{"title":"Virtue index","intro":"The four cardinal virtues of the classical tradition, the three theological virtues of St. Paul, and six classical virtues prized by Greek, Roman, and Christian writers, with the works and verified quotations in the library that show them.","virtues":[{"slug":"prudence","name":"Prudence","kind":"cardinal","summary":"Practical wisdom: seeing what is truly good in a particular situation and choosing the right means to it.","vices":[{"slug":"imprudence","name":"Imprudence","description":"Rashness, thoughtlessness, and inconstancy in acting."},{"slug":"cunning","name":"Cunning","description":"Cleverness in finding means without regard to whether the end is good."}],"definitions":[{"source":"Aristotle","ref":"Nicomachean Ethics VI.5","text":"Practical wisdom (phronesis) is a true and reasoned state of capacity to act with regard to the things that are good or bad for man; it is concerned with particulars and is learned by experience."},{"source":"Cicero","ref":"De Officiis I.15-19","text":"The first part of the honorable is the perception and search for truth; Cicero warns against taking the unknown for the known and against spending effort on obscure and needless matters."},{"source":"Aquinas","ref":"Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 47","text":"Prudence is right reason applied to action. It belongs to counsel, judgment, and above all to command; it guides all the moral virtues by setting the mean for them."},{"source":"Scripture","ref":"Proverbs 14:15 (KJV)","quote":"The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going","work":"the-bible"}],"questions":["What is the difference between prudence and mere caution?","Can a person be clever without being prudent? Give an example from your reading.","Why does Aquinas say the other moral virtues need prudence?","Where in your own week did you have to choose the right means to a good end?"],"url":"/virtues/prudence/","works":[{"slug":"a-defence-of-the-constitutions","title":"A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America","author":"John Adams","reason":"Adams studies dozens of governments, ancient and modern, before recommending how the American states should be built.","vices":[]},{"slug":"calhoun-disquisition-on-government","title":"A Disquisition on Government","author":"John C. Calhoun","reason":"Calhoun argues that durable government must be built on a realistic account of human self-interest rather than on hopes of disinterested rulers.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-farewell-to-arms","title":"A Farewell to Arms","author":"Ernest Hemingway","reason":"Warned by the barman at Stresa, Frederic plans the night crossing of Lake Maggiore with provisions, the boat and the route to Switzerland.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-letter-concerning-toleration","title":"A Letter Concerning Toleration","author":"John Locke","reason":"He argues that dissenting assemblies grow dangerous only through unequal treatment, so equal civil rights are the safer policy.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mill-system-of-logic-book-iii","title":"A System of Logic, Book III: Of Induction","author":"John Stuart Mill","reason":"In Chapter X Mill warns that recoveries observed after a remedy prove little, and counsels careful comparison and verification before trusting a cure.","vices":[]},{"slug":"spinoza-theologico-political-treatise","title":"A Theologico-Political Treatise","author":"Baruch Spinoza","reason":"In Chapter XX he weighs the dangers of free speech against the greater dangers of suppressing it and sets limits on seditious acts.","vices":[]},{"slug":"rawls-a-theory-of-justice","title":"A Theory of Justice","author":"John Rawls","reason":"The parties in the original position choose principles cautiously, guarding against the worst outcomes in a matter of the highest importance.","vices":[]},{"slug":"berkeley-principles-of-human-knowledge","title":"A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge","author":"George Berkeley","reason":"In section 51 Berkeley counsels speaking in the ordinary way about fire and sunrise while thinking precisely, refusing to let a philosophical thesis disrupt common speech.","vices":[]},{"slug":"al-razi-treatise-on-smallpox-and-measles","title":"A Treatise on the Smallpox and Measles","author":"Abu Bakr al-Razi (Rhazes)","reason":"In Chapter XIV he teaches the physician to read signs of danger and to scarify a threatened limb only if the patient's strength allows.","vices":[]},{"slug":"schechter-poultry-v-united-states","title":"A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Hughes declines to let the urgency of the Depression override the constitutional allocation of powers.","vices":[]},{"slug":"aaron-v-sec","title":"Aaron v. SEC","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Burger cautions that an injunction is a drastic remedy that should not fall on those who acted in good faith.","vices":[]},{"slug":"abington-school-district-v-schempp","title":"Abington School District v. Schempp","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Stewart asks for a fuller factual record before the Court decides a question that touches so many schools and families.","vices":[]},{"slug":"across-five-aprils","title":"Across Five Aprils","author":"Irene Hunt","reason":"Torn between the law and his cousin, Jethro seeks counsel from the highest authority and writes to President Lincoln.","vices":[]},{"slug":"addington-v-texas","title":"Addington v. Texas","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court chooses a middle standard that protects liberty without making needed care impossible to provide.","vices":[]},{"slug":"aesops-fables","title":"Aesop's Fables","author":"Aesop","reason":"Many fables punish rashness and reward foresight and restraint.","vices":["imprudence"]},{"slug":"alices-adventures-in-wonderland","title":"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland","author":"Lewis Carroll","reason":"Before drinking from the DRINK ME bottle in Chapter I, Alice checks whether it is marked poison, remembering the rules she has been taught.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ptolemy-almagest","title":"Almagest","author":"Claudius Ptolemy","reason":"He shows that eccentric and epicycle models can be equivalent and chooses between them by simplicity rather than claiming more than the evidence allows.","vices":[]},{"slug":"whitehead-introduction-to-mathematics","title":"An Introduction to Mathematics","author":"Alfred North Whitehead","reason":"Whitehead teaches that well-chosen symbols and habits free the mind for the problems that need real attention.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bernard-introduction-to-experimental-medicine","title":"An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine","author":"Claude Bernard","reason":"He sorts experiments on human beings into forbidden, permitted and obligatory, refusing any that could harm the patient.","vices":[]},{"slug":"animal-farm","title":"Animal Farm","author":"George Orwell","reason":"The book shows its absence: the animals' failure to read, remember and question lets Squealer rewrite the commandments one by one.","vices":["imprudence"]},{"slug":"apologia-pro-vita-sua","title":"Apologia Pro Vita Sua","author":"John Henry Newman","reason":"He spends six years, from 1839 to 1845, testing his doubts about the via media before acting on them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"areopagitica","title":"Areopagitica","author":"John Milton","reason":"Milton distinguishes the wise punishment of proved abuses after publication from the futile attempt to prevent every abuse beforehand.","vices":[]},{"slug":"as-you-like-it","title":"As You Like It","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Rosalind tests Orlando's love under her disguise before she reveals herself and marries him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"association-for-molecular-pathology-v-myriad-genetics","title":"Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc.","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court limits its holding carefully, listing method claims, new applications and altered DNA as questions it is not deciding.","vices":[]},{"slug":"atlanta-exposition-address","title":"Atlanta Exposition Address","author":"Booker T. Washington","reason":"He measures what can be won before a Southern audience in 1895 and stresses footholds in work and property that can be built on.","vices":[]},{"slug":"autobiography-of-andrew-carnegie","title":"Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie","author":"Andrew Carnegie","reason":"He withdraws from scattered ventures to concentrate on steel, putting his good eggs in one basket and watching it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"baker-v-carr","title":"Baker v. Carr","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Frankfurter cautions the Court against entering a political conflict without a clear standard for relief.","vices":[]},{"slug":"barron-v-baltimore","title":"Barron v. Baltimore","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Marshall declines to stretch the amendments beyond their evident purpose, reasoning carefully from the structure of Article I rather than from sympathy for Barron's loss.","vices":[]},{"slug":"basic-inc-v-levinson","title":"Basic Inc. v. Levinson","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court preserves defendants' ability to rebut the presumption, balancing investors' access to the courts against unfair liability.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bedtime-for-frances","title":"Bedtime for Frances","author":"Russell Hoban","reason":"Frances stops at her bedroom door and thinks the noise over before deciding what to do.