that the so-called bad people improve on closer acquaintance, while the good fall off. — Georg C. Lichtenberg

I never like to judge the character. I just have to leave my feelings of pity, or fear, about a character - whatever I feel towards the character, I try to leave to one side. It's good to have them, but it doesn't help me. I can't act those things. I just to play the character as truthfully as I can. — Richard Coyle

The only equitable manner in my opinion, of judging the character of a man is to examine if there are personal calculations in his conduct; if there are not, we may blame his manner of judging, but we are not the less bound to esteem him. — Madame De Stael

Im a pretty good judge of character. — Ed Weeks

Because as an actor, I really feel you cannot judge a character. You have to totally commit to that character. And for me to totally commit to the character, I have to find those places where I understand the sequence of behavior. — Glenn Close

To arrive at a just estimate of a renowned man's character one must judge it by the standards of his time, not ours. — Mark Twain

I am tired of people saying that poor character is the only reason people do wrong things. Actually, circumstances cause people to act a certain way. It's from those circumstances that a person's attitude is affected followed by weakening of character. Not the reverse. If we had no faults of our own, we should not take so much pleasure in noticing those in others and judging their lives as either black or white, good or bad. We all live our lives in shades of gray. — Shannon L. Alder

Judge talent at its best and character at its worst. — Lord Acton

The most important thing in playing any character is not judging. — Keira Knightley

Meditation may require a lifetime to master, but it will have been a lifetime well spent ... If you want to judge your progress, ask yourself these questions: Am I more loving? Is my judgment sounder? Do I have more energy? Can my mind remain calm under provocation? Am I free from the conditioning of anger, fear, and greed? Spiritual awareness reveals itself as eloquently in character development and selfless action as in mystical states. — Eknath Easwaran

We do not judge men by what they are in themselves, but by what they are relatively to us. — Sophie Swetchine

Trying to identify and understand, as opposed to judging, is very important for me, in approaching characters. — Michael Fassbender

Hillary Clinton, as an awful judge of the character of a dictator and butcher in the Middle East. Is she guilty or not guilty? — Chris Christie

As our fathers said, you can tell a ripe corn by its look. — Chinua Achebe

I have learned never to judge any of the characters that I portay. Sometimes that is difficult to do because as a human being we tend to make judgements when we find out information about people and situations. In order to bring a character to life, though, I find that I cannot judge her or I won't be true to her. — Chloe Grace Moretz

If you really want to judge the character of a man, look not at his great performances. Watch a man do his most common actions. — Swami Vivekananda

We have only two sources of information about the character of the people around us: we judge them by what they do and by what they say (particularly the first). — Ayn Rand

Judging requires a lot of negative energy. When we stop our thoughts from judging another person's hidden motive, intention or character, and simply address our differences, we create a dialogue of peace and reconciliation. — Hwa Sung Ryu

When I commit to a role, I always tell myself that role is king. That's the Bible. If I start to judge my character, than it's going to influence my performance, and I don't want that. I want to find the truth in the character. — Cuba Gooding Jr.

I admire men of character and I judge character not by how men deal with their superiors, but mostly how they deal with their subordinates. And that, to me, is where you find out what the character of a man is. — Norman Schwarzkopf

I make films because I am endlessly fascinated by people. I'm fascinated immediately to know about the lives that are going on around me. That is what drives me. And that is because everybody matters, everybody is there to be cared about, everybody is interesting and everybody is the potential central character in a story. Judging people is not acceptable. — Mike Leigh

Judge a man's character by what he finds ridiculous. — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

It takes a good deal of character to judge a person by his future instead of his past — Ralph Waldo Emerson

It has not been my fortune to know very much of Freemasonry, but I have had the great fortune to know many Freemasons and have been able in that way to judge the tree by its fruit. I know of your high ideals. I have seen that you hold your meetings in the presence of the open Bible, and I know that men who observe that formality have high sentiments of citizenship, of worth, and character. That is the strength of our Commonwealth and nation. — Calvin Coolidge

Physiognomy is not a guide that has been given us by which to judge of the character of men: it may only serve us for conjecture.
[Fr., La physionomie n'est pas une regle qui nous soit donnee pour juger des hommes; elle nous peut servir de conjecture.] — Jean De La Bruyere

