top » talent » character traits » character

144 Examples of Character

John Spacey, updated on October 04, 2024

Character, or character traits, are persistent patterns of thinking and behavior that are adopted by an individual. These relate to the moral qualities of a person that can be cultivated in positive or negative directions. In antiquity, positive character traits were viewed as a middle path between extremes. This can be seen in the works of Aristotle who described virtue, or character strengths, as a moderate path between lack and excess. The following are common examples of character based on this classical model.

Character Strength	Lack	Excess
Adventurous	Cautious	Reckless
Ambitious	Apathetic	Ruthlessness, Relentless
Assertive	Docile, Obedient, Subservient	Pushy
Brave	Cowardly	Rash
Calm	Moody	Emotionless
Cheerful	Miserable	Euphoric
Confident	Timid	Overconfident
Creative	Unoriginal	Whimsical
Curious	Uninspired	Nosy
Diligent	Sloppy	Uptight, Compulsive, Controlling
Emotional	Cold	Oversensitive, Illogical, Neurotic, Temperamental
Fair	Unfair	Judgemental, Harsh, Overcritical
Forgiving	Unforgiving, Bitter, Merciless, Unrelenting	Lax
Friendly	Unfriendly	Intrusive, Obnoxious
Generous	Greedy	Extravagant, Showy
Good	Bad	Prudish
Grateful	Entitled	Uncritical
Honest	Dishonest	Tactless, Indiscreet
Humble	Vain	Spineless
Imaginative	Unimaginative	Ungrounded
Introspective	Shallow	Aloof
Kind	Cruel	Spoiling
Loyal	Disloyal	Conformist
Moral	Immoral	Puritanical, Self-Righteous
Objective	Opinionated	Unprincipled
Optimistic	Cynical	Unrealistic
Organized	Disorganized	Uptight,Perfectionist
Passionate	Indifferent	Obsessed, Unyielding, Fanatical
Patient	Impatient	Pushover
Peaceful	Hostile	Sycophantic, Complacent
Playful	Boring	Foolish
Polite	Inconsiderate, Crude	Insincere
Practical	Impractical, Unrealistic	Unromantic, Static, Uninspired, Mediocre
Productive	Lazy	Workaholic, Overachiever
Reliable	Unreliable	Predictable
Resilient	Fragile	Impassive
Respectful	Disrespectful	Sycophant, Servile
Self-restraint	Indulgent	Dull
Stable	Erratic	Stubborn, Rigid
Strong	Weak	Implacable, Unyielding, Ruthless
Tolerant	Intolerant	Complicit, Uncritical, Indulgent
Trusting	Suspicious	Naive

Character vs Personality

Character and personality are similar concepts that are nonetheless completely different. Personality relates to your persona and how you present yourself to others in social situations. Character is about your fundamental way of thinking and worldview that is independent of social behavior. For example, you could be socially shy and reserved but have a risk-taking and adventurous character that shines though in other ways.

Character is the greater concept and your personality is shaped by your character. Your personality is limited to social behavior and how you express your character to others. It is common for your internal character to be very different from the impressions that you leave with your personality. This is because social behavior is very complex and people adapt their personality to navigate social situations. Your character is a more stable thing that can be adapted but isn't generally as flexible as personality.

In practice, the terms personality and character are used interchangeably such that the term personality is often used to describe a person's basic cognitive and emotional structure.