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bleak-house","title":"Bleak House","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"John Jarndyce refuses to build any hopes on the Chancery suit and warns Richard not to.","vices":[]},{"slug":"brown-v-board-of-education","title":"Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Warren wrote a short opinion that all nine justices could join and set the difficult question of remedy for separate argument.","vices":[]},{"slug":"caedmons-hymn","title":"Cædmon's Hymn","author":"Cædmon","reason":"Hild does not accept the dream on Cædmon's word but has her learned men test it with a fresh passage of Scripture before receiving him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"caps-for-sale","title":"Caps for Sale","author":"Esphyr Slobodkina","reason":"Before he lies down to sleep, the peddler reaches up to make sure every cap is still in its place on his head.","vices":[]},{"slug":"carmilla","title":"Carmilla","author":"J. Sheridan Le Fanu","reason":"The doctor from Gratz, though mocked by his colleague, insists that his letter be read before a clergyman and points the General toward a man who can help.","vices":[]},{"slug":"carry-on-mr-bowditch","title":"Carry On, Mr. Bowditch","author":"Jean Lee Latham","reason":"In the Christmas fog Nat brings the Putnam into Salem by careful reckoning of course, speed and soundings instead of waiting or guessing.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sallust-catiline-and-jugurtha","title":"Catiline's War and The Jugurthine War","author":"Sallust (Gaius Sallustius Crispus)","reason":"Micipsa on his deathbed tells his sons that a kingdom is kept by faithful friends won through good offices, not by armies or treasure.","vices":[]},{"slug":"charles-river-bridge-v-warren-bridge","title":"Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Taney looks ahead to the railroads and canals then being built and refuses a rule that would let old franchises halt new improvements.","vices":[]},{"slug":"chiarella-v-united-states","title":"Chiarella v. United States","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The majority leaves broader rules about market information to Congress and the Commission rather than announcing them by judicial decision.","vices":[]},{"slug":"psellos-chronographia","title":"Chronographia","author":"Michael Psellos","reason":"Psellos negotiates as an envoy in the rebel camp in 1057, seeking terms that will avoid a war between the army and the capital.","vices":[]},{"slug":"citizenship-in-a-republic","title":"Citizenship in a Republic (\"The Man in the Arena\")","author":"Theodore Roosevelt","reason":"He asks that ideals be realized in practical fashion and that every proposed reform be judged on its merits by hard-headed examination.","vices":["imprudence"]},{"slug":"commentaries-on-the-laws-of-england","title":"Commentaries on the Laws of England","author":"William Blackstone","reason":"Blackstone defends following precedent because accumulated judgments are wiser than any single judge's private opinion.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mill-considerations-on-representative-government","title":"Considerations on Representative Government","author":"John Stuart Mill","reason":"Chapter V assigns each task to the body fitted for it, leaving the drafting of laws to skilled commissioners and control to the assembly.","vices":[]},{"slug":"cruzan-v-director-missouri-department-of-health","title":"Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The majority treats an irreversible decision as one demanding special caution and clear evidence before it is carried out.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ghazali-deliverance-from-error","title":"Deliverance from Error (The Confessions of al-Ghazali)","author":"Abu Hamid al-Ghazali","reason":"Like a skilled coin-assayer, he separates the true parts of philosophy from the false instead of accepting or rejecting it whole.","vices":[]},{"slug":"diamond-v-chakrabarty","title":"Diamond v. Chakrabarty","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Brennan counsels caution before extending a monopoly into a field of grave public concern without clear legislative direction.","vices":[]},{"slug":"dirks-v-sec","title":"Dirks v. SEC","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Powell seeks a guiding principle that those whose daily work is governed by insider-trading rules can understand and follow.","vices":[]},{"slug":"epictetus-discourses-and-encheiridion","title":"Discourses (selection) and Encheiridion","author":"Epictetus","reason":"The student is taught to test each appearance by asking whether it concerns what is or is not in his power.","vices":[]},{"slug":"machiavelli-discourses-on-livy","title":"Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius","author":"Niccolò Machiavelli","reason":"Book III, ch. IX, praises Fabius Maximus for a caution that suited the times when Hannibal was in Italy.","vices":[]},{"slug":"district-of-columbia-v-heller","title":"District of Columbia v. Heller","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Justice Breyer urged judges to examine the practical details of each firearm law rather than resolve the case by abstract categories alone.","vices":[]},{"slug":"dobbs-v-jackson-womens-health-organization","title":"Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Chief Justice Roberts urges the Court to decide only the question it agreed to hear, choosing the more measured course.","vices":[]},{"slug":"dred-scott-v-sandford","title":"Dred Scott v. Sandford","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Justice Nelson would have decided the case on Missouri law alone, leaving the citizenship and territorial questions undecided.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bede-ecclesiastical-history","title":"Ecclesiastical History of the English People","author":"Bede","reason":"Edwin weighs the new faith for years and consults his council before receiving baptism.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lavoisier-elements-of-chemistry","title":"Elements of Chemistry","author":"Antoine Lavoisier","reason":"Lavoisier refuses to claim that his simple substances are truly indivisible, holding them as elements only until experiment shows otherwise.","vices":[]},{"slug":"euclid-elements-book-i","title":"Elements, Book I","author":"Euclid","reason":"Each proof cites the exact postulate, axiom or earlier proposition it relies on, refusing to take any step on mere appearance.","vices":[]},{"slug":"emma","title":"Emma","author":"Jane Austen","reason":"Robert Martin's good sense and steady conduct are vindicated over Emma's judgment when Harriet finally accepts him.","vices":["imprudence"]},{"slug":"ernst-and-ernst-v-hochfelder","title":"Ernst & Ernst v. Hochfelder","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Powell refuses to extend a criminal and civil antifraud statute beyond the conduct its words describe, leaving broader liability to Congress.","vices":[]},{"slug":"essays-bacon","title":"Essays","author":"Francis Bacon","reason":"Bacon’s essays give practical counsel for public and private life.","vices":[]},{"slug":"rush-essays-on-education-in-a-republic","title":"Essays on Education in a Republic","author":"Benjamin Rush","reason":"The Plan weighs the cost of schools against the cost of jails and gallows and fits each subject to the student's future work.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hume-political-essays","title":"Essays, Moral and Political (selection)","author":"David Hume","reason":"Of the Independency of Parliament designs institutions on the cautious assumption that every officeholder will follow his own interest.","vices":[]},{"slug":"emerson-essays","title":"Essays: First Series (Self-Reliance and Other Essays)","author":"Ralph Waldo Emerson","reason":"The essay Prudence honours care for health, money and time as the necessary art of daily life.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ex-parte-milligan","title":"Ex parte Milligan","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Chase's concurrence preserves for Congress a power to meet future emergencies, cautioning against deciding more than Milligan's release required.","vices":[]},{"slug":"dewey-experience-and-education","title":"Experience and Education","author":"John Dewey","reason":"Dewey's teacher must judge, from knowledge of both pupil and situation, which experiences will lead toward further growth, as Chapter 3 requires.","vices":[]},{"slug":"faraday-experimental-researches-in-electricity","title":"Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1","author":"Michael Faraday","reason":"In the Seventh Series he coins new terms chosen not to imply theories he had not proved.","vices":[]},{"slug":"fairy-and-folk-tales-of-the-irish-peasantry","title":"Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry","author":"W. B. Yeats (editor)","reason":"Oonagh in A Legend of Knockmany saves Fin M'Coul from the giant Cucullin by cleverness rather than strength.","vices":[]},{"slug":"far-from-the-madding-crowd","title":"Far from the Madding Crowd","author":"Thomas Hardy","reason":"Gabriel warns Bathsheba plainly about Troy and about her treatment of Boldwood, even at the cost of his place.","vices":[]},{"slug":"washington-farewell-address-and-selected-letters","title":"Farewell Address and Selected Letters","author":"George Washington","reason":"Washington warns his countrymen against faction and entangling foreign passions.","vices":[]},{"slug":"farmer-boy","title":"Farmer Boy","author":"Laura Ingalls Wilder","reason":"Almanzo spends Father's half-dollar on a young pig that will grow in value instead of on treats at the Fourth of July.","vices":[]},{"slug":"cicero-first-catilinarian","title":"First Oration Against Catiline","author":"Marcus Tullius Cicero","reason":"Cicero chooses to drive Catiline out rather than execute him, reasoning in sections 30-32 that exile will expose the whole conspiracy while a single death would hide it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"fletcher-v-peck","title":"Fletcher v. Peck","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Johnson observes that the question of Georgia's title under the Indian claims is better fitted to diplomacy or legislation than to a court, yet decides it on careful technical grounds.","vices":[]},{"slug":"freedom-and-the-law","title":"Freedom and the Law","author":"Bruno Leoni","reason":"Leoni prefers rules tested over generations, like Roman private law, to statutes that can be rewritten at every session.","vices":[]},{"slug":"galileo-selected-writings","title":"Galileo: The Starry Messenger, Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina, and Two New Sciences (First Day)","author":"Galileo Galilei","reason":"In the Letter he urges, with Augustine, that interpreters avoid binding the faith to natural claims that later evidence might overturn.","vices":[]},{"slug":"rabelais-gargantua-and-pantagruel","title":"Gargantua and Pantagruel","author":"François Rabelais","reason":"Grangousier sends embassies and restores the stolen cakes many times over before he will fight Picrochole.