"A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes another's"

"Wealth stays with us a little moment if at all: only our characters are steadfast, not our gold."

"A man's character is the reality of himself; his reputation, the opinion others have formed about him; character resides in him, reputation in other people; that is the substance, this is the shadow."

"Show class, have pride, and display character. If you do, winning takes care of itself."

"It just did not make sense; unless, of course, as she had suggested, we all have a weak point, an area of intellectual or emotional vulnerability that may be quite out of keeping with out character."

"Public behavior is merely private character writ large."

"Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconcious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character."

"It takes a great deal of character strength to apologize quickly out of one's heart rather than out of pity. A person must possess himself and have a deep sense of security in fundamental principles and values in order to genuinely apologize."

"The character ethic, which I believe to be the foundation of success, teaches that there are basic principles of effective living, and that people can only experience true success and enduring happiness as they learn and integrate these principles into their basic character."

"When written in Chinese, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters-one represents danger, and the other represents opportunity."

"Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them."

"Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike."

"Not a having and a resting, but a growing and becoming, is the character of perfection as culture conceives it."

"Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones." 

As a general thing, I've always been drawn to characters who appear to be one thing on the surface, but are actually something else underneath.

I suppose I've got a reputation for playing quite extreme characters and making them quite believable.

I'm a big fan of vampire movies generally and that sort of tradition of characters.

Hopefully, any character I play has an anchor in reality.

Hopefully, any character I play has an anchor in reality. The more fantastical characters, or fantastical worlds that they inhabit are really fun and allow you, in some ways, to tell stories and reveal things about our lives that would be harder to take, in a more realistic setting.

Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of acting: character acting and lead acting. And in my life, to begin with, in the 1980s, it was all character acting. And then when, by fluke, through 'Four Weddings', I got into doing lead parts, it's a completely different thing.

I think of House as a deeply moral character, though some would no doubt argue with me. He does not judge. Beyond his normal tetchiness, there were no more than a half-dozen moments of actual condemnation from him. He understood lies and also why you lied, and there was an absolution there that is very, very appealing.

The great trap for non-American actors trying to play Americans, I think, is to start thinking of American-ness as a characteristic. It isn't. It is no more a character trait than height. It is just a physical fact, and that's all there is to it.

I didn't realize House would be the central character, more the bitter comic relief appearing occasionally. I relish his wounded nature - the lameness, the scarred Byronic hero.

I feel when acting, I am sometimes overly self-conscious; I think, 'Going, no, don't, put your eyebrow back where it was and, you know, turn to the left.' You know, I'm sort of very consciously adopting this character. But with music, I don't know. I found it was a question of just closing my eyes and just sort of letting things come out.