Character counts

I'm reading a book now called When No One Sees by Os Guinness. It talks about the importance of character in an age of image, a message that is important for all of us now. Scattered throughout the book are short statements dealing with character, and I want to share some of them with you here.

"Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny."

"Man is made to adore and obey; but if you give him nothing to worship, he will fashion his own divinities and find a chieftain in his own passions." (Benjamin Disraeli)

"Mankind would rather see gestures than listen to reasons." (Frederick Nietzsche)

"In the long run, the public interest depends on private virtue." (James Wilson).

"In the White House, character and personality are extremely important because there are no other limitations… Restraint must come from within the presidential soul and prudence from within the presidential mind. The adversary forces which temper the actions of others, do not come into play until it is too late to change course." (George Reedy, special assistant to Lyndon Johnson)

"Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one." (Marcus Aurelius)

"Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wing, and only character endures." (Horace Greeley)

"Anger is a short madness." (Horace)

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." (Abraham Lincoln)

"Character counts in the presidency more than any other single quality. It is more important than how much the president knows of foreign policy or economics, or even about politics. When the chips are down – and the chips are nearly always down in the presidency – how do you decide? Which way do you go? What kind of courage is called upon? Talking of his hero Andrew Jackson, Truman once said, it takes one kind of courage to face a duelist, but it's nothing like the courage it takes to tell a friend, no." (David McCullough, biographer of Harry Truman)