Acts spring from thoughts; acts repeated make habits; and habits form character. It will be seen, therefore, that one act does not form a character, unless, indeed, which is rarely the case, that act involves enough of the powers and will of the individual so as to give him a permanent stamp or mould. "Character" means, literally, a mark or figure clearly defined or cut. So people who are yielding, vacillating, easily turned this way or that by various influences, are said to be of no character. Character-forming is like shaping the rough marble into the graceful monument or the beautiful statue. The statue is there already in the sculptor's mind. His ideal is clean-cut and beautiful. But shaping the stone to that ideal requires constant, well-directed labor. The chisel makes but little impression with one blow from the mallet. Two makes a little more, but again and again and again is the blow repeated till the necessary material is removed and the perfect shape appears, to be planed and polished by careful patient toil.