The judge's authority depends upon the assumption that he speaks with the mouth of others. That is to say, the momentum of his utterances must be greater than any which his personal reputation and character can command, if it is to do the work assigned to it if it is to stand against the passionate resentments arising out of the interests he must frustrate for while a judge must discover some composition with the dominant trends of his times, he must preserve his authority by cloaking himself in the majesty of an overshadowing past. — Learned Hand

Part of the challenge of being a girl living in the 21st Century, looking back, the danger is to not judge your character by your own standards. — Zoe Kazan

There is a natural disposition with us to judge an author's personal character by the character of his works. We find it difficult to understand the common antithesis of a good writer and a bad man. — Edwin Percy Whipple

By judging others, you make yourself easy to judge. — Ashly Lorenzana

If you're constantly stepping outside of the character and judging them, you'll never really be able to fully engage because you'll always be slightly cynical. — James Norton

Ginger: "Ey, woman. If you characterise people on their actions rather than what they say, then it is easy not to be fooled by whatever logic they attempt to spout. — Michael Rogers

As an actor, you can't judge. A great actress from Spain said, "We, the actors, are lawyers of the characters we play. We have to defend them, no matter what." — Javier Bardem

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

To judge a man's character by only one of its manifestations is like judging the sea by a jugful of its water. — Paul Eldridge

They did that little thing on South Park, and they mentioned my name and had a character of me judging a Halloween contest. It was really funny. That made me the coolest aunt on earth. — Tina Yothers

A man's penmanship is an unfailing index of his character, moral and mental, and a criterion by which to judge his peculiarities of taste and sentiments. — Bill Vaughan

I think you have to be schizoid three different ways to be an actor ... You have to be a human being. Then you have to be the character you're playing. And on top of that you've got to be the guy sitting out there in Row 10, watching yourself and judging yourself. That's why most of us are crazy to start with, or go nuts once we get into it. — George C. Scott

I don't judge my characters, and that's my job not to judge them. — Quentin Tarantino

That mess about judging people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin - that's some bullshit. Nobody has the right to judge anybody else. Period. If you ain't been in my skin, you ain't never gonna understand my character. — Emily Raboteau

Never judge any person by his answers or questions but by his nature of character solely. — Anuj

My interest is always to get as deeply as I can into the minds and spirits of the characters and let the readers empathize or judge as they will. — Adam Haslett

The barometer for judging the character of people, in regard human rights, is now those who consider themselves gay, homosexual, lesbian. The judgment as to whether you can trust the future, the social advancement - depending on people - will be judged on where they come out on that question. — Bayard Rustin

A whole lot of good my IQ came when it came to judging his character. — DiAnn Mills

Children are excellent judges of character, you know — Mohsin Hamid

Never get a reputation for a small perfection if you are trying for fame in a loftier area. The world can only judge by generals, and it sees that those who pay considerable attention to minutiae seldom have their minds occupied with great things. — Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

I must walk toward Oregon, and not toward Europe. And that way the nation is moving, and I may say that mankind progress from east to west. Within a few years we have witnessed the phenomenon of a southeastward migration, in the settlement of Australia; but this affects us as a retrograde movement, and, judging from the moral and physical character of the first generation of Australians, has not yet proved a successful experiment. — Henry David Thoreau

Laws ... proportionate and mild should never be dispensed with. Let mercy be the character of the law-giver, but let the judge be a mere machine. — Thomas Jefferson

When trying a case [the famous judge] L. Cassius never failed to inquire "Who gained by it?" Man's character is such that no one undertakes crimes without hope of gain. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

If you get into the area of judging the character you're playing you're getting into a sticky area. — Cary Elwes

Tell the truth. Do your best no matter how trivial the task. Choose the difficult right over the easy wrong. Look out for the group before you look out for yourself. Don't whine or make excuses. Judge others by their actions and not by their race or other characteristics. — James F. Amos

Don't be fool enough to think you can know a person's character after a few moments of observation. You can't. You have no idea where his life began or how his saga has unfolded thus far. Only his present state can you witness. To judge him at a glance is like reading one page in an open book, believing it's enough to confidently recite the story from beginning to end. True, one page may tell you much, but not nearly enough to accurately critique a book or evaluate a life. So, either become his friend and learn his entire story, or refrain from commenting on a tale you know nothing about. — Richelle E. Goodrich

You never want to judge your character. — Patrick Wilson

Pigmentation was a quick and convenient way of judging a person. One of us, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., once proposed we instead judge people by the content of their character. He was shot. — Jon Stewart