Precept & Practice – FEBRUARY 21 – Character and Reputation

Human life is character-building: for remember that character means exactly what we are, while reputation is only what other people think we are.

Every man builds his own character

Cuyler.

Reputation has its uses as a stimulus.

It is not of nearly so much account as character, to be sure; for our reputation is only what people think we are, while our character is what we are. But there is one way by which we can make of our reputations and we all have more than one valuable helpers.

A shrewdly thoughtful business man has told how, in this advice: ‘Be what your friends think you are; avoid being what your enemies say you are.’ There is a sure way to justify our friends and to confound our enemies – and nobody gets hurt by it.

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From the Introduction to Precept and Practice

The kindly welcome given to my other little books, ‘Being and Doing’ and ‘Character and Conduct,’ must be my excuse for adding another collection of extracts to the number now in circulation.

The quotations are gathered from the books of many earnest thinkers, and deal with Life in all its length and breadth, with ourselves, our characters, our plain unvarnished faults and weaknesses, our often untoward circumstances, and with all that drags us down;-  with our purposes, our religion, our love and friendships, and with all that uplifts us;-  with our relation to others, our influence and responsibilities, and finally with those stages of our journey which bring us to the Road’s Last Turn and to the Silent Land.

CONSTANCE  M. WHISHAW