“Confusing ‘Character’ with ‘Temperament’”
Clearing the Ground (1986)
Context: Character is something you forge for yourself; temperament is something you are born with and can only slightly modify. Some people have easy temperaments and weak characters; others have difficult temperaments and strong characters.
We are all prone to confuse the two in assessing people we associate with. Those with easy temperaments and weak characters are more likable than admirable; those with difficult temperaments and strong characters are more admirable than likable. Of course, the optimum for a person is to possess both an easy temperament and a strong character, but this is a rare combination, and few of us are that lucky. The people who get things done tend to be prickly, and the people we enjoy being with tend to be accepting, and there seems to be no way to get around this. Obviously, there are many combinations of character and temperament, in varying degrees, so that this is only a rough generalization — but I think it is one worth remembering when we make personal judgments.
“You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.”
Markham Sutherland's father, quoted in Letter I.
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)
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James Anthony Froude 111
English historian, novelist, biographer, and editor of Fras… 1818–1894Related quotes
Source: The Definitive Book of Body Language
“Treat your past as a book that you learn from instead of a hammer that you beat yourself up about.”
citation needed
“You tell yourself a dream, always. And when do you dream it?”
Voces (1943)
"The Science to Save Us from Science," The New York Times Magazine (19 March 1950)
1950s
Context: All who are not lunatics are agreed about certain things. That it is better to be alive than dead, better to be adequately fed than starved, better to be free than a slave. Many people desire those things only for themselves and their friends; they are quite content that their enemies should suffer. These people can only be refuted by science: Humankind has become so much one family that we cannot ensure our own prosperity except by ensuring that of everyone else. If you wish to be happy yourself, you must resign yourself to seeing others also happy.
“Regard yourself all the more as a sinner because you cannot feel yourself to be what you are.”
Book I, ch. 19 (p. 21)
The Ladder of Perfection (1494)
