"We all have these tendencies in us that could go this way or that. I think that's the real key in writing. To look at a character without judgment."

Character

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Thematic Reflection

This quotation examines the core nature of Character as articulated by Paul Haggis. Within historical and literary traditions, reflections on Character provide actionable mental models, challenging individuals to evaluate personal ethics, self-discipline, and daily actions.

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About Paul Haggis

Paul Edward Haggis is a Canadian screenwriter, film producer, and director of film and television. He is best known as screenwriter and producer for consecutive Best Picture Oscar winners Million Dollar Baby (2004) and Crash (2005), the latter of which he also directed. Haggis also co-wrote the war film Flags of Our Fathers (2006) and the James Bond films Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008). He is the creator of the television series Due South (1994–1999) and co-creator of Walker, Texas Ranger (1993–2001), among others. Haggis is a two-time Academy Award winner, two-time Emmy Award winner, and seven-time Gemini Award winner. He also assisted in the making of "We Are the World 25 for Haiti".

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More by Paul Haggis

"I was trying to talk about where we are right now as a society, and talk about the fear we all live in, and certainly since 9-11, how it's affected us and the world."

— Paul Haggis
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"I like to write about things about which I have no answers, questions that trouble me. These things trouble me."

— Paul Haggis
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"For me, the most interesting people are ones who often work against their best interests. Bad choices. They go in directions where you go, 'No no no nooo!' You push away someone who is trying to love you, you hurt someone who's trying to get your trust, or you love someone you shouldn't."

— Paul Haggis
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"Even a modicum of celebrity is hard to deal with. You see it with actors and directors all the time."

— Paul Haggis
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More about Character

"Moral codes adjust themselves to environmental conditions."

— Will Durant
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"In virtually every Western society in the 1960s there was a moral revolution, an abandonment of its entire traditional ethic of self-restraint."

— Jonathan Sacks
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"It is with trifles, and when he is off guard, that a man best reveals his character."

— Arthur Schopenhauer
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"I think we all suffer from guilt at some point in our lives, but for the most part I never really regret, and I try to always remain positive. Yes, I think that those issues are very interesting to play in a character, and they're prominent issues in life, and I think people can relate to them."

— Channing Tatum
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