If you don’t make yourself dependent on anyone, if you don’t make yourself vulnerable, you can never lose them and you’ll never be hurt.

There’s no question it’s possible to get ahead in life by lying and cheating and generally being awful to other people. This may even be a quick way to the top. But it comes at the expense of not only your self-respect, but your security too. Virtue, on the other hand, as crazy as it might seem, is a far more attainable and sustainable way to

The less energy we waste regretting the past or worrying about the future, the more energy we will have for what’s in front of us.

Let us each note and write down our actions and impulses of the soul . . . as though we were to report them to each other; and you may rest assured that from utter shame of becoming known we shall stop sinning and entertaining sinful thoughts altogether.

There’s little advantage to reading with arrogance or to confirm preexisting opinions either.

None of us are perfect. We have biologies and pathologies that will inevitably trip us up. What we need then is a philosophy and a strong moral code—that sense of virtue—to help us resist what we can, and to give us the strength to pick ourselves back up when we fail and try to do and be better.

“Always look for the helpers,” he explained to his viewers who were scared or disillusioned by the news.

Put yourself in tough situations. Accept challenges. Familiarize yourself with the unfamiliar. That’s how you widen your perspective and your understanding.

But virtue? No one can stop you from knowing what’s right. Nothing stands between you and it . . . but yourself.