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gibbons-v-ogden","title":"Gibbons v. Ogden","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Marshall decides the case on the narrow ground of conflict with the 1793 act, leaving the harder question of exclusive power for another day.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gitlow-v-new-york","title":"Gitlow v. New York","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Sanford argues that a state need not wait for a revolutionary spark to become a conflagration before acting to protect public order.","vices":[]},{"slug":"give-me-liberty-or-give-me-death","title":"Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death","author":"Patrick Henry","reason":"He judges the future by the lamp of experience and insists on knowing the worst in order to provide for it.","vices":["imprudence"]},{"slug":"griswold-v-connecticut","title":"Griswold v. Connecticut","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Harlan argues that judges must be guided by history, tradition and the structure of government rather than by abstract formulas or personal preference.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hamiltons-reports-and-opinion-on-the-bank","title":"Hamilton's Reports and Opinion on the Bank","author":"Alexander Hamilton","reason":"He pairs the creation of new debt with a sinking fund so that borrowing is always accompanied by the means of paying it off.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hamlet","title":"Hamlet","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Hamlet refuses to act on the Ghost's word alone and tests it with the Mousetrap.","vices":[]},{"slug":"helvering-v-davis","title":"Helvering v. Davis","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Cardozo weighs the practical consequences of leaving pensions to the states alone, including the pressure on any state that acted first.","vices":[]},{"slug":"henry-iv-part-1","title":"Henry IV, Part 1","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"The king offers the rebels pardon before the battle rather than spill English blood needlessly.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hepburn-v-griswold","title":"Hepburn v. Griswold","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Miller asks judges to weigh the actual financial peril of 1862 before second-guessing the means Congress chose to meet it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"procopius-history-of-the-wars-persian-war","title":"History of the Wars, Books I-II (The Persian War)","author":"Procopius of Caesarea","reason":"Origenes advises the rebel senators to act deliberately rather than stake everything on one assault, though the crowd ignores him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"homer-price","title":"Homer Price","author":"Robert McCloskey","reason":"Homer solves the runaway doughnuts and the lost bracelet together by advertising a reward for finding the bracelet inside a doughnut.","vices":[]},{"slug":"house-divided-speech","title":"House Divided Speech","author":"Abraham Lincoln","reason":"Lincoln begins by asking where the nation is and whither it is tending, so that judgment about what to do follows clear sight of the facts.","vices":["imprudence"]},{"slug":"i-will-fight-no-more-forever","title":"I Will Fight No More Forever","author":"Chief Joseph","reason":"With the chiefs and elders dead and the camp freezing, he judges that further fighting would only destroy the survivors.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kennedy-inaugural-address","title":"Inaugural Address","author":"John F. Kennedy","reason":"He joins sufficient arms to the willingness to negotiate, refusing both weakness and fear.","vices":[]},{"slug":"incidents-in-the-life-of-a-slave-girl","title":"Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl","author":"Harriet A. Jacobs","reason":"From the garret Linda writes letters dated from New York that draw Dr. Flint's search away from her hiding place.","vices":[]},{"slug":"jacobson-v-massachusetts","title":"Jacobson v. Massachusetts","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court entrusts a disputed question of method to a local board acting in an emergency, while reserving protection against arbitrary or cruel enforcement.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mccullough-john-adams","title":"John Adams","author":"David McCullough","reason":"In 1799 he sends a peace mission to France against his party's wishes and avoids a full war.","vices":[]},{"slug":"julius-caesar","title":"Julius Caesar","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"The play shows the cost of its absence as Brutus spares Antony and lets him speak against Cassius's advice.","vices":[]},{"slug":"just-so-stories","title":"Just So Stories","author":"Rudyard Kipling","reason":"Balkis quietly turns the Butterfly's boast into a lesson that ends the quarrelling of the queens.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kalevala","title":"Kalevala","author":"Elias Lönnrot (compiler)","reason":"Väinämöinen wins his contests by knowledge of origins and spells, as when he defeats Joukahainen with song rather than blows.","vices":[]},{"slug":"keep-the-lights-burning-abbie","title":"Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie","author":"Peter and Connie Roop","reason":"When the waves start breaking over the rock, she sees that the family's food depends on the hens and brings them to safety in time.","vices":[]},{"slug":"korematsu-v-united-states","title":"Korematsu v. United States","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Murphy granted the military wide discretion yet asked whether individual loyalty hearings could have separated the few dangerous from the many loyal.","vices":[]},{"slug":"plato-laws","title":"Laws","author":"Plato","reason":"The Athenian accepts a second-best city in Book V because a wise lawgiver must legislate for real people and not only for an ideal.","vices":[]},{"slug":"legal-tender-cases","title":"Legal Tender Cases","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Strong weighs the consequences of a ruling that would unsettle a decade of debts contracted in greenbacks.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lemon-v-kurtzman","title":"Lemon v. Kurtzman","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Burger acknowledges that total separation is impossible and asks courts to weigh each relationship between government and religion by its circumstances.","vices":[]},{"slug":"letters-from-a-farmer-in-pennsylvania","title":"Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania","author":"John Dickinson","reason":"Letter III sets out an ordered course of resistance, petitions first and force only at the last extremity.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lex-rex","title":"Lex, Rex","author":"Samuel Rutherford","reason":"Question XXXI orders the means of defence (supplication first, then flight where possible, force last), following David's conduct toward Saul.","vices":[]},{"slug":"linder-v-united-states","title":"Linder v. United States","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court asks what each earlier decision actually held before applying its language, refusing to extend broad words to unlike facts.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lochner-v-new-york","title":"Lochner v. New York","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Harlan counsels that judges facing honest doubt about a health law should leave the responsibility with the legislature.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lord-of-the-flies","title":"Lord of the Flies","author":"William Golding","reason":"Piggy keeps urging the boys to build shelters, make a list of names and tend the signal fire, the practical steps that would bring rescue.","vices":[]},{"slug":"love-and-freindship","title":"Love and Freindship and Other Early Works","author":"Jane Austen","reason":"Sophia's deathbed warning against swoons, though comic, is a lesson in moderating feeling learned too late.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lowe-v-sec","title":"Lowe v. SEC","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The majority resolves the case on the narrowest available ground, leaving a constitutional question undecided.","vices":[]},{"slug":"magna-carta","title":"Magna Carta","author":"King John and the barons of England","reason":"The barons and Langton build practical safeguards such as the forty days' notice of clause 14 and the council of twenty-five in clause 61.","vices":[]},{"slug":"make-way-for-ducklings","title":"Make Way for Ducklings","author":"Robert McCloskey","reason":"Mrs. Mallard turns down every nesting place where foxes, turtles or bicycles might threaten her ducklings.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mapp-v-ohio","title":"Mapp v. Ohio","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Harlan counsels patience and restraint before overruling a recent precedent on a question the parties had hardly argued.","vices":[]},{"slug":"marbury-v-madison","title":"Marbury v. Madison","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Marshall affirms Marbury's right while declining to issue a writ the administration was prepared to ignore, protecting the Court's authority in a dangerous political moment.","vices":[]},{"slug":"friends-romans-countrymen","title":"Mark Antony's Funeral Oration (\"Friends, Romans, countrymen\")","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"The speech is a study in the practical wisdom of timing: Antony pauses, withholds the will, and descends to the body only when the crowd is ready.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mcculloch-v-maryland","title":"McCulloch v. Maryland","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Marshall frames the Constitution as a framework meant to endure for ages and adapt to crises, leaving Congress practical room to choose its means.","vices":[]},{"slug":"plato-meno","title":"Meno","author":"Plato","reason":"Socrates refuses to judge how virtue is acquired until he knows what it is, and separates knowledge from lucky true opinion.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mere-christianity","title":"Mere Christianity","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Lewis's account of the cardinal virtues insists that Christ asks for a child's heart but a grown-up's head, so practical wisdom is a duty.","vices":[]},{"slug":"meyer-v-nebraska","title":"Meyer v. Nebraska","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court separates the state's legitimate powers over schools from the one measure that went too far, leaving attendance and English instruction in place.