Virtue
I think vital religion has always suffered when orthodoxy is more regarded than virtue. The scriptures assure me that at the last day we shall not be examined on what we thought but what we did.
~Benjamin Franklin
1. “TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.”
2. “SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.”
3. “ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.”
4. “RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.”
5. “FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.”
6. “INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.”
7. “SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.”
8. “JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.”
9. “MODERATION. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.”
10. “CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.”
11. “TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.”
12. “CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.”
13. “HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.”
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Quote To Ponder ~Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton
“The longer I live, the more I am certain that the great difference between men – between the feeble and the powerful, the great and the insignificant – is energy, invincible determination – a purpose once fixed, and then – death or victory! That quality will do anything that can be done in this world,… Continue reading
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The Choice of Hercules
Editor’s Note: This excerpt appeared in Jan. 9, 2016 on AOM From the Memorabilia By Xenophon, c. 371 B.C. When Hercules was in that part of his youth in which it was natural for him to consider what course of life he ought to pursue, he one day retired into a desert, where the silence… Continue reading
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Quote To Ponder ~John Webster
“The chiefest action for a man of great spirit is never to be out of action…the soul was never put into the body to stand still.” ~John Webster Continue reading
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Ben Franklin’s Maxims on Industry
Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man heathy, wealthy and wise. Diligence is the mother of good luck. God helps them that help themselves. At the working man’s house hunger looks in, but dares not enter. For industry pays debts, while despair increaseth them. By diligence and patience the mouse ate in… Continue reading
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The Worth Of Each Day
From Moral Letters to Lucilius, 65 A.D. By Seneca Continue to act thus, my dear Lucilius – set yourself free for your own sake; gather and save your time, which ‘til lately has been forced from you, or filched away, or has merely slipped from your hands. Make yourself believe the truth of my words… Continue reading
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Quote To Ponder ~Calvin Coolidge
“Industry, thrift and self-control are not sought because they create wealth, but because they create character.” ~Calvin Coolidge Continue reading
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The Strenuous Life
Excerpt from The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses, 1902 By Theodore Roosevelt I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere… Continue reading
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Quote To Ponder ~Samuel Smiles
“The idle pass through life leaving as little trace of their existence as foam upon water or smoke upon air; whereas the industrious stamp their character upon their age, and influence not only their own but all succeeding generations.” ~Samuel Smiles Continue reading

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