Quotes for the Journey: Character Happiness is not the end of life; character is. Henry Ward Beecher

Greatness is not found in possessions, power, position, or prestige.  It is discovered in goodness, humility, service, and character.      -William Ward     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     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. unattributed     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.      -unattributed     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      Resolve to be thyself; and know that we who finds ourselves, lose our misery.       -Matthew Arnold

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Character:  the grandest thing in the world.      -Orison Swett Marden

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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, not circumstances, make the person.      -Booker T. Washington

A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold.       -Proverbs 22:1

Out of our beliefs are born deeds; out of our deeds we form habits; out of our habits grows our character; and on our character we build our destiny.        -Henry Hancock

We never know how much one loves till we know how much he or she is willing to endure and suffer for us; and it is the suffering element that measures love.  The characters that are great must, of necessity, be characters that shall be willing, patient and strong to endure for others. To hold our nature in the willing service of another is the divine idea of humanity, of the human character.       -Henry Ward Beecher

There is a spectacle more grand than the sea; it is heaven; there is a spectacle more grand than heaven; it is the conscience.       -Victor Hugo

Self-respect cannot be hunted. It cannot be purchased.  It is never for sale. It cannot be fabricated out of public relations.  It comes to us when we are alone, in quiet moments, in quiet places, when we suddenly realize that, knowing the good, we have done it; knowing the beautiful, we have served it; knowing the truth, we have spoken it.       -Whitney Griswold

I am not bound to win but I am bound to be true.  I am not bound to succeed but I am bound to live up to what light I have.  I must stand with anybody that stands right; stand with them while they are right and part with them when they go wrong.        -Abraham Lincoln

A Time to Talk When a friend calls to me from the road And slows his horse to a meaning walk, I don't stand still and look around On all the hills I haven't hoed, And shout from where I am, What is it? No, not as there is a time to talk. I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground, Blade-end up and five feet tall, And plod: I go up to the stone wall For a friendly visit. Robert Frost

The people who are worthy of being leaders of others will never complain about the stupidity of their helpers, the ingratitude of human beings, or the inappreciation of the public. They are all a part of the great game of life.  To meet them and overcome them and not go down before them in disgust, discouragement, or defeat, that is the final proof of power.       -William Boetcher

It is my custom every night, so soon as the candle is out, to run over the words and actions of the past day; and I let nothing escape me, for why should I fear the sight of my errors when I can admonish and forgive myself?    I was a little too hot in such a dispute; my opinion might well have been withheld, for it gave offense and did no good.  The thing was true; but truths are not to be spoken at all times.  I would I had held my tongue, for there is no contending, either with fools or with our superiors.  I have done ill, but it shall be so no more.    Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it every day, and at last we cannot break it.       -Horace Mann

One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. . . In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves.  The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.       -Eleanor Roosevelt

Taxes are indeed very heavy; but if those laid on by the government were the only ones we had to pay, we might more easily discharge them; but we have many others, and much more grievous ones to some of us.  We are taxed quite as heavily by idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four times as much by our folly; and from these taxes the commissioners cannot easily deliver us by allowing an abatement.        -Benjamin Franklin

An honest reputation is within the reach of all people; they obtain it by social virtues, and by doing their duty.  This kind of reputation, it is true, is neither brilliant nor startling, but it is often the most useful for happiness.        -Charles Pinot Duclos

To me, the essence of keeping the soul nourished is obedience to one's conscience.  I don't think that the soul can be nourished unless people have a strong sense of conscience that they have educated and developed and soaked in the universal and timeless principles of integrity and service.  This way, the individual's soul becomes part of the universal soul of service, contribution, and making a difference.       -Stephen R. Covey

Integrity is the first step to true greatness.  People love to praise, but are slow to practice it.  To maintain it in high places costs self-denial; in all places it is liable to opposition, but its end is glorious, and the universe will yet do it homage.        -Charles Simmons

The real difference between people is energy.  A strong will, a settled purpose, an invincible determination, can accomplish almost anything; and in this lies the distinction between great people and little people.       -Thomas Fuller

There is too little idea of personal responsibility; too much of "the world owes me a living," forgetting that if the world does owe you a living, you must be your own collector.       -Theodore N. Vail

You cannot believe in honor until you have achieved it.  Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world.       -George Bernard Shaw

The great secret of success is to go through life as a person who never gets used up.  That is possible for those who never argue and strive with people and facts, but in all experience retires upon themselves, and look for the ultimate cause of things in themselves.       -Albert Schweitzer

