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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Possibilities In Spare Moments
Editor’s Note: This excerpt is from Orison Swett Marden’s 1894, Pushing To The Front, but inspired from an amazing AOM post based on the same chapter. On the floor of the gold-working room, in the United States Mint at Philadelphia, there is a wooden lattice-work which is taken up when the floor is swept, and the… Continue reading
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Quote To Ponder ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson Continue reading
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Quote To Ponder ~Gustave Flaubert
“Be regular and orderly in your daily affairs that you may be violent and original in your work.” ~Gustave Flaubert Continue reading
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Energetic Men
Energetic Men From Readings for Young Men, Merchants, and Men of Business, 1866 Editor’s Note: Originally seen on Art of Manliness We love upright, energetic men. Pull them this way, and then that way, and the other, and they only bend, but never break. Trip them down, and in a trice they are on their… Continue reading
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Quote To Ponder ~Joseph Addison
“Mankind is more indebted to industry than ingenuity; the gods set up their favors at a price, and industry is the purchaser.” ~Joseph Addison Continue reading
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Quote To Ponder ~Thomas Edison
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” ~Thomas Edison Continue reading
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Quote To Ponder ~Goethe
“Rest not! Life is sweeping by, Go and dare, before you die; Something mighty and sublime Leave behind to conquer time!” ~Goethe Continue reading
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Quote To Ponder ~James Terry White
“It is not necessary for a man to be actively bad in order to make a failure in life; simple inaction will accomplish it. Nature has everywhere written her protest against idleness; everything which ceases to struggle, which remains inactive, rapidly deteriorates. It is the struggle toward an ideal, the constant effort to get higher… Continue reading

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