I try to trace the connection between the characters and that way a story or plot emerges.

A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.

Don't think for a moment that I'm really like any of the characters I've played. I'm not. That's why it's called 'acting'.

I like repressed characters. That gives me a lot of freedom to make a lot of different choices through subtleties.

If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.

Kindly words do not enter so deeply into men as a reputation for kindness.

We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities... still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.

Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.

I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.

A man's true character comes out when he's drunk.

Be sincere; be brief; be seated.

Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self control to be understanding and forgiving.

I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.