Quotes About Character

In stark contrast, almost all the literature in the first 150 years or so focused on what could be called the Character Ethic as the foundation of success—things like integrity, humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, patience, industry, simplicity, modesty, and the Golden Rule. Benjamin Franklin's autobiography is representative of that literature. It is, basically, the story of one man's effort to integrate certain principles and habits deep within his nature.

As we have observed, the shift from the Character Ethic to the Personality Ethic has drawn us away from the very roots that nourish true success and happiness.

In the words of William George Jordan, "Into the hands of every individual is given a marvelous power for good or evil—the silent, unconscious, unseen influence of his life. This is simply the constant radiation of what man really is, not what he pretends to be." T

Look to yourself. Be honest with yourself first—the roots of your problems are spiritual, and so are the root solutions. Build your character and your relationships on the bedrock of principles.

By making and keeping promises to ourselves and others, little by little, our honor becomes greater than our moods. The

To relate effectively with a wife, a husband, children, friends, or working associates, we must learn to listen. And this requires emotional strength. Listening involves patience, openness, and the desire to understand—highly developed qualities of character. It's so much easier to operate from a low emotional level and to give high-level advice. Our level of development is fairly obvious with tennis or piano playing, where it is impossible to pretend.

True independence of character empowers us to act rather than be acted upon. It frees us from our dependence on circumstances and other people and is a worthy, liberating goal.

If you carefully consider what you wanted to be said of you in the funeral experience, you will find your definition of success. It

The key to the ability to change is a changeless sense of who you are, what you are about and what you value.

Integrity is, fundamentally, the value we place on ourselves.

Character Ethic taught that there are basic principles of effective living, and that people can only experience true success and enduring happiness as they learn and integrate these principles into their basic character.

The inside-out approach says that private victories precede public victories, that making and keeping promises to ourselves precedes making and keeping promises to others. It says it is futile to put personality ahead of character, to try to improve relationships with others before improving ourselves. Inside-out

I have no special virtue to make me resent him. One must have strength in order to judge the weakness of others. I am not so mighty." This

You're so nice. You're not good, you're not bad, You're just nice. I'm not good, I'm not nice, I'm just right. I'm the witch. You're the world.

Cualquier persona con sentido común y una mente aguda medirá la distancia entre dos cosas: lo que ha dicho y lo que ha hecho. BEOWULF, POEMA ÉPICO 15 FEBRERO

The pornographer? He is concerned with what the characters do, while the artist, the artist is concerned with who the characters are.

Identity was something known in a way utterly removed from the vessel that carried it.

And if Henry Higgins is not the most reprehensible character ever written for the stage, that's only because somewhere, somehow, someone is composing a musical biography of Ronald Reagan

Sincerity: that's the hard part. If you can fake that, the rest is easy.

It's late. Need place to rehearse Dead Guy. I lie at bottom of stairs. Wife comes home. Do I break character? Never. She dials shrink.

As we get older we either become our worst selves or our best selves

At the mall. Think I'll do some rehearsing. Lie on sidewalk, get into "dead guy" character. Quite hard to do without chalk outline.

We are to fulfill our calling to be caretakers of the earth, regardless of whether global warming is real, or there are holes in the ozone layer, or three nonhuman species become extinct each day. Our vocation is not contingent on results or the state of the planet. It is simply dependent on our character as God's response-able human image-bearers.

After the capsize, it takes them an extraordinarily long time to learn how to become a survival team, and it never works flawlessly. They are not varnished heros. At times they are fearful, weak, defeatist, petty, jealous, self-interested. Frankly, I believe how Jim reveals all the lesser but very normal human qualities that are impediments to grace makes this crew more believable than the characters found in many tales.