Paul Craig Roberts Quotes

Character teaches above our wills.

I never come back home with the same moral character I went out with; something or other becomes unsettled where I had achieved internal peace; some one or other of the things I had put to flight reappears on the scene.

And finally I twist my heart round again, so that the bad is on the outside and the good is on the inside, and keep on trying to find a way of becoming what I would so like to be, and could be, if there weren't any other people living in the world.

I've had times in my life when I really haven't been able to figure myself out.

For me, 'Pariah' is very much about that inner churn. It's about this person's emotional inner life, and that's really what I wanted to bring to 'Bessie.'

Character is not the enemy of self-expression and personal freedom, it is their necessary precondition.

To tell the truth I never had it so good. But I lacked the strength of character to bear such joy.

Good character is more to be praised than outstanding talent. Most talents are, to some extent, a gift. Good character, by contrast, is not given to us. We have to build it, piece by piece - by thought, choice, courage, and determination.

Character, my friends, is a byproduct. It is produced in the great manufacture of daily duty.

What matters is who we are, not who we beat.

I've had the longest mid-life crisis ever.

George Foreman. A miracle. A mystery to myself. Who am I? The mirror says back. The George you was always meant to be. Wasn't always like that. Used to look in the mirror and cried a river.

Sometimes you have to confront your demons and sometimes even let them loose to genuinely find a place where you can gain some understanding.

There was a period when I had a hard time reconciling all the different parts of me in a way that I thought would make sense to others.

Life is a quarry, out of which we are to mold and chisel and complete a character.

Some of the greatest battles will be fought within the silent chambers of your own soul.

Throughout my life, I have grappled with my own identity, who I am. As a young child, I often felt ambivalent about myself, in fact, confused.

Well, the years from 10 to 20, when your body, mind and everything is like changing every five minutes, can be pretty torturing. And most of the interesting characters, I think, are somewhat tortured or torturous. I'm 20 now, so I'm only just an adult.

I know it sounds pathetic, but I don't know who I am.

Anybody can get lost in themselves.

I don't want stuff that's compromising to me as a person, but as long as it has a pathway to redemption and has meaning, there's something solid in that in terms of the way I experience it.

I kind of see myself as a cartoon that's on its way to becoming a real person that has to find that special amulet or mushroom to get to that next realm or level. I don't feel like anything is that tangible. It freaks me out, why I feel unhappy or conflicted and why that can change on a dime.

Adolescence represents an inner emotional upheaval, a struggle between the eternal human wish to cling to the past and the equally powerful wish to get on with the future.

I gambled on having the strength to live two lives, one for myself and one for the world.

I don't feel like a 40-year-old. I feel more like four 10-year-olds, each pulling in a different direction.