"

This cultural, technological, and meritocratic environment hasn't made us a race of depraved barbarians. But it has made us less morally articulate. M...more

"

What a wise person teaches is the smallest part of what they give. The totality of their life, of the way they go about it in the smallest details, is...more

"

They possess the self- effacing virtues of people who are inclined to be useful but don’t need to prove anything to the world:

"

People who are humble about their own nature are moral realists. Moral realists are aware that we are all built from “crooked timber”— from Immanuel K...more

"

[T]he road to character is built by confronting your own weakness.

"

There are heroes and schmucks in all worlds. The most important thing is whether you are willing to engage in moral struggle against yourself.

"

Her characters tend to err when they reject the grubby and complex circumstances of everyday life for abstract and radical notions. They thrive when t...more

"

Abilene had gone from boomtown to Bible Belt, from whorehouses to schoolmarms, without any of the intervening phases.

"

You can’t build rich lives simply by reading sermons or following abstract rules. Example is the best teacher. Moral improvement occurs most reliably ...more

"

I make honorable things pleasant to children." A teacher from Sparta

"

Angela Duckworth has shown how important grit and perseverance are to lifetime outcomes. College students who report that they finish whatever they be...more

"

there was perhaps a strain of humility that was more common then than now, that there was a moral ecology, stretching back centuries but less prominen...more

"

Nearly every parent on earth operates on the assumption that character matters a lot to the life outcomes of their children. Nearly every government a...more

"

Almost every successful person begins with two beliefs: the future can be better than the present, and I have the power to make it so.

"

To nurture your career, it makes sense to cultivate your strengths. To nurture your moral core, it is necessary to confront your weaknesses.