Reviews the evidence for the stability of the adult personality traits (PTs) using an excerpt from Ralph Waldo Emerson's (1844) essay on "Experience" and offers arguments against Emerson's evaluation of personality stability. The importance of a temporal perspective in studying the persistent effects of PTs is discussed. Criticism of the findings on personality stability and the predictability of life are reviewed. It is argued that a distinction between traits that characterize or control personality leads to misunderstandings in evaluating the research.