A good character is something you must make for yourself. It cannot be inherited from parents. It cannot be created by having extraordinary advantages. It isn't a gift of birth, wealth, talent or station. It is the result of your own endeavor. It is the reward that comes from living good principles and manifesting a virtuous and honorable life.
Interpretation
Good character is developed through personal effort and is not a result of external factors.
This quote emphasizes that character is not something one is born with or receives from their family, wealth, or talents; instead, it is a trait that individuals must cultivate through their actions and choices. It highlights the importance of living according to good principles and striving for a virtuous life as the fundamental ways to build a commendable character.
In practice
In a graduation speech, to emphasize the importance of personal development.
Today, I would like you to pause, ponder, and think of the value of an immortal soul, especially the ones entrusted to you as parents. Where are your priorities? Have you committed yourself to give the sufficient time necessary to train your children?
Parents must bring light and truth into their homes by one family prayer, one scripture study session, one family home evening, one book read aloud, one song, and one family meal at a time. They know that the influence of righteous, conscientious, persistent, daily parenting is among the most powerful and sustaining forces for good in the world. The health of any society, the happiness of its people, their prosperity, and their peace all find common roots in the teaching of children in the home.
At the simplest level, only people who know they do not know everything will be curious enough to find things out.
I invented nothing new, I simply assembled the discoveries of other men behind whom there was centuries of work.
Putting is like wisdom - partly a natural gift and partly the accumulation of experience.
Order - Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
Devotion is diligence without assurance. Faith is a way of saying "Yes, I pre-accept the terms of the universe and I embrace in advance what I am presently incapable of understanding.
It is only because the majority opinion will always be opposed by some that our knowledge and understanding progress... it is always from a minority acting in ways different from what the majority would prescribe that the majority in the end learns to do better.
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