--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: To feel our character, our personality…" description: "\"To feel our character, our personality, and our personal, hard-won history fade from being is to be exposed to whatever lies beneath these comforting, ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/add/peter-straub-10217_character_to-feel-our-character-our-personality-an_2576146.jpg" --- # To feel our character, our personality, and our personal… ![“To feel our character, our personality, and our personal, hard-won history fade from being is to be exposed to whatever lies beneath these comforting, operational conveniences. What remains when the conscious and functioning self has been erased is mankind's fundamental condition – irrational…” quote by Peter Straub](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/add/peter-straub-10217_character_to-feel-our-character-our-personality-an_2576146.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/add/peter-straub-10217_character_to-feel-our-character-our-personality-an_2576146.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/add/peter-straub-10217_character_to-feel-our-character-our-personality-an_2576146.jpg) > “To feel our character, our personality, and our personal, hard-won history fade from being is to be exposed to whatever lies beneath these comforting, operational conveniences. What remains when the conscious and functioning self has been erased is mankind's fundamental condition – irrational, violent, guilt-wracked, despairing, and mad.” [Peter Straub](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-straub/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. When societal masks fall, humanity's raw, chaotic nature emerges, exposing irrationality, violence, guilt, despair, and madness. **In simple terms:** Strip away comforts to reveal humanity's dark core. Key Takeaway Recognize and confront our primal instincts. Themes existential darkness human nature Mood somber reflective Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - crisis moments - psychotherapy - artistic creation - social upheaval Key Concepts philosophy psychology anthropology Questions to Reflect On - What comforts hide our darker impulses? - How can we integrate this awareness constructively? A Different Perspective May lead to nihilism if not balanced with hope. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Comforting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/comforting/) [Guilt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/guilt/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Irrational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/irrational/) [Lying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lying/) [Mankind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mankind/) [Personality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/personality/) [Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self/) [Violent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/violent/) ## Related quotes > [“I’d lost the mark on the psychic map that says You Are Here. Personality and personal identity are in some ways like co-ordinates on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-david-roberts/i-d-lost-the-mark-on-the-psychic-map-that-says-you-are-here-2/) [Gregory David Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-david-roberts/) > [The time that I spent overseas working as a model, all of those experiences influenced my personality and personal taste.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hoyeon-jung/the-time-that-i-spent-overseas-working-as-a-model-all-of-those/) [HoYeon Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hoyeon-jung/) > [“Personality and personal identity are in some ways like co-ordinates on the street map drawn by our intersecting relationships.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-david-roberts/personality-and-personal-identity-are-in-some-ways-like-co-ordinates/) [Gregory David Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-david-roberts/) > [Usually I start with a concept, which I then sketch out so that I can get a feel for the character. The character doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noelle-stevenson/usually-i-start-with-a-concept-which-i-then-sketch-out-so-that-i-can/) [Noelle Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noelle-stevenson/) > [I don't talk about how old I am because sometimes it can affect parts that you get in Hollywood. I don't believe that it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garrett-clayton/i-don-t-talk-about-how-old-i-am-because-sometimes-it-can-affect-parts/) [Garrett Clayton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garrett-clayton/) > [Interestingly enough, for me, a character like Captain Jack, you feel like you could just continue. The possibilities are endless and limitless. There is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johnny-depp/interestingly-enough-for-me-a-character-like-captain-jack-you-feel/) [Johnny Depp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johnny-depp/) > [I gauge if I can create a different a woman. 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They speak to something deep within…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-straub/human-beings-across-every-culture-i-know-about-require-such-stories/) [Peter Straub](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-straub/) > [God, in the orthodox view, causes famine, plague, and flood. Was God evil? Evil is a convenient fiction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-straub/god-in-the-orthodox-view-causes-famine-plague-and-flood-was-god-evil/) [Peter Straub](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-straub/) > [The world is full of ghosts, and some of them are still people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-straub/the-world-is-full-of-ghosts-and-some-of-them-are-still-people/) [Peter Straub](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-straub/) > [“I know this doesn't make sense, but if we ever did this before, exactly this, with you sitting over there and me here, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-straub/i-know-this-doesn-t-make-sense-but-if-we-ever-did-this-before-exactly/) [Peter Straub](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-straub/) > [“It was incomprehensible to Ricky that anyone could find Milburn boring: if you watched it closely for seventy years, you saw the century at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-straub/it-was-incomprehensible-to-ricky-that-anyone-could-find-milburn/) [Peter Straub](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-straub/) > [My first real breakthrough collided with the last months of Callaghan's Labour government, which had every intention of enjoying my success as much as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-straub/my-first-real-breakthrough-collided-with-the-last-months-of-callaghan/) [Peter Straub](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-straub/) > [These days, there are a great many books about childhood trauma and its effects, but at the time all the experts agreed that one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-straub/these-days-there-are-a-great-many-books-about-childhood-trauma-and/) [Peter Straub](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-straub/) [Explore all 67 Peter Straub quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-straub/) ## More Character quotes > [This may sound strange, but although I feel like I know everything about my characters, the brand of shampoo they use, how many cavities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-honeyman/this-may-sound-strange-but-although-i-feel-like-i-know-everything/) [Gail Honeyman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-honeyman/) > [I always like a character who makes me laugh.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachael-stirling/i-always-like-a-character-who-makes-me-laugh/) [Rachael Stirling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachael-stirling/) > [Social responsibility above the level of family, or at most of tribe, requires imagination-- devotion, loyalty, all the higher virtues -- which a man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/social-responsibility-above-the-level-of-family-or-at-most-of-tribe/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/reader-if-you-are-gifted-with-nerves-like-mine-aspire-to-any/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [I'm often moved by the circumstances around some of my characters, but I don't think I've actually cried watching myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-winslet/i-m-often-moved-by-the-circumstances-around-some-of-my-characters-but/) [Kate Winslet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-winslet/) > [When you're on a daytime drama you get one page, you better damn well know your character. You better know what she would do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hudgins/when-you-re-on-a-daytime-drama-you-get-one-page-you-better-damn-well/) David Hudgins > [It can sometimes make people fold into themselves and kind of run away, but I think in this case these characters are being forced…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-deschanel/it-can-sometimes-make-people-fold-into-themselves-and-kind-of-run/) [Emily Deschanel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-deschanel/) > [If you are well-mannered towards those whose views are similar to yours, you may be said to exhibit a fairly good character. But, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-are-well-mannered-towards-those-whose-views-are-similar-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-s-truman/democracy-is-based-on-the-conviction-that-man-has-the-moral-and/) [Harry S. 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