advantage........................

 

In a world where technical skills become commoditised, your character becomes your competitive advantage.

-Nicholas Bate

circumstances...........

 

     We are buffeted by circumstances so long as we believe ourselves to be creatures of outside conditions; but when we realize that we are a creative power and that we may command the hidden soil and seeds of our being out of which circumstances arise, then we become the rightful masters of ourselves.

     That circumstances grow out of thought, each of us, who has for any length of time practiced self-control and self-purification, knows—for we will have notices the alteration in our circumstances has been in exact ratio with our altered mental condition.  So true is this that when we earnestly apply ourselves to remedy the defects in our character and make swift and marked progress, we pass rapidly through a succession of vicissitudes.

     The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors, that which it loves, and also that which it fears; it reaches the height of its cherished aspirations; it falls to the level of its basest desires—and circumstances are the means by which the soul receives its own.

-James Allen, As A Man Thinketh

character..................

 

     Tocqueville came to the conclusion that there was an inherent struggle in America between two opposing impulses: the spirit of rugged individualism versus the conflicting spirit of community and association building.  Franklin would have disagreed.  A fundamental aspect of Franklin's life, and of the American society he helped to create, was that individualism and communitarianism, so seemingly contradictory, were interwoven.  The frontier attracted barn-raising pioneers who were ruggedly individualistic as well as fiercely supportive of their community.  Franklin was the epitome of this admixture of self-reliance and civic involvement, and what he exemplified became part of the American character.

-Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

Poor Louis XVI......................

 

His executive management was poor, and so were his arts of persuasion, so necessary in any leader, whether a king, emperor, tsar, or elected president.  In times of war, rebellion, or crisis, leaders must sometimes be cruel or cold; he was neither.  In times of war, rebellion, or crisis, leaders must sometimes be able to hate; he was not much of a hater either.  In times of war, rebellion, or crisis, to some extent or another, most leaders must be fanatics: stubborn, steel-willed, driven, secretive yet able to inspire, fastidious and zealous.  They must be prepared to act alone, without encouragement, relying on their own inner resolve.  And they must be indifferent to approval, reputation, and even love, cherishing only their own person sense of honor or vision, which they allow no one else to judge.

     But this was not the case with Louis XVI.

-Jay Winik, The Great Upheaval: America and the Birth of the Modern World: 1788-1800

character.........................

 

     Although he understood power and knew how to use it, unlike the case with almost every other political leader of his importance, there is no strong evidence that George Washington loved power, either for its own sake or for the prerequisites it brought him.  He was a thoughtful but not a speculative man, and neither is there any serious evidence that he had a strong vision for America, a vision of stately grandeur or of human happiness.  Why then did he accept the most arduous service his nation offered, not once but over and over again?

     Because, the only answer is, of a profound sense of duty that derived from his, Washington's, moral character.

-Joseph Epstein, Essays in Biography, George Washington: An Amateur's View

the light......................

 

The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny - it is the light that guides your way.

-attributed to Heraclitus

responsibility....................

 

Success on any major scale requires you to accept responsibility. . . . In the final analysis, the one quality that all successful people have is the ability to take on responsibility.

-Michael Korda       

Life its ownself..........................

It’s a constant reminder that character isn’t tested only by poverty and hardship, but equally—and perhaps even more dangerously—by success.

-Rob Henderson, from here

fancier yarns...........................

 

A lot of fancier yarns come from people trying to tell the truth. It’s not easy once you’re out of the habit.

-Dashiell Hammett, channeling his inner Nick Charles

quite unlike himself.................

 One of the commonest and most generally accepted delusions is that every man can be qualified in some particular way – said to be kind, wicked, stupid, energetic, apathetic, and so on. People are not like that. We may say of a man that he is more often kind than cruel, more often wise than stupid, more often energetic than apathetic or vice versa; but it could never be true to say of one man that he is kind or wise, and of another that he is wicked or stupid. Yet we are always classifying mankind in this way. And it is wrong. Human beings are like rivers; the water is one and the same in all of them but every river is narrow in some places, flows swifter in others; here it is broad, there still, or clear, or cold, or muddy or warm. It is the same with men. Every man bears within him the germs of every human quality, and now manifests one, now another, and frequently is quite unlike himself, while still remaining the same man.

-Leo Tolstoy, Resurrection

Quite the cast of characters..............

      The grew into distinctly dissimilar men: Washington a stiff-necked soldier; Adams a brilliant, honest, self-absorbed crank; Jefferson a dreamer of liberty who lived in hypocritical luxury off the sweat of captive humans; Madison already with one foot in the next generation, perhaps more American than a Virginian, and an unapologetic politician. Like Alexander Hamilton, he was more skeptical than his elders of the verities of the Enlightenment, with its core faith in human improvement.

-Thomas E. Ricks:  First Principles

Quality................

