Character Is Destiny

Introductory notes

In McCain's words from the book's introduction:

It is your character, and your character alone, that will make your life happy or unhappy. That is all that really passes for destiny. And you choose it. No one else can give it to you or deny it to you. No rival can steal it from you. And no friend can give it to you. Others can encourage you to make the right choices or discourage you. But you choose.

Sections

Each section provides examples of a specific characteristic, with essays on a well known person, historical or (then) living, whose life reflected a particular aspect of that characteristic.

Part One: Honor

HONESTY — Thomas More

RESPECT — Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

AUTHENTICITY — Joan of Arc

LOYALTY — Sir Ernest Shackleton

DIGNITY — Viktor Frankl

Part Two: Purpose

IDEALISM — Sojourner Truth

RIGHTEOUSNESS — Roméo Dallaire

CITIZENSHIP — Pat Tillman

DILIGENCE — Winston Churchill

RESPONSIBILITY — Lord Nelson and His Lieutenants

COOPERATION — John Wooden

Part Three: Strength

COURAGE — Edith Cavell

SELF-CONTROL — George Washington

CONFIDENCE — Elizabeth I

RESILIENCE — Abraham Lincoln

INDUSTRY — Eric Hoffer

HOPEFULNESS — John Winthrop

Part Four: Understanding

FAITH — Christian Guard at Hua Lo Prison

COMPASSION — Maximillian Kolbe

MERCY — Mother Antonia

TOLERANCE — The Four Chaplains

FORGIVENESS — Nelson Mandela

GENEROSITY — Oseola McCarty

Part Five: Judgment

FAIRNESS — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

HUMILITY — Dwight D. Eisenhower

GRATITUDE — Tecumseh

HUMOR — Mark Twain

COURTESY — Aung San Suu Kyi

Part Six: Creativity

ASPIRATION — Ferdinand Magellan

DISCERNMENT — Leonardo da Vinci

CURIOSITY — Charles Darwin

ENTHUSIASM — Theodore Roosevelt

EXCELLENCE — Wilma Rudolph

Part Seven: Love

SELFLESSNESS AND CONTENTMENT — Mother Teresa

Editions

McCain, John. Character Is Destiny: Inspiring Stories Every Young Person Should Know and Every Adult Should Remember. New York: Random House, 2005. Print.