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mike-mulligan-and-his-steam-shovel","title":"Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel","author":"Virginia Lee Burton","reason":"The little boy thinks past the argument of the grown-ups and sees that the trapped shovel can become the town hall's furnace.","vices":[]},{"slug":"minersville-school-district-v-gobitis","title":"Minersville School District v. Gobitis","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Frankfurter weighed the limits of judicial competence and urged that disputes over teaching loyalty be settled by persuasion and elections.","vices":[]},{"slug":"miranda-v-arizona","title":"Miranda v. Arizona","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Harlan and White weigh the practical effects of the new rules on police work and on the public's safety.","vices":[]},{"slug":"moby-dick","title":"Moby-Dick","author":"Herman Melville","reason":"Starbuck sees that vengeance on a dumb brute is madness and urges Ahab to turn for home.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mouse-soup","title":"Mouse Soup","author":"Arnold Lobel","reason":"Trapped in the weasel's pot, the mouse thinks of the one thing the weasel lacks and turns stories into his way of escape.","vices":[]},{"slug":"my-fathers-dragon","title":"My Father's Dragon","author":"Ruth Stiles Gannett","reason":"After overhearing the boars treat his tangerine peels as clues, Elmer saves every peel so as to leave no trail.","vices":[]},{"slug":"my-last-duchess","title":"My Last Duchess","author":"Robert Browning","reason":"The envoy, and the reader with him, must judge from the Duke's own words what kind of man the Count's daughter would be marrying.","vices":[]},{"slug":"my-side-of-the-mountain","title":"My Side of the Mountain","author":"Jean Craighead George","reason":"Before going into the woods Sam studies maps and books on wild food at the Delhi library, and after the smoke nearly overcomes him he cuts a vent.","vices":[]},{"slug":"nfib-v-sebelius","title":"National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Chief Justice seeks a reading of the statute that respects both the limits on federal power and the choices of the elected branches.","vices":[]},{"slug":"near-v-minnesota","title":"Near v. Minnesota","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Butler urges that states, which know their own conditions, must be free to adopt just measures against abuses of the press.","vices":[]},{"slug":"nlrb-v-jones-and-laughlin-steel","title":"NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp.","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Hughes weighs the practical facts of an integrated industry rather than relying on abstract categories, while marking a limit to protect the federal structure.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sartre-no-exit-and-three-other-plays","title":"No Exit and Three Other Plays","author":"Jean-Paul Sartre","reason":"Hoederer in Dirty Hands weighs the lives that a coalition would save against the purity of the party line.","vices":[]},{"slug":"norman-v-baltimore-and-ohio-railroad","title":"Norman v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co. (Gold Clause Cases)","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Hughes weighs whether enforcing gold clauses would have thrown debtors and the economy into disorder during a depression.","vices":[]},{"slug":"whewell-novum-organon-renovatum","title":"Novum Organon Renovatum","author":"William Whewell","reason":"Aphorism X places the caution of science in rigorously comparing hypotheses with facts and resolutely rejecting those that fail.","vices":[]},{"slug":"number-the-stars","title":"Number the Stars","author":"Lois Lowry","reason":"Mama turns away the officer at the wake by warning of typhus and calmly offering to open the casket herself.","vices":[]},{"slug":"obergefell-v-hodges","title":"Obergefell v. Hodges","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Justice Alito argued that federalism allows communities with different convictions to reach different answers and so live together peaceably.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ode-on-a-grecian-urn","title":"Ode on a Grecian Urn","author":"John Keats","reason":"The speaker's questions test the urn's beauty rather than simply accepting it, and his praise turns to clear-eyed sight of its coldness.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hooker-laws-of-ecclesiastical-polity","title":"Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (Preface and Book I)","author":"Richard Hooker","reason":"Book I distinguishes laws that never change from positive laws that may rightly vary with circumstances, so that church order can be judged by reason.","vices":[]},{"slug":"olmstead-v-lc","title":"Olmstead v. L. C.","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Kennedy and the plurality warn against moving patients hastily into settings without care, and allow states to plan within their means.","vices":[]},{"slug":"cicero-on-duties","title":"On Duties (De Officiis)","author":"Marcus Tullius Cicero","reason":"The hard cases of Book III, such as the Rhodian corn sale, train judgment in telling real advantage from apparent.","vices":[]},{"slug":"erasmus-on-free-will","title":"On Free Will (De Libero Arbitrio)","author":"Desiderius Erasmus","reason":"He narrows the controversy to a single article and weighs texts on both sides before stating a middle position between Pelagius and Luther.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gilbert-de-magnete","title":"On the Magnet (De Magnete)","author":"William Gilbert","reason":"In Book I, Chapter XV he warns physicians not to give iron for every disorder of the liver and spleen, distinguishing cases where it helps from those where it hastens death.","vices":[]},{"slug":"harvey-on-the-motion-of-the-heart-and-blood","title":"On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals (De Motu Cordis)","author":"William Harvey","reason":"In Chapter IX he grants his opponents the smallest estimates so that his conclusion cannot be escaped by disputing the numbers.","vices":[]},{"slug":"copernicus-on-the-revolutions","title":"On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres","author":"Nicolaus Copernicus","reason":"The dedication explains that Copernicus withheld his work for many years, weighing the ridicule it might bring, until competent friends urged its publication.","vices":[]},{"slug":"newton-opticks","title":"Opticks","author":"Isaac Newton","reason":"Newton refuses to admit objections or conclusions not drawn from experiments and states conclusions only as far as induction warrants, revising them if exceptions appear.","vices":[]},{"slug":"d-day-order-of-the-day","title":"Order of the Day, 6 June 1944","author":"Dwight D. Eisenhower","reason":"Eisenhower grounds confidence in concrete facts, Allied victories, air power, and production, rather than in bravado.","vices":[]},{"slug":"othello","title":"Othello","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Othello's ruin comes from accepting Iago's handkerchief and hearsay as proof without questioning Desdemona or Cassio.","vices":[]},{"slug":"owl-at-home","title":"Owl at Home","author":"Arnold Lobel","reason":"After Winter freezes his soup and snows up his stairs, Owl learns to tell the rude guest to leave so his home can be warm again.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ozymandias","title":"Ozymandias","author":"Percy Bysshe Shelley","reason":"The lone and level sands teach the reader to judge earthly power by its endurance, weighing what lasts against what merely impresses.","vices":[]},{"slug":"paul-reveres-ride","title":"Paul Revere's Ride","author":"Henry Wadsworth Longfellow","reason":"The plan of one lantern for land and two for sea lets the alarm go out whichever route the troops take.","vices":[]},{"slug":"goldsworthy-pax-romana","title":"Pax Romana: War, Peace and Conquest in the Roman World","author":"Adrian Goldsworthy","reason":"Goldsworthy shows Roman governors and emperors often preferring negotiation backed by reputation to costly campaigns, keeping frontiers quiet by judgment rather than constant war.","vices":[]},{"slug":"pearl-harbor-address","title":"Pearl Harbor Address (\"A Date Which Will Live in Infamy\")","author":"Franklin D. Roosevelt","reason":"He keeps the speech brief and factual, letting the list of attacks and the evidence of planning carry the case.","vices":[]},{"slug":"pericles-funeral-oration","title":"Pericles' Funeral Oration","author":"Pericles","reason":"Pericles praises the Athenian union of daring with deliberation and the habit of discussion before action.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kant-perpetual-peace","title":"Perpetual Peace","author":"Immanuel Kant","reason":"He allows some preliminary articles to be carried out gradually and warns the moral politician not to force the conditions of peace before circumstances permit.","vices":[]},{"slug":"persuasion","title":"Persuasion","author":"Jane Austen","reason":"The novel weighs Lady Russell’s cautious advice against constancy and judgment.","vices":[]},{"slug":"wittgenstein-philosophical-investigations","title":"Philosophical Investigations","author":"Ludwig Wittgenstein","reason":"He repeatedly tells the reader to look at actual cases, as with games in §66, before generalizing.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hempel-philosophy-of-natural-science","title":"Philosophy of Natural Science","author":"Carl G. Hempel","reason":"In Chapter 2 Semmelweis tests and rejects each plausible explanation in turn, including the priest's bell and the delivery position, before acting on the one that survives.