. . . a man’s quality is tested by his ability to act contrary to his own interests whenever it becomes necessary.

-from this Hammock Papers post on noblesse oblige

Historically, a tough assignment...............

 Thousands of years of recorded history present a persistent story of poverty and tyranny, with an occasional experiment in personal freedom and opportunity being fulfillingly productive. If we are to foster the good society and its responsive, efficient economy, intellectual competence must be married to high character. Otherwise, we will defeat ourselves by generating increasingly efficient gulags.

-as cut-and-pasted from here

Cheating at golf..................

 The benefit of the doubt is priceless. And yet people waste it, every day.

-Seth Godin, from here

A realist.................

     In dealing with the world, Washington was an utter realist.  He always sought, as he put it in 1775, at the outset of the war against Britain, to "make the best of mankind as they are, since we cannot have them as we wish." . . .

     If any single person was responsible for establishing the young Republic on a firm footing, it was Washington.  He was nearly as much of an aristocrat as the United States ever produced, in his acceptance of social hierarchy and in his belief that some were born to command and most to obey.  Although he trusted the good sense of the people in the long run, he believed that they could easily be misled by demagogues.  He was a realist who had no illusions about human nature.  "The motives which predominate most human affairs," he said, "are self-love and self-interest."  The common people, like the common soldiers in his army could not be expected to be "influenced by any other principles than those of interest."

- Gordon S. Wood, Revolutionary Characters:  What Made The Founders Different

a naive confidence......................

 But he suffered from a naive confidence in the power of reason and a few good men to arrange complex matters.  As late as 1775 he was still persuaded that the issues separating Britain and the colonies were "a mere Matter of Puncitilo, which Two or three reasonable People might settle in half an Hour."  He had little or no comprehension of the structural forces and the popular passions that limited individual action.  In the end he was convinced that the glorious empire to which he had devoted so much of his life was broken by "the mangling hands of a few blundering ministers."

-Gordon S. Wood, from the chapter "The Invention of Benjamin Franklin" in his book, Revolutionary Characters: What Made The Founders Different

Qualities of a truly great politician.........

 This, then, is a story of Lincoln’s political genius revealed through his extraordinary array of personal qualities that enabled him to form friendships with men who had previously opposed him; to repair injured feelings that, left untended, might have escalated into permanent hostility; to assume responsibility for the failures of subordinates, to share credit with ease; and to learn from mistakes. He possessed an acute understanding of the sources of power inherent in the presidency, an unparalleled ability to keep his growing coalition intact, a tough-minded appreciation of the need to protect his presidential prerogatives, and a masterful sense of timing. His success in dealing with the strong egos of the men in his cabinet suggests that in the hands of a truly great politician the qualities we generally associate with decency and morality – kindness, sensitivity, compassion, honesty, and empathy – can also be impressive political resources.

Doris Kearns Goodwin, from the Introduction to Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

keep a sharp eye..............

 [1]  If you forfeit an external possession, make sure to notice what you get in return.  If it is something more valuable, never say, 'I have suffered a loss.'  [2] It is no loss if  you get a horse in return for an ass, cattle for sheep, a kind act for a little money, real peace in place of idle chatter, decency in exchange for vulgarity.

     [3] Bear this in mind and you will everywhere preserve your proper character; forget it and I assure you that your time here will be a waste, and whatever care you are now expending on yourself will go down the drain.  [4] Very little is needed for everything to be upset and ruined, only a slight lapse in reason.  [5] It's much easier for a mariner to wreck his ship that it is for him to keep it sailing safely; all he has to do is head a little more upwind and disaster is instantaneous.  In fact, he does not have to do anything: a momentary loss of attention will produce the same results.

     [6]  It's much the same in our case.  If you doze off, all your progress up to that point will be negated.  [7] So keep a sharp eye on your impressions, and never fall asleep.  It is no small thing that is being watched over, it equates with honesty, trustworthiness and stability.  It is freedom from passion, grief, fear and consternation - it is freedom itself.

     [8] What are you going to get when you trade your freedom away?  Check to see what your proud new possessions will be  worth.

-Epictetus, Discourses, Book IV

Character matters..........................

 If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that there is some truth to the concept of fate.  We are prone to repeat the same decisions and methods of dealing with problems.  There is a pattern to our life, particularly visible in our mistakes and failures.  But there is a different way of looking at this concept: it is not spirits or gods that control us but rather our own character.  The etymology of the word character, from the ancient Greek, refers to an engraving or stamping instrument.  Character, then, is something that is so deeply ingrained or stamped within us that it compels us to act in certain ways, beyond our awareness and control.

-Robert Green, The Laws of Human Nature

On character and power......................

 So often we think that power has changed people, when in fact if simply reveals more of who they are. . . . Remember, weak character will neutralize all of the other possible good qualities a person might possess.

-Robert Greene, The Laws of Human Nature