File:You and I; (1886) (14594444350).jpg

Identifier: youi00clev (find matches)
Title: You and I;
Year: 1886 (1880s)
Authors: Cleveland, Rose Elizabeth, 1846- (from old catalog)
Subjects: Etiquette Culture
Publisher: Detroit, Mich. (etc.) F. B. Dickerson & co.
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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fthe ages. I have looked into my own life and into the livesof others, and I declare to you, speaking with no humanauthority, that perfection of character is the true end of life,and the only attainment that can satisfy the soul. Some one has remarked, that we are not able to say what athing is so forcibly as by saying what it is not. So, in definingthe word character, I say first of all that character is notnature; and a confusion of the two terms will lead to mis-chievous error. Thus, Character, says Voltaire, is whatnature has engraven in us; can we then efface it ? Should anyone tell you that a mountain had changed itsplace, you are at liberty to doubt it.1 says Mahomet; but ifanyone tells you that a man has changed his character, do notbelieve it. These expressions indicate the most dangerous form of thatEastern fatalism which, in a drapery of theological phrase, is acherished part of many religious creeds, and. in the shape ofready aphorism, is found on the lips of every nation.
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CHARACTER. INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER. 329 Che sara sara (Whatever will be, will be), is theItalian version. What fates impose, that men must needs abide,1 saysShakespeare. What must be, shall be, says Seneca. And Marcus Antoninus declares with all the lofty calm of aphilosopher: Whatever may happen to thee, it was preparedfor thee from all eternity; and the implication of causes wasfrom eternity spinning the thread of thy being and of thatwhich is incident to it. I know not how others may be affected by such utterances,but to me they are like chains hung about my very soul. It is not my purpose to enter into a discussion of predestina-tion or of free-will. I can not measure exactly the extent towhich hereditary influences determine a persons character,nor the scope of that divinity that shapes our ends. I haveonly a few earnest words, to counteract, if possible, the para-lyzing effect of such devils maxims as I have quoted above. It is of small consequence that a man believes in fatalism i

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