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hegel-philosophy-of-right","title":"Philosophy of Right","author":"G. W. F. Hegel","reason":"The Preface asks the philosopher to understand the reason present in actual institutions before presuming to redesign them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"pierce-v-society-of-sisters","title":"Pierce v. Society of Sisters","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"McReynolds preserves the state's real powers over education while drawing a clear limit on them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"planned-parenthood-v-casey","title":"Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The joint opinion weighs workability, reliance, doctrinal change and changed facts before deciding whether to depart from Roe.","vices":[]},{"slug":"aristotle-poetics","title":"Poetics","author":"Aristotle","reason":"Aristotle counsels the poet in Chapter XVII to sketch the general plan and visualize each scene before filling in episodes.","vices":[]},{"slug":"pollock-v-farmers-loan-and-trust","title":"Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Harlan warns against taking the entire income revenue from the government because one provision failed.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mach-popular-scientific-lectures","title":"Popular Scientific Lectures","author":"Ernst Mach","reason":"In the conservation-of-energy lecture he warns that a successful theory like caloric must be re-examined lest it blind us to facts that do not fit.","vices":[]},{"slug":"aristotle-posterior-analytics-and-physics","title":"Posterior Analytics and Physics","author":"Aristotle","reason":"Aristotle insists that each science keep to its own principles and that the inquirer advance from what is clearer to us toward what is clearer by nature.","vices":[]},{"slug":"james-pragmatism","title":"Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking","author":"William James","reason":"James's squirrel story models settling a quarrel by first asking what each side practically means, rather than prolonging an idle dispute.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lyell-principles-of-geology","title":"Principles of Geology","author":"Charles Lyell","reason":"In Book I he warns against theories that outrun evidence and asks geologists to test every explanation against causes they can observe.","vices":[]},{"slug":"reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france","title":"Reflections on the Revolution in France","author":"Edmund Burke","reason":"Burke insists that questions of government, like those of food and medicine, be settled by experience and the art of administering remedies rather than by theory.","vices":[]},{"slug":"reves-v-ernst-and-young","title":"Reves v. Ernst & Young","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The four-factor test gives courts a measured way to separate investment notes from everyday commercial lending.","vices":[]},{"slug":"reynolds-v-united-states","title":"Reynolds v. United States","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court draws on the founders' own words to mark where civil authority over religion begins and ends, rather than defining religion by its own preferences.","vices":[]},{"slug":"robinson-crusoe","title":"Robinson Crusoe","author":"Daniel Defoe","reason":"He learns to plan stores, tools, and defenses after early folly.","vices":["imprudence"]},{"slug":"robinson-v-california","title":"Robinson v. California","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"White counsels the Court against deciding broad constitutional questions when the record permits a narrower reading.","vices":[]},{"slug":"roe-v-wade","title":"Roe v. Wade","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Blackmun begins by naming the convictions and influences that shape opinion on the question before resolving to decide by constitutional measurement.","vices":[]},{"slug":"woolf-rome-an-empires-story","title":"Rome: An Empire's Story","author":"Greg Woolf","reason":"Augustus replaces the Republic's opportunistic conquests with a settled system of taxation and loyal armies that keeps the peace for generations.","vices":[]},{"slug":"romeo-and-juliet","title":"Romeo and Juliet","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Friar Lawrence's counsel to go wisely and slow in Act 2, Scene 3 names the virtue whose absence drives the tragedy.","vices":[]},{"slug":"san-antonio-isd-v-rodriguez","title":"San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Stewart distinguishes his judgment that a policy is unwise from the narrower question whether it violates the Constitution.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sanshiro","title":"Sanshirō","author":"Natsume Sōseki","reason":"The novel shows by its absence what timely, wise decision would have meant, as Sanshirō waits until Mineko is engaged to another.","vices":[]},{"slug":"schenck-v-united-states","title":"Schenck v. United States","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Holmes refuses to judge words in the abstract, insisting that their character depends on the time, place and audience in which they are used.","vices":[]},{"slug":"poincare-science-and-hypothesis","title":"Science and Hypothesis","author":"Henri Poincare","reason":"The preface refuses both to doubt everything and to believe everything, and sets out to judge each hypothesis by its kind.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sec-v-w-j-howey-co","title":"SEC v. W. J. Howey Co.","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The definition is written to adapt to schemes not yet devised, anticipating that promoters will change the form while keeping the substance.","vices":[]},{"slug":"webster-second-reply-to-hayne","title":"Second Reply to Hayne","author":"Daniel Webster","reason":"Webster opens by asking the Senate, like a mariner after a storm, to recover its true course before going further.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sense-and-sensibility","title":"Sense and Sensibility","author":"Jane Austen","reason":"Elinor governs her feelings with sense while Marianne gives way to hers.","vices":["imprudence"]},{"slug":"slaughter-house-cases","title":"Slaughter-House Cases","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Miller weighs the consequences of a broad reading for the whole federal system before deciding a dispute among New Orleans butchers.","vices":[]},{"slug":"compromise-of-1850-speeches","title":"Speeches on the Compromise of 1850","author":"Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster","reason":"Clay withdrew to his room for weeks to frame a plan that gave each section something, and challenged critics to offer a better one.","vices":[]},{"slug":"standard-oil-v-united-states","title":"Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"White seeks a reading of the act that forbids combinations unduly restraining trade without making every ordinary business agreement unlawful.","vices":[]},{"slug":"plato-statesman","title":"Statesman","author":"Plato","reason":"The Stranger's ideal ruler is defined by practical knowledge that fits action to each changing case, like a physician revising his prescriptions.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-strange-case-of-dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde","title":"Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde","author":"Robert Louis Stevenson","reason":"Utterson honours Lanyon's instruction not to open the sealed envelope before Jekyll's death or disappearance, even though curiosity tempts him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"levi-strauss-structural-anthropology","title":"Structural Anthropology","author":"Claude Lévi-Strauss","reason":"In History and Anthropology he insists that the two disciplines need each other and warns against the speculative evolutionary histories of earlier anthropology.","vices":[]},{"slug":"summa-theologica","title":"Summa Theologica","author":"Thomas Aquinas","reason":"Aquinas’ ordered method of objection, authority, response, and reply models careful judgment.","vices":[]},{"slug":"surprised-by-joy","title":"Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Under the Great Knock he learns to examine every claim, the habit that later dismantles his own atheism.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sweatt-v-painter","title":"Sweatt v. Painter","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Vinson deliberately decides only what the case requires, leaving the broader question of Plessy for a later day.","vices":[]},{"slug":"poe-tales","title":"Tales (Selection)","author":"Edgar Allan Poe","reason":"Dupin recovers the stolen letter by patient judgment of the Minister's character rather than by force, and leaves a copy so the theft goes unnoticed.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tales-from-shakespeare","title":"Tales from Shakespeare","author":"Charles and Mary Lamb","reason":"Paulina keeps Hermione hidden for many years until Perdita is found and Leontes has truly repented.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tear-down-this-wall","title":"Tear Down This Wall (Brandenburg Gate Address)","author":"Ronald Reagan","reason":"He tests Soviet reform by a concrete deed instead of words, and pairs the challenge with practical proposals for arms reduction and for opening the city.","vices":[]},{"slug":"that-hideous-strength","title":"That Hideous Strength","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Ransom's company waits for the right moment rather than attacking Belbury by force, and is ready when Merlin wakes.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lewis-the-abolition-of-man","title":"The Abolition of Man","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Lecture III asks what wisdom must govern humanity's growing power over nature and over future generations.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-adventures-of-pinocchio","title":"The Adventures of Pinocchio","author":"Carlo Collodi","reason":"Pinocchio's belief that buried gold coins will grow into a money tree costs him his father's five gold pieces and four months in jail.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-adventures-of-sherlock-holmes","title":"The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes","author":"Arthur Conan Doyle","reason":"Holmes refuses to name the meaning of the King's note until he has data, and his patience in the dark vault and the bedroom at Stoke Moran saves lives.","vices":[]},{"slug":"duhem-the-aim-and-structure-of-physical-theory","title":"The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory","author":"Pierre Duhem","reason":"Where logic cannot say which hypothesis a failed experiment condemns, Duhem entrusts the decision to the physicist's trained good sense.","vices":[]},{"slug":"anna-komnene-alexiad","title":"The Alexiad","author":"Anna Komnene","reason":"Alexios secures the Crusade leaders' oaths and recovers Nicaea through negotiation with its garrison rather than by storm.