Character Traits List

John Luther once said, "Good character is more to be praised than outstanding talent. Most talents are to some extent a gift. Good character, by contrast, is not given to us. We have to build it piece by piece by thought, choice, courage and determination." Nothing could be truer. There are some amongst us that are born prodigies, blessed with talent that others cannot even dream of possessing. But there are some attributes that set us apart, regardless of the skills we possess and the talents we may or may not have. And that is our character. The way we behave with other people and the ideals, according to which we live our lives, garner us the respect and regard of fellow individuals and set us apart from the crowd. In this article, we'll give you a list of both positive and negative attributes that we as human beings tend to display.

List of Character Traits

In order to make a list of character traits, it is important to understand what character traits are. Character traits put very simply are those characteristics that make us the unique individuals we are. They are the qualities that we possess that make other people look up to us, and faults that put people off us. While initially people are judged by their physical appearance, it is these character traits that finally enable anyone to judge us properly and correctly. Admirable character traits in a person can include traits like being a good leader, a person who is honest, truthful and most importantly, a good human being. While there are some attributes in the list given below which seem like they are not altogether positive or negative, these characteristics in extremes can be annoying or charming depending on the situation. A personality traits list will help you determine positive and negative character attributes.

So, how do we develop these characteristics? Most of the character traits that we possess are developed while we grow up depending on our family background and social environment, that determines the kind of individuals we turn out to be. Family, in most cases, is the basis for character building. But there are some people, whose character development is a sole result of their persistent aim to be better than what they have been born into. Situations that we have to face are also great character builders. They determine many of our attitudes and attributes. The environment that a person grows up in can be one of the main catalysts for change in an individual's characteristics. Given below is a table that enlists various positive and negative character traits that any individual in a society may exhibit.

A-Z	Positive Character Traits	Negative Character Traits
A	Affectionate	Aggressive
	Affable	Anger
	Ambitious	Afraid
	Active	Arrogant
B	Brave	Boorish
	Brilliant	Bossy
	Brainy	Babyish
	Bright	Bad
C	Courageous	Caustic
	Calm	Conniving
	Capable	Careless
	Charismatic	Childish
D	Daring	Dangerous
	Decisive	Dishonest
	Dependable	Disrespectful
	Diligent	Disparaging
E	Effervescent	Embarrassing
	Eloquent	Evil
	Energetic	Exacting
F	Facetious	Foolish
	Faithful	Fearful
	Funny	Finicky
	Frank	Fidgety
G	Generous	Gloomy
	Giving	Glum
	Gentle	Garrulous
	Gregarious	Greedy
H	Happy	Harsh
	Helpful	Haughty
	Honest	Hateful
	Humorous	Harried
I	Intelligent	Insensitive
	Imaginative	Ignorant
	Immaculate	Ill-bred
	Impartial	Immature
J	Jovial	Jealous
K	Kind	Killjoy
L	Loving	Lackadaisical
	Lively	Lazy
	Logical	Languid
	Loyal	Loner
M	Meticulous	Malicious
	Mature	Mean
	Mysterious	Moody
N	Nice	Naive
	Neat	Naughty
O	Open minded	Obnoxious
	Obedient	Outspoken
	Optimistic	Opinionated
P	Peaceful	Picky
	Polite	Pessimistic
	Precise	Pompous
	Positive	Petulant
Q	Quick	Quarrelsome
	Quiet	Quixotic
R	Rational	Rash
	Refined	Rambunctious
	Responsible	Restless
	Reliable	Rude
S	Sensible	Selfish
	Satisfied	Scornful
	Serene	Shifty
	Sensitive	Severe
T	Tolerant	Thoughtless
	Tenacious	Timid
	Tasteful	Taciturn
	Thoughtful	Touchy
U	Useful	Uncommunicative
	Unpretentious	Uncouth
	Unselfish	Unscrupulous
V	Versatile	Vulgar
	Vivacious	-
W	Wise	Weak
	Witty	Whimsical
	Warm	Wicked

The above list is just an overview of the many attributes that an individual may display. There are some characteristics that are inherent and difficult to change, while there are some that are developed over the years and can be modeled for the better. This list can be of help to teachers while trying to introduce various personality characteristics of people to their students or a novelist who is in the process of developing characters for his literary work. Whatever your purpose is, hopefully this list of character traits has been helpful in elucidating to you the different character attributes that human beings exhibit.