[Here is another great quotation from Samuel Smiles, a favorite author of mine. It is about the importance of character in the individual and how that person of character influences their society. Your reactions are welcome in the comment section.]
"The crown and glory of life is Character. It is the noblest possession of a man, constituting a rank in itself, and an estate in the general goodwill; dignifying every station, and exalting every position in society. It exercises a greater power than wealth, and secures all the honor without the jealousies of fame. It caries with it an influence which always tells; for it is the result of proved honor, rectitude, and consistency–qualities which, perhaps more than any other, command the general confidence and respect of mankind.
Character is human nature in its best form. It is moral order embodied in the individual. Men of character are not only the conscience of society, but in every well-governed State they are its best motive power; for it is moral qualities in the main which rule the world. Even in war, Napoleon said, the moral is to the physical as ten to one. The strength, the industry, and the civilization of nations–all depend upon individual character; and the very foundations of civil security rest upon it. Laws and institutions are but its outgrowth. In the just balance of nature, individual, nations, and races, will obtain just so much as they deserve, and no more. And as effect finds its cause, so surely does quality of character amongst a people produce its befitting results."(1)
Lets think together again, soon.
Notes:
1. Samuel Smiles, Happy Homes and the Hearts that Make Them. (Chicago: U. S. Publishing House, 1889), pp. 600-601.
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