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-arabian-nights","title":"The Arabian Nights Entertainments","author":"Andrew Lang (ed.)","reason":"The old fisherman, threatened with death, asks the genie to prove he fitted in the jar and slams the lid on him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"argonautica","title":"The Argonautica","author":"Apollonius of Rhodes","reason":"The heroes follow Phineus' counsel and release a dove to test the Clashing Rocks before risking the ship.","vices":["imprudence"]},{"slug":"the-art-of-war","title":"The Art of War","author":"Sun Tzu","reason":"Sun Tzu prizes knowing the enemy and oneself and winning without fighting.","vices":[]},{"slug":"articles-of-confederation","title":"The Articles of Confederation","author":"Continental Congress","reason":"The authors guard against concentrated power by keeping all undelegated powers with the states and requiring nine states for war and borrowing.","vices":[]},{"slug":"athenian-constitution","title":"The Athenian Constitution","author":"Aristotle (attributed)","reason":"Athenian institutions in Parts 63–69 use allotment, timing and secret ballots to guard the courts against bribery.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-bears-on-hemlock-mountain","title":"The Bears on Hemlock Mountain","author":"Alice Dalgliesh","reason":"In the dark he thinks quickly, turns the heavy iron pot over and hides beneath it until help comes.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-borrowers","title":"The Borrowers","author":"Mary Norton","reason":"Pod borrows only what the family needs and teaches Arrietty the rule never to be seen, which has kept the Clocks alive while other families vanished.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-boxcar-children","title":"The Boxcar Children","author":"Gertrude Chandler Warner","reason":"Jessie plans each meal and makes the children's small store of money last while they live in the boxcar.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-burgess-bird-book-for-children","title":"The Burgess Bird Book for Children","author":"Thornton W. Burgess","reason":"Identification trains careful notice before hasty claims.","vices":["imprudence"]},{"slug":"burke-paine-debate","title":"The Burke-Paine Debate on the French Revolution","author":"Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine","reason":"Burke insists that rights must be weighed by the method of procuring and administering them, not by abstract definition.","vices":[]},{"slug":"avicenna-canon-of-medicine-book-i","title":"The Canon of Medicine, Book I","author":"Ibn Sina (Avicenna)","reason":"Part 4 tells the physician to leave a disease of unknown nature to nature rather than hasten treatment, and to fit each remedy to the organ and the stage of illness.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-canterbury-tales","title":"The Canterbury Tales","author":"Geoffrey Chaucer","reason":"Theseus counsels making a virtue of necessity and governs the lovers' quarrel with judgment.","vices":[]},{"slug":"harrington-oceana","title":"The Commonwealth of Oceana","author":"James Harrington","reason":"The Council of Legislators studies the orders of Israel, Sparta, Rome and Venice before framing any law for Oceana.","vices":[]},{"slug":"heather-the-fall-of-the-roman-empire","title":"The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians","author":"Peter Heather","reason":"Heather shows how the mishandled reception of the Goths in 376 turned refugees into enemies, a lesson in the cost of imprudent government.","vices":[]},{"slug":"harper-the-fate-of-rome","title":"The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire","author":"Kyle Harper","reason":"In his epilogue Harper turns the Roman story toward foresight, asking how societies can prepare for environmental shocks they cannot prevent.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-federalist-papers","title":"The Federalist Papers","author":"Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay","reason":"Publius designs institutions on a sober view of human nature, as in No. 51.","vices":[]},{"slug":"keynes-the-general-theory","title":"The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money","author":"John Maynard Keynes","reason":"Keynes asks policymakers in the Concluding Notes to weigh carefully how far the state should guide investment while leaving most economic decisions to private initiative.","vices":[]},{"slug":"colum-the-golden-fleece","title":"The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles","author":"Padraic Colum","reason":"Queen Arete, who knows no enchantments, counsels Medea to give up witchcraft and never practise against anyone's life.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kennedy-the-great-arab-conquests","title":"The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In","author":"Hugh Kennedy","reason":"Many conquering commanders offered negotiated terms that preserved cities and their people rather than fighting every siege to the end.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tacitus-the-histories","title":"The Histories","author":"Tacitus","reason":"Vespasian weighs the eastern armies, Mucianus's advice and the state of Italy before accepting the proclamation, and Tacitus contrasts him with rash rivals.","vices":[]},{"slug":"polybius-histories-book-vi","title":"The Histories, Book VI","author":"Polybius","reason":"Lycurgus foresees the decay of simple constitutions and balances kings, elders and people at Sparta (ch. 10).","vices":[]},{"slug":"gibbon-decline-and-fall-selections","title":"The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Selections)","author":"Edward Gibbon","reason":"Augustus, mindful of Caesar's murder, rules through the consent of the Senate and the forms of the republic rather than by open force (Chapter III).","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-history-of-the-peloponnesian-war","title":"The History of the Peloponnesian War","author":"Thucydides","reason":"Pericles’ cautious war strategy and Diodotus’ counsel at Mytilene show deliberation under pressure.","vices":["imprudence"]},{"slug":"fielding-tom-jones","title":"The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling","author":"Henry Fielding","reason":"By the final chapter Tom has learned the discretion the narrator called a guard to virtue in Book III.","vices":[]},{"slug":"homeric-hymns","title":"The Homeric Hymns","author":"Anonymous (Homeric)","reason":"Aphrodite refuses to seek for Anchises the deathless life that ruined Tithonus.","vices":["imprudence"]},{"slug":"the-hound-of-the-baskervilles","title":"The Hound of the Baskervilles","author":"Arthur Conan Doyle","reason":"Holmes refuses to accept the legend or to strike too early, waiting until the night at Merripit House to catch Stapleton in the act.","vices":[]},{"slug":"wickham-the-inheritance-of-rome","title":"The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000","author":"Chris Wickham","reason":"Western kings, lacking Roman taxes, adapt by rewarding followers with land and building new forms of loyalty to hold their kingdoms together.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-innocence-of-father-brown","title":"The Innocence of Father Brown","author":"G. K. Chesterton","reason":"In The Blue Cross Brown sees through Flambeau's disguise and quietly posts the sapphire cross to Westminster before walking onto the heath with him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"justinian-institutes","title":"The Institutes of Justinian","author":"Justinian I (Tribonian and commissioners)","reason":"The lex Aquilia cases in Book IV, Title 3 teach how to judge fault by weighing warning, place, skill and care in each particular situation.","vices":[]},{"slug":"leipzig-disputation","title":"The Leipzig Disputation","author":"Martin Luther, Johann Eck, and Andreas Karlstadt","reason":"Eck prepared his authorities so thoroughly that he could steer the debate on the papacy toward the question of Hus, the point he judged decisive.","vices":[]},{"slug":"apollodorus-library","title":"The Library (Bibliotheca)","author":"Apollodorus (attributed)","reason":"Oedipus saves Thebes by reasoning out the Sphinx's riddle after many have died failing to answer it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lincoln-douglas-debates","title":"The Lincoln-Douglas Debates","author":"Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas","reason":"Lincoln framed the Freeport question with an eye to the 1860 presidential contest, accepting risk to his Senate chances for a larger end.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-mabinogion","title":"The Mabinogion","author":"Anonymous (Middle Welsh)","reason":"Manawyddan leaves each English town rather than fight the jealous craftsmen, and wins back Dyved by a patient bargain over a captured mouse.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mayflower-compact","title":"The Mayflower Compact","author":"The Mayflower Pilgrims","reason":"Facing a landing outside their patent and talk of disorder, the leaders secure a lawful government before anyone goes ashore.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-merchant-of-venice","title":"The Merchant of Venice","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Bassanio rejects the gold and silver caskets as outward show and chooses the plain lead, winning Portia.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lakatos-the-methodology-of-scientific-research-programmes","title":"The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes","author":"Imre Lakatos","reason":"Lakatos argues that scientists should neither abandon a fruitful programme at the first anomaly nor cling to one that has stopped predicting anything new.","vices":[]},{"slug":"monroe-doctrine","title":"The Monroe Doctrine","author":"James Monroe","reason":"Monroe promises to stay out of Europe's wars and to leave existing colonies alone, while keeping the right to act if neutrality toward Spain and the new republics must change.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-moonstone","title":"The Moonstone","author":"Wilkie Collins","reason":"Sergeant Cuff refuses to treat the smear on the painted door as a trifle and follows it to the missing nightgown.","vices":["imprudence"]},{"slug":"ibn-khaldun-muqaddimah","title":"The Muqaddimah","author":"Ibn Khaldun","reason":"The Introduction teaches the historian to weigh each report against what is possible in society before accepting it, rather than repeating sources uncritically.