Odd timing, this question. I found this quote last week and have been LIVING by it:

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."
~John Wooden

Less about people watching and more about being true to yourself.

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Ooooh good one!

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Our character is one of the many things that distinguish us, ourselves, from others. Otherwise we'd all be alike.

Character is also that script, for lack of a better word, that lets us lead our lives. Do we open a door for a someone carrying a package, or be rude and just keep walking?

Character, who you are, is more important than what others think you are. I've learned this lesson recently too. Let others say what they want about me, you, or anyone, because eventually, the truth of the matter will out.

Just be true to yourself is all that really matters.

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Or only atheists can be characters? ;)

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My favorite quote on character comes from Lord John Whorfin in "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension" = "History is-a made at night. Character is what you are in the dark."

To answer in a slightly more serious vein, I think that to behave in a certain way because one believes that is the correct way to behave is character. To behave in a certain way because one thinks someone else is watching and one craves approval or fears punishment is childhood, or at the very least a serious level of immaturity.

For example: If you think stealing is wrong and therefore you don't steal, it doesn't matter where this principle came from. You could have learned it from your parents, or at school, or at church, or from a really good book, or because someone once stole something from you and you realized how much hurt it caused. I think that once you have internalized an ideal and it "belongs" to you, that's character.

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This has always been one of my fundamental problems with religion.

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I have character. He's a half-drow fighter/thief.

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Does God enjoy watching the largest sex show on the face of the Earth? Want to watch soloist: Channel 1. Couples: Channel 2. etc...

What is God's favorite pickup line?
You will be screaming my name by the end of the night.
Hey, it worked on Mary.

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