The word “character” meant originally the mark of the engraver’s tool upon the metal or the stone. It came then to signify the collective result of the engraver’s work. The use of the word in morals implies that every thought and act is chiseling itself into the imperishable substance of the soul. J. S. Mill: “A character is a completely fashioned will.” We may talk therefore of a “generic volition” (Dewey). There is a permanent bent of the will toward good or toward evil. Reputation is man’s shadow, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, than himself. Character, on the other hand, is the man’s true self—“what a man is in the dark” (Dwight L. Moody). In this sense, “purpose is the autograph of mind.” Duke of Wellington: “Habit a second nature? Habit is ten times nature!” When Macbeth says: “If ’twere done when ’tis done, Then ’twere well ’twere done quickly,” the trouble is that when ’tis done, it is only begun. Robert Dale Owen gives us the fundamental principle of socialism in the maxim: “A man’s character is made for him, not by him.” Hence he would change man’s diet or his environment, as a means of forming man’s character. But Jesus teaches that what defiles comes not from without but from within (_Mat. 15:18_). Because character is the result of will, the maxim of Heraclitus is true: ἦθος ἀνθρώπῳ δαίμων—man’s character is his destiny. On habit, see James, Psychology, 1:122-127. D. Will and motives.—(_a_) The permanent states just mentioned, when they have been once determined, also influence the will. Internal views and dispositions, and not simply external presentations, constitute the strength of motives. (_b_) These motives often conflict, and though the soul never acts without motive, it does notwithstanding choose between motives, and so determines the end toward which it will direct its activities. (_c_) Motives are not _causes_, which compel the will, but _influences_, which persuade it. The power of these motives, however, is proportioned to the strength of will which has entered into them and has made them what they are.