Swami Vivekananda on What is Character

#. The character of any man is but the aggregate of his tendencies, the sum total of the bent of his mind. We are what our thoughts have made us. Thoughts live; they travel far. And so take care of what you think. Every work that we do, every movement of the body, every thought that we think, bears an impression on the mind-stuff. What we are every moment is determined by the sum total of these impressions on the mind. Every man's character is determined by the sum total of these impressions. If good impressions prevail, the character becomes good, if bad, it becomes bad.

#. As pleasure and pain pass before his soul, they leave upon it different pictures, and the result of these combined impressions is what is called man's "character".

#. If you take the character of any man, it really is but the aggregate of tendencies, the sum total of the bent of his mind;

#. Character is repeated habits...

#. Never say any man is hopeless, because he only represents a character, a bundle of habits....

#. If you really want to judge the character of a man, look not at his great performances. Every fool may become a hero at one time or another. Watch a man do his most common actions; those are indeed the things which will tell you the real character of a great man. Great occasions rouse even the lowest of human beings to some kind of greatness, but he alone is the really great man whose character is great always, the same wherever he be.