Character Is Destiny: The Value of Personal Ethics in Everyday Life

An inescapable truth lies at the heart of this simple yet profound book: The quality of our lives is not determined by the happenstance of genetics or by the influence of environment; it is not measured in material possessions or in the trappings of youth; it is not dependent on personality or social acclaim. On the contrary, the intrinsic value of the lives we lead reflects the strength of a single trait: our personal character. Character Is Destiny, a sort of self-help guide for the soul, shows how we can lead richer lives simply by being better people.
"This profound book reminds us how utterly central character is to all else in life . . . I plan to stay in touch with this book for many years." — Shelby Steele
Russell W. Gough, a nationally prominent writer and speaker, describes the steps to personal growth from examining our lives to taking responsibility for our actions, from discarding selfishness to embracing the greater good, from becoming a better role model for our loved ones to finding the courage to do the right thing naturally and consistently. By cultivating the habits of virtue, we will strengthen not only ourselves but, more important, our families and our world. Character Is Destiny shows how to overcome the most formidable obstacle to an ethical life: ourselves.
Each and every day we are faced with scores of choices that, in subtle yet discernible ways, can either enrich or impoverish our personal character. The choices we make, and the manner in which we make them, illuminate the paths our lives will take. Character Is Destiny can be our compass.

As Russell Gough implies, the fact that people are lapping up books on personal ethics, virtue, and character is best understood as a long-overdue reaction to the two dominant schools of pop psychology: the determinist "you are your upbringing" school and the free-individualist "express yourself, don't repress yourself" school. He insists, contrary to both, that we can indeed choose the content of our own character (even though bad habits of character are hard to break), and that doing this character-building is both a lifelong project and a central activity in all fulfilling and worthwhile lives.

Since he's a professor of philosophy, Gough's own addition to the growing library of books on "personal virtue" is grounded in a solid knowledge of thinkers like Aristotle and Emerson. He writes clearly, although in an introductory fashion, spending much of his time on basic issues such as the distinction between personality and character or the failure of intellectual knowledge of moral issues to induce people to act well. This is a well-written book that should be put in the hands of every serious-minded teenager, but adults--and those already familiar with philosophy--may want to sit at the feet of a more demanding tutor. --Richard Farr