To keep your character intact you cannot stoop to filthy acts.  It makes it easier to stoop the next time.       -Katherine Hepburn

If I'm to have a character that others admire, I need to focus on developing that character.   I need to make decisions that are honorable and honest.  I need to focus on others rather than myself.  I need to be consistent in my dealings with other (while being careful to avoid what Emerson called "a foolish consistency").  And I must be true to myself, my God, and others.  I should never seek the admiration of others, but if I develop an honest, loving, caring character, the admiration will come.       -Tom Walsh

Pride may be allowed to this or that degree, else we cannot keep up our dignity.  In gluttony there must be eating, in drunkenness there must be drinking:  'tis not the eating, nor 'tis the drinking that is to be blamed.  So with pride.      -John Selden

We are only advancing in life, whose hearts are getting softer, our blood warmer, our brains quicker, and our spirits entering into living peace.      -John Ruskin

An inexhaustible good nature is one of the most precious gifts of heaven, spreading itself like oil over the troubled sea of thought, and keeping the wind smooth and equable in the roughest weather.      -Washington Irving

If there is righteousness in the heart there will be beauty in the character.  If there be beauty in the character, there will be harmony in the home.  If there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation.  When there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.        -unattributed

The final forming of a person's character lies in his or her own hands.       -Anne Frank

Stand for something.  Don't quest for popularity at the expense of morality and ethics and honesty.       -Howard Cosell

How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone.       -Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel

Creating Your Character is Like an Artist Creating a Sculpture Jim Rohn Could creating your character be likened to an artist creating a sculpture?  I believe that character is not something that just happens by itself, any more than a chisel can create a work of art without the hand of an artist guiding it.  In both instances, a conscious decision for a specific outcome has been made.  A conscious process is at work.  Character is the result of hundreds and hundreds of choices you make that gradually turn who you are, at any given moment, into who you want to be.  If that decision-making process is not present, you will still be somebody. You will still be alive, but may have a personality rather than a character. Character is not something you were born with and can't change like your fingerprint.  In fact, because you weren't born with it, it is something that you must take responsibility for creating.  I don't believe that adversity by itself builds character and I certainly don't think that success erodes it.  Character is built by how you respond to what happens in your life, whether it's winning every game or losing every game, getting rich or dealing with hard times. You build character out of certain qualities that you must create and diligently nurture within yourself, just like you would plant and water a seed or gather wood and build a campfire.  You've got to look for those things in your heart and in your gut.  You've got to chisel away in order to find them, just like chiseling away the rock in order to create the sculpture that has previously existed only in your imagination. But do you want to know the really amazing thing about character?  If you are sincerely committed to making yourself into the person you want to be, you'll not only create those qualities, but you'll continually strengthen them.  And you will recreate them in abundance even as you are drawing on them every day of your life.  Just like the burning bush in the biblical book of Exodus, the bush burned but the flames did not consume it.  Character sustains itself and nurtures itself even as it is being put to work, tested, and challenged.  And once character is formed, it will serve as a solid, lasting foundation upon which to build the life you desire. Reprinted with permission from Jim Rohn's Weekly E-zine.

The Village Blacksmith Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Under a spreading chestnut-tree The village smithy stands The smith, a mighty man is he, With large and sinewy hands; And the muscles of his brawny arms Are strong as iron bands. His hair is crisp, and black, and long, His face is like the tan; His brow is wet with honest sweat, He earns whate'er he can, And looks the whole world in the face For he owes not any man. Week in, week out, from morn till night, You can hear his bellows blow; You can hear him swing his heavy sledge, With measured beat and slow, Like a sexton ringing the village bell, When the evening sun is low. And children coming home from school Look in the open door; They love to see the flaming forge, And hear the bellows roar, And catch the burning sparks that fly Like chaff from a threshing-floor.       He goes on Sunday to the church, And sits among his boys; He hears the parson pray and preach, He hears his daughter's voice, Singing in the village choir, And it makes his heart rejoice. It sounds to him like her mother's voice, Singing in Paradise! He needs must think of her once more, How in the grave she lies; And with his hard, rough hand he wipes A tear out of his eyes. Toiling,--rejoicing,--sorrowing, Onward through life he goes; Each morning sees some task begin, Each evening sees it close; Something attempted, something done, Has earned a night's repose. Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend, For the lesson thou hast taught! Thus at the flaming forge of life Our fortunes must be wrought; Thus on its sounding anvil shaped Each burning deed and thought.

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