I recently bought "The Book of Virtues" and am greatly appreciating the lessons it is teaching me. Here are some of the passages I have really enjoyed:
Demosthenes had great ambition to become an orator, but suffered natrual limitations as a speaker. Strong desire is essential, but by itself is insufficient. According to Plutarch, "His inarticulate and pronunciation he overcame and rendered more distinct by speaking with pebbles in his mouth." Give yourself an even greater challenge than the one you are trying to master and you will develop the powers necessary to overcome the original difficulty. He used a similar strategy in training his voice, which "he disciplined by declaiming and recruiting speeches or verses when he was out of breath, while running or going up steep places." And to keep himself studying without interruption, "two or three month together," Demosthenes shaved "one half of his head, that so for shame he might not go abroad, though he desired it ever so much."
Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'- Matthew 5:37
The Flies and the Honeypot- Aesop
A jar of honey chanced to spill
Its contents on the windowsill
In many a viscous pool and rill
The flies, attracted by the sweet,
Began so greedily to eat,
They smeared their fragile wings and feet.
With many a twitch and pull in vain
They gasped to get away again,
And died in aromatic pain
Moral
O foolish creatures that destroy
Themselves for transitory joy
"He that has not a mastery over his inclinations, he that knows not how to resist the importunity of present pleasure or pain, for the sake of what reason tells him is fit to be done, wants the true principle of virtue and industry, and is in danger never to be good for anything." -John Locke
I hope u enjoyed that. I had to type alllllllllllll of it!!!
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