Temperament Quotes

• Character is something you forge for yourself; temperament is something you are born with and can only slightly modify.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Character, Born

  Sydney J. Harris (1986). “Clearing the ground”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Temperament is the thermometer of character.

  Honore de Balzac

  Character, Thermometers

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• Temperament lies behind mood; behind will, lies the fate of character. Then behind both, the influence of family the tyranny of culture; and finally the power of climate and environment; and we are free, only to the extent we rise above these.

  John Burroughs

  Lying, Character, Fate

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• There is no personal charm so great as the charm of a cheerful temperament.

  Henry Van Dyke

  Happiness, Cheerful, Charm

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• Good nature is worth more than knowledge, more than money, more than honor, to the persons who possess it.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Happiness, Wisdom, Nature

  Henry Ward Beecher, William Drysdale (1887). “Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit”

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• As we grow older, we should learn that these are two quite different things. Character is something you forge for yourself; temperament is something you are born with and can only slightly modify. Some people have easy temperaments and weak characters; others have difficult temperaments and strong characters. We are all prone to confuse the two in assessing people we associate with. Those with easy temperaments and weak characters are more likable than admirable; those with difficult temperaments and strong characters are more admirable than likable.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Strong, Character, Two

  Sydney J. Harris (1986). “Clearing the ground”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• One of the aphorisms occurred to me now and I wrote it under the picture: "Fate and temperament are two words for one and the same concept." That was clear to me now.

  Hermann Hesse

  Fate, Two, Aphorism

  Ernest Hemingway, Knut Hamsun, Hermann Hesse (1971). “Ernest Hemingway, Knut Hamsun [and] Hermann Hesse”

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• A man's happiness or unhappiness depends as much on his temperament as on his destiny.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Destiny, Men, Unhappiness

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  The most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect.

  Warren Buffett

  Quality, Important, Buffets

  "Rules That Warren Buffett Lives By". February 23, 2010.

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• To have a liberal temperament is a kind of psychological boon, To be able to understand that someone you disagree with is not just a terrible creature but somebody with whom you disagree.

  Peter Gay

  Able, Kind, Psychological

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• A person's fate is their own temper.

  Benjamin Disraeli

  Fate, Temper, Persons

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• Temperament is the primary requisite for the critic - a temperament exquisitely susceptible to beauty, and to the various impressions that beauty gives us.

  Oscar Wilde

  Art, Giving, Criticism

  Oscar Wilde (2015). “The critic as artist (low cost). Limited edition”, p.69, Oscar Wilde

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• Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular.

  Robertson Davies

  Happiness, Happy, May

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• Age does not depend upon years, but upon temperament and health. Some men are born old, and some never grow so.

  Tryon Edwards

  Health, Men, Years

  Tryon Edwards (2015). “The New Dictionary of Thoughts”, p.58, Ravenio Books

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• A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament.

  Oscar Wilde

  Art, Work, Unique

  Oscar Wilde (1969). “The Artist as Critic: Critical Writings of Oscar Wilde”, p.270, University of Chicago Press

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• We must select the illusion which appeals to our temperament, and embrace it with passion, if we want to be happy.

  Cyril Connolly

  Happiness, Passion, Justice

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• Art is a little bit larger than life - it's an exhalation of life and I think you probably need a little touch of madness.

  Laurence Olivier

  Art, Thinking, Needs

  "Laurence Olivier". Book by Foster Hirsch, 1979.

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• When did the word 'temperament' come into fashion with us? Perhaps it came in when we discovered that artists were human beings.

  Katharine Fullerton Gerould

  Fashion, Artist, Humans

  Katharine Fullerton Gerould (1920). “Modes and Morals”

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• If you are not happy you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness.

  Robertson Davies

  Happiness, Happy, Worry

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• Whether we like it or not, men and women are not the same in nature, temperament, emotions and emotional responses.

  Paul Getty

  Men, Emotional, Economy

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• There are highly gifted spirits who are always infertile simply because, owing to a weakness in temperament, they are too impatient to wait out their pregnancy to term.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Pregnancy, Waiting, Weakness

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• Artistic temperament sometimes seems a battleground, a dark angel of destruction and a bright angel of creativity wrestling.

  Madeleine L'Engle

  Inspirational, Life, Creativity

  1982 A Severed Wasp.

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• Children with Hyacinth's temperament don't know better as they grow older; they merely know more.

  Hector Hugh Munro

  Children, Knowledge, Hyacinths

  'Toys of Peace and Other Papers' (1919) 'Hyacinth'

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• The most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect. You need a temperament that neither derives great pleasure from being with the crowd or against the crowd.

  Warren Buffett

  Important, Quality, Needs

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• The artist at her best - wild, passionate, rebellious, and human - is often too large and truthful a creature for society's taste. The artist at her most outlandish - profane, eccentric, even a little mad - is at least as disquieting a figure.

  Eric Maisel

  Artist, Mad, Passionate

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