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-murder-on-the-links","title":"The Murder on the Links","author":"Agatha Christie","reason":"Poirot refuses to accept the obvious suspect and waits until his reasoning is complete before acting, which saves Jack from wrongful conviction.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-mysterious-affair-at-styles","title":"The Mysterious Affair at Styles","author":"Agatha Christie","reason":"Poirot prevents Alfred Inglethorp's premature arrest, knowing an acquittal would make him safe from any second trial.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-natural-history-of-selborne","title":"The Natural History of Selborne","author":"Gilbert White","reason":"White weighs every report on swallows in winter and refuses to accept claims no one actually witnessed.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kaldellis-the-new-roman-empire","title":"The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium","author":"Anthony Kaldellis","reason":"Kaldellis shows emperors such as Alexios I restoring a broken state through diplomacy and careful finance as much as through battle.","vices":[]},{"slug":"newburgh-address","title":"The Newburgh Address","author":"George Washington","reason":"Washington forbids the irregular meeting but calls a lawful one of his own, so that the officers' grievance is heard without the anonymous writer's direction.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-nicomachean-ethics","title":"The Nicomachean Ethics","author":"Aristotle","reason":"Book VI gives the classical account of practical wisdom.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-odyssey","title":"The Odyssey","author":"Homer","reason":"Odysseus survives by counsel and patience, from the trick of Noman to waiting disguised in his own hall.","vices":["imprudence"]},{"slug":"tocqueville-old-regime","title":"The Old Regime and the Revolution","author":"Alexis de Tocqueville","reason":"Tocqueville warns that reforms undertaken without free institutions unsettle everything at once, as the provincial assembly changes of 1787 did.","vices":[]},{"slug":"popper-the-open-society-and-its-enemies","title":"The Open Society and Its Enemies","author":"Karl Popper","reason":"Chapter 9 counsels reform by small, testable steps against the most urgent evils rather than by a complete blueprint.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-pearl","title":"The Pearl","author":"John Steinbeck","reason":"Juana sees that the pearl is drawing evil to the family and tries to throw it into the sea before it can destroy them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-persian-expedition","title":"The Persian Expedition","author":"Xenophon","reason":"Xenophon wakes in the night, asks why he is lying idle, and organizes the retreat with practical sense.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-phantom-tollbooth","title":"The Phantom Tollbooth","author":"Norton Juster","reason":"Milo escapes the Doldrums only by beginning to think, and learns on the Island of Conclusions what hasty judgment costs.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hegel-philosophy-of-history","title":"The Philosophy of History","author":"G. W. F. Hegel","reason":"The Introduction's survey of original, reflective and philosophical history teaches readers to ask from what standpoint any history is written.","vices":[]},{"slug":"poetic-edda","title":"The Poetic Edda","author":"Anonymous (Old Norse)","reason":"Hovamol counsels the guest to look about him warily before entering a strange hall and to speak little and listen well.","vices":[]},{"slug":"popol-vuh","title":"The Popol Vuh (Lewis Spence's account)","author":"Anonymous (K'iche' Maya); Lewis Spence","reason":"The twins send Xan ahead to learn the names of the lords of Xibalba, so they neither bow to the wooden figures nor sit on the red-hot stone.","vices":["imprudence"]},{"slug":"the-prince","title":"The Prince","author":"Niccolo Machiavelli","reason":"Machiavelli treats prudence as the prince’s ability to know and adapt to necessity.","vices":["cunning"]},{"slug":"russell-problems-of-philosophy","title":"The Problems of Philosophy","author":"Bertrand Russell","reason":"Russell accepts the belief in an external world in Chapter II as reasonable while admitting it cannot be strictly proved, a model of measured judgment.","vices":[]},{"slug":"prose-edda","title":"The Prose Edda","author":"Snorri Sturluson","reason":"Odin gives an eye in pledge at Mimir's well for a drink of its wisdom, valuing understanding above his own body.","vices":[]},{"slug":"weber-the-protestant-ethic-and-the-spirit-of-capitalism","title":"The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism","author":"Max Weber","reason":"Franklin's maxims, which Weber quotes in Chapter 2, commend careful reckoning of time, credit and money as signs of a trustworthy character.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-railway-children","title":"The Railway Children","author":"E. Nesbit","reason":"When the landslide falls, the children think quickly of red flags and stop the train in time.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-raven","title":"The Raven","author":"Edgar Allan Poe","reason":"The speaker's error lies in treating a bird's single learned word as a prophecy, a lesson in judging what deserves to be believed.","vices":[]},{"slug":"cicero-republic-and-laws","title":"The Republic and The Laws","author":"Marcus Tullius Cicero","reason":"Scipio's preference for a mixed constitution rests on a practical study of how each simple form has decayed in history.","vices":[]},{"slug":"grotius-rights-of-war-and-peace","title":"The Rights of War and Peace (Book I)","author":"Hugo Grotius","reason":"Chapter III separates the right to sovereignty from the manner of holding it, a careful distinction meant to settle disputes about who may make war.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-road-not-taken","title":"The Road Not Taken","author":"Robert Frost","reason":"The traveler stands long and looks down one road as far as he can before choosing, modeling deliberation even when the future cannot be seen.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ammianus-marcellinus-roman-history","title":"The Roman History","author":"Ammianus Marcellinus","reason":"Valens's refusal to wait for Gratian's army before attacking at Adrianople shows by contrast what prudent command would have required.","vices":[]},{"slug":"boyle-the-sceptical-chymist","title":"The Sceptical Chymist","author":"Robert Boyle","reason":"Boyle keeps the useful chemical remedies and experiments while withholding assent from the theories offered to explain them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-second-coming","title":"The Second Coming","author":"W. B. Yeats","reason":"The speaker reads the signs of his time soberly, refusing the easy hope of a comforting revelation and facing the beast he actually sees.","vices":[]},{"slug":"procopius-secret-history","title":"The Secret History","author":"Procopius of Caesarea","reason":"The work's own existence, hidden for fear of the emperor, invites students to weigh what prudence requires of a writer under an autocrat.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-sketch-book","title":"The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.","author":"Washington Irving","reason":"Ichabod's greed for the Van Tassel farm and his belief in every ghost story leave him easy prey for Brom Bones's trick.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-song-of-roland","title":"The Song of Roland","author":"Anonymous","reason":"Oliver urges Roland to sound the horn in time, and Roland’s refusal shows courage without counsel.","vices":["rashness"]},{"slug":"the-spirit-of-the-laws","title":"The Spirit of the Laws","author":"Montesquieu","reason":"Book XIX counsels legislators to change by example and manners what cannot wisely be changed by law, fitting each measure to the people.","vices":[]},{"slug":"volsunga-saga","title":"The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga)","author":"Anonymous (Old Norse)","reason":"Brynhild counsels Sigurd on Hindfell to bear and forbear with his kin, shun quarrels with fools and beware strong drink.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kuhn-the-structure-of-scientific-revolutions","title":"The Structure of Scientific Revolutions","author":"Thomas S. Kuhn","reason":"He warns against reading past scientists only as forerunners of the present, asking that each be understood in the setting of his own paradigm.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-swiss-family-robinson","title":"The Swiss Family Robinson","author":"Johann David Wyss","reason":"The father tests unknown foods, plans for the rainy season and makes repeated careful trips to salvage the wreck.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-sword-in-the-stone","title":"The Sword in the Stone","author":"T. H. White","reason":"Merlyn turns the Wart's grief over Kay's knighthood into a lesson that learning is the remedy for sadness.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-tale-of-peter-rabbit","title":"The Tale of Peter Rabbit","author":"Beatrix Potter","reason":"Mrs. Rabbit’s warning and the sisters’ blackberry lane show wise caution about McGregor’s garden.","vices":["imprudence"]},{"slug":"the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall","title":"The Tenant of Wildfell Hall","author":"Anne Brontë","reason":"Helen's aunt warns her against Huntingdon in Chapter XX, and Helen's disregard of that counsel is the root of her suffering.","vices":["imprudence"]},{"slug":"the-thirty-nine-steps","title":"The Thirty-Nine Steps","author":"John Buchan","reason":"Hannay solves the riddle of the thirty-nine steps by listing what he knows and ruling out harbours and steamers before consulting a coastguard.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lane-thousand-and-one-nights","title":"The Thousand and One Nights (Lane's translation, Volume I)","author":"Anonymous; translated by Edward William Lane","reason":"The fisherman, given only a choice of deaths, swears the 'Efreet by the Most Great Name to show how he fitted in the bottle and seals him in.