What They Said

“The history of the word 'character' is interesting.  Anciently, character was the stamp or make by which a brick-maker, an engraver, or other worker marked the thing he made.  Applied to life, character is that which one's experiences impress or print on his soul.  A baby has no character.  Its life is but a piece of white paper on which something is to be written, some song or story, perhaps a tragedy of sorrow.  Character grows as the baby passes into manhood.  Every day something is written here, some mark made.  The mother writes something; the teacher writes something; every day's experiences write some words; every touch or influence of other lives—leaves some mark; temptation and struggle do their part in filling the page; books, education, sorrow, joy, companions, friends—all of life touches and paints some line of beauty—or scratches some mark of damage.  Final character is the result of all these influences that work and interact upon the life. Character is the page fully written, the picture finished.”

J.R. Miller