Don’t confuse character with reputation. Abraham Lincoln said, ‘Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.’ Some people spend too much time worrying about the shadow and too little about the tree. Reputation is fragile; character endures.
Good character is ethics in action; it’s the ability to summon the moral strength to do the right thing even when it may cost more than we want to pay.
People of character do the right thing even if no one is looking; they live up to their values even when there is no advantage to do so.
Finally, no one is born with good character. It’s something we all have to build and protect day by day, decision by decision.”
– Michael Josephson
No Man is Always Right
“Loneliness is the inescapable lot of a man holding such a job. Subordinates can advise, urge, help, and pray – but only one man in his own mind and heart can decide, “Do we or do we not?” The stakes are always high, and the penalties are expressed in terms of loss of life or major or minor disasters to the nation. No man can always be right. So the struggle is to do one’s best, to keep the brain and conscience clear; never to be swayed by unworthy motives or inconsequential reasons, but…to do one’s duty. It is not always easy.”
– Dwight D. Eisenhower to his wife Mamie February 15, 1943.
Beware
Beware of your thoughts, they become your words.
Beware of your words, they become your actions.
Beware of your actions, they become your habits.
Beware of your habits, they become your character.
Beware of your character, it becomes your destiny.
– Unknown