character 2 - character 3 - character 4 

Happiness is not the end
of life; character is.

Henry Ward Beecher

   

The wisest person could ask no more of Fate
Than to be simple, modest, brave, true,
Safe from the many, honored by the few;
To count as naught in world, or church, or state;
But inwardly in secret to be great.


James Russell Lowell

      

Character cannot be counterfeited, nor can it be put on and cast off as if it were a garment to fit the whim of the moment.  Day by day we become what we do.  This is the supreme law and logic of life.

Chiang Kai-shek

  

We should know what our convictions are, and stand for them.  Upon one's own philosophy, conscious or unconscious, depends one's ultimate interpretation of facts.  Therefore it is wise to be as clear as possible about one's subjective principals.  As we are, so will be our ultimate truth.

Carl Jung

   

Give us grace and strength to persevere.  Give us courage and gaiety and the quiet mind.  Spare to us our friends and soften to us our enemies.  Give us the strength to encounter that which is to come, that we may be brave in peril, constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath and in all changes of fortune, and down to the gates of death, loyal and loving to one another.

Robert Louis Stevenson

  

The best thing to give your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent,
tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example;
to your father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her
proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all people, charity.


John Balfour

   

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People reveal their character even in the simplest things they do.
Fools do not enter a room, nor leave it, nor sit down, nor rise,
nor are they silent, nor do they stand up, like people
of sense and understanding.

Jean de la Bruyere

    

I still remain convinced that truth, love, peaceableness, meekness,
and kindness are the violence which can master all other violence.
The world will be theirs as soon as ever a sufficient number of people
with purity of heart, with strength, and with perseverance think
and live out the thoughts of love and truth,
of meekness and peaceableness.

Albert Schweitzer

   

You should remember that though another may have more money, beauty,
and brains than you, when it comes to the rarer spiritual values such as
charity, self-sacrifice, honor, nobility of heart, you have an equal chance
with everyone to be the most beloved and honored of all people.

Archibald Rutledge

   

Eccentricity has always abounded where strength of character
has abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has
generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental
vigor, and moral courage which it contained.  That so few now
dare to be eccentric marks the chief danger of the time.

John Stuart Mill

  

Character, not circumstances, make the person.

Booker T. Washington

    

Many people build character as cathedrals were built, the part nearest
the ground finished; but that part which soars toward heaven,
the turrets and the spires, forever incomplete.

Henry W. Beecher

     

A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches,
and loving favor rather than silver and gold.

Proverbs 22:1

  

It is more important to understand the ground of your
own behavior than to understand the motives of another.

Dag Hammarskjold

What we are contributes much more to our happiness than what
we have. . . . What we are in ourselves, what accompanies us
when we are alone, what no one can give us or take away, is
obviously more essential to us than everything we have in the way
of possessions, or even what we may be in the eyes of the world.

Arthur Schopenhauer

  character 2 - character 3 - character 4

  

There are three types of people that all ought to look upon with affection:
those that with affection look at the face of the earth, that are delighted
with rational works of art, and that look lovingly on little children.

anonymous

  

A noble heart, like the sun, showeth its greatest countenance in its lowest estate.

Philip Sydney

  

You may be good, but what are you good for?  You've got to be good
for something.  You've got to be about some project, some task that
requires you to be humble and obedient to the universal principles of
service. You've got to live a life of complete and total integrity in order
to give this kind of service.  This integrity enables you to love other
people unconditionally, to be courageous and kind at the same time,
because you have integratedness inside your own soul.



Stephen Covey

  

Seek out that particular mental attitude which makes you
feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes
the inner voice which says, "This is the real me,"
and when you have found that attitude, follow it.

William James

  

Every human being is intended to have a character of his or her own;
to be what no others are, and to do what no other can do.

William Ellery Channing

  
If one is called to be a street sweeper, one should sweep streets
even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music,
or Shakespeare wrote poetry.  One should sweep streets so well
that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say,
here lived a great street sweeper who did his or her job well.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
  

character 2 - character 3 - character 4   

I care not what others think of what I do,
but I care very much about what I think of what I do.
That is character.

Theodore Roosevelt

    

If you would be interesting, be interested; if you would be pleased, be pleasing;
if you would be loved, be lovable; if you would be helped, be helpful.

anonymous

   

Greatness is not found in possessions, power, position, or prestige.
It is discovered in goodness, humility, service, and character.

William Ward

   

  

Resolve to be thyself; and know that we who finds ourselves, lose our misery.

Matthew Arnold

 
  
What we call our destiny is truly our character and that character can be
altered.  The knowledge that we are responsible for our actions and attitudes
does not need to be discouraging, because it also means that we are free to
change this destiny.  One is not in bondage to the past, which has shaped our
feelings, to race, inheritance, background.  All this can be altered if we have
the courage to examine how it formed us.  We can alter the chemistry
provided we have the courage to dissect the elements.

Anaïs Nin
The Diary of Anaïs Nin
  

One resolution I have made, and try always to keep,
is this:  "To rise above little things."

John Burroughs

  

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation
where they will not be judged by the color of their skin
but by the content of their character.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

  

We have some inspiring and motivational books that may interest you.  Our main way of supporting this site is through the sale of books, either physical copies or digital copies for your Amazon Kindle (including the online reader).  All of the money that we earn through them comes back to the site in one way or another.  Just click on the picture to the left to visit our page of books, both fiction and non-fiction!

    
Character:  the grandest thing in the world.

Orison Swett Marden
   

   

The circumstances amid which you live determine your
reputation; the truth you believe determines your character.

Reputation is what you are supposed to be; character is what you are.

Reputation is the photograph; character is the face.

Reputation comes over one from without; character grows up from within.

Reputation is what you have when you come to a new community;
character is what you have when you go away.

Your reputation is learned in an hour;
your character does not come to light for a year.

Reputation is made in a moment; character is built in a lifetime.

Reputation grows like a mushroom; character grows like the oak.

A single newspaper report gives you your reputation;
a life of toil gives you your character.

Reputation makes you rich or makes you poor;
character makes you happy or makes you miserable.

Reputation is what people say about you on your tombstone;
character is what angels say about you before the throne of God.

William Hersey Davis

   

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Character is best tested by our reaction to adversity and temptation.
It requires real character to go on when the going is difficult.

J.M. Jussawalla
  

Reputation is what men and women think of us;
character is what God and the angels know of us.

Thomas Paine

  

Live your life while you have it.  Life is a splendid gift.  There is
nothing small in it.  For the greatest things grow by God's Law out
of the smallest.  But to live your life you must discipline it.  You
must not fritter it away in "fair purpose, erring act, inconstant will"
but make your thoughts, your acts, all work to the same end and that
end, not self but God.  That is what we call character.

Florence Nightingale

   

       
    

Yes, life can be mysterious and confusing--but there's much of life that's actually rather dependable and reliable.  Some principles apply to life in so many different contexts that they can truly be called universal--and learning what they are and how to approach them and use them can teach us some of the most important lessons that we've ever learned.
My doctorate is in Teaching and Learning.  I use it a lot when I teach at school, but I also do my best to apply what I've learned to the life I'm living, and to observe how others live their lives.  What makes them happy or unhappy, stressed or peaceful, selfish or generous, compassionate or arrogant?  In this book, I've done my best to pass on to you what I've learned from people in my life, writers whose works I've read, and stories that I've heard.  Perhaps these principles can be a positive part of your life, too!
Universal Principles of Living Life Fully.  Awareness of these principles can explain a lot and take much of the frustration out of the lives we lead.

    
   

       

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