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-travels-of-marco-polo","title":"The Travels of Marco Polo","author":"Marco Polo (with Rustichello da Pisa)","reason":"Marco learns the languages and customs of the court and brings back careful reports from his missions that win the Kaan's trust.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-trial","title":"The Trial","author":"Franz Kafka","reason":"K.'s decision to dismiss Huld after watching Block's servility shows him judging rightly that the lawyer's help is worthless.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-trojan-war","title":"The Trojan War","author":"Olivia Coolidge","reason":"Odysseus returns to Ithaca in disguise and waits in the swineherd's hut until the moment comes to string his bow.","vices":[]},{"slug":"virginia-and-kentucky-resolutions","title":"The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions","author":"James Madison and Thomas Jefferson","reason":"Kentucky's ninth resolution counsels watchfulness over power, binding even trusted rulers with the chains of the Constitution.","vices":[]},{"slug":"virginia-declaration-of-rights","title":"The Virginia Declaration of Rights","author":"George Mason","reason":"Section V sends lawmakers back to private life at fixed periods so that power will not harden into a separate interest.","vices":[]},{"slug":"virginia-statute-for-religious-freedom","title":"The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom","author":"Thomas Jefferson","reason":"It draws a careful line, leaving opinions free while allowing government to act when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-war-of-the-worlds","title":"The War of the Worlds","author":"H. G. Wells","reason":"The narrator sees through the artilleryman's boasts on Putney Hill and refuses to waste his strength on a scheme that is all talk.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-wealth-of-nations","title":"The Wealth of Nations","author":"Adam Smith","reason":"Book II praises the frugal man who saves and invests, and Book V ends by urging Britain to fit its designs to its real circumstances.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-wonderful-wizard-of-oz","title":"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz","author":"L. Frank Baum","reason":"The Scarecrow plans the tree bridge over the ditch and the raft across the river, showing good sense before he has any brains.","vices":[]},{"slug":"their-finest-hour","title":"Their Finest Hour","author":"Winston Churchill","reason":"He grounds his confidence in a sober count of ships, aircraft, and divisions instead of in rhetoric alone.","vices":["rashness"]},{"slug":"theodore-roosevelt-an-autobiography","title":"Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography","author":"Theodore Roosevelt","reason":"He sets aside national forests and fifty-one bird reservations so that natural resources will be kept for future generations.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hesiod-theogony-and-works-and-days","title":"Theogony and Works and Days","author":"Hesiod","reason":"Epimetheus forgets his brother's warning and accepts Pandora, understanding only when the evil is already his.","vices":["imprudence"]},{"slug":"through-gates-of-splendor","title":"Through Gates of Splendor","author":"Elisabeth Elliot","reason":"Before landing, the men spend months making gift drops and learning phrases so the first meeting will be peaceful.","vices":[]},{"slug":"through-the-looking-glass","title":"Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There","author":"Lewis Carroll","reason":"Alice keeps asking sensible questions of Humpty Dumpty and the White Queen instead of simply accepting their nonsense.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tinker-v-des-moines","title":"Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Black urges that schools be allowed to protect the singleness of purpose that learning requires.","vices":[]},{"slug":"to-kill-a-mockingbird","title":"To Kill a Mockingbird","author":"Harper Lee","reason":"Heck Tate judges that dragging the shy Boo Radley into public view for killing Ewell would be a sin, and Scout sees that it would be like shooting a mockingbird.","vices":[]},{"slug":"transamerica-mortgage-advisors-v-lewis","title":"Transamerica Mortgage Advisors, Inc. v. Lewis","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The majority finds a middle path, preserving the client's power to escape a tainted contract while leaving broader enforcement to the agency Congress designated.","vices":[]},{"slug":"huygens-treatise-on-light","title":"Treatise on Light","author":"Christiaan Huygens","reason":"In the preface he claims for his theory only a high probability, not geometrical certainty, and states the conditions under which it deserves belief.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tsc-industries-v-northway","title":"TSC Industries, Inc. v. Northway, Inc.","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Marshall weighs the value of disclosure against the cost of overwhelming shareholders, choosing a standard that serves informed judgment.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tennyson-ulysses","title":"Ulysses","author":"Alfred, Lord Tennyson","reason":"He entrusts Ithaca to Telemachus, whose slow prudence suits the patient work of governing.","vices":[]},{"slug":"chekhov-uncle-vanya","title":"Uncle Vanya","author":"Anton Chekhov","reason":"Astroff plants and protects forests for a future he will not see, as he explains in Acts I and III.","vices":[]},{"slug":"understood-betsy","title":"Understood Betsy","author":"Dorothy Canfield Fisher","reason":"In the surrey Betsy speaks carefully so that she can tell Aunt Frances the truth without hurting her.","vices":[]},{"slug":"united-states-v-nixon","title":"United States v. Nixon","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Rather than strip the Presidency of confidentiality, Burger directed private review in chambers so only admissible material would leave the President's control.","vices":[]},{"slug":"united-states-v-ohagan","title":"United States v. O'Hagan","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Thomas insists that a theory of criminal liability state its limits consistently before courts apply it to a defendant.","vices":[]},{"slug":"united-states-v-wong-kim-ark","title":"United States v. Wong Kim Ark","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Gray tests the government's theory by its consequences for thousands of children of European immigrants before rejecting it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"utopia","title":"Utopia","author":"Thomas More","reason":"More urges that a counsellor should steer the ship in a storm as best he can rather than abandon it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"veazie-bank-v-fenno","title":"Veazie Bank v. Fenno","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Chase builds his definition of direct taxes patiently from the Convention, early decisions and seventy years of congressional practice.","vices":[]},{"slug":"walden","title":"Walden","author":"Henry David Thoreau","reason":"His careful accounting of what shelter, food and clothing truly cost shows a practical wisdom about means and ends that most of his neighbors lacked.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tolstoy-war-and-peace","title":"War and Peace","author":"Leo Tolstoy","reason":"Kutúzov refuses the generals' pressure to attack the retreating French and waits for the invading army to collapse.","vices":[]},{"slug":"washington-v-glucksberg","title":"Washington v. Glucksberg","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court leaves a grave moral question to continued democratic deliberation rather than settling it for the whole nation.","vices":[]},{"slug":"chernow-washington","title":"Washington: A Life","author":"Ron Chernow","reason":"At Newburgh in 1783 he defuses an officers' conspiracy with a personal appeal rather than force.","vices":[]},{"slug":"watership-down","title":"Watership Down","author":"Richard Adams","reason":"Hazel heeds Fiver's warning and leads the band away from Sandleford and later from Cowslip's warren.","vices":[]},{"slug":"we-shall-fight-on-the-beaches","title":"We Shall Fight on the Beaches","author":"Winston Churchill","reason":"He warns Parliament that wars are not won by rescues and sets out the real losses before any call to resolve.","vices":[]},{"slug":"webb-v-united-states","title":"Webb v. United States","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The appeals court, uncertain how to apply a new and contested statute, asked the Supreme Court for guidance instead of guessing.","vices":[]},{"slug":"schrodinger-what-is-life","title":"What Is Life?","author":"Erwin Schrödinger","reason":"He narrows a vast question into precise problems of gene size, stability and thermodynamics that could be tested.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kennedy-when-baghdad-ruled-the-muslim-world","title":"When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World: The Rise and Fall of Islam's Greatest Dynasty","author":"Hugh Kennedy","reason":"Al-Mansur's careful choice of the site of Baghdad and his management of rivals in Chapter 2 secured the young dynasty.","vices":[]},{"slug":"wickard-v-filburn","title":"Wickard v. Filburn","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Jackson grounded the decision in stipulated economic facts about wheat markets rather than in abstract categories.","vices":[]},{"slug":"wisconsin-v-yoder","title":"Wisconsin v. Yoder","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Chief Justice Burger limited the holding carefully, warning that courts are not school boards and that few groups could make a comparable showing.","vices":[]},{"slug":"youngberg-v-romeo","title":"Youngberg v. Romeo","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Powell's opinion weighs the resident's liberty against the practical limits of an understaffed institution rather than adopting a rule that ignores either.","vices":[]},{"slug":"youngstown-sheet-and-tube-v-sawyer","title":"Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Vinson's dissent weighed the lives of soldiers in Korea and the nation's alliances against the formal allocation of powers.","vices":[]},{"slug":"zelman-v-simmons-harris","title":"Zelman v. Simmons-Harris","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Breyer weighs the long-term social consequences of public funding for religious schools in a religiously diverse nation.","vices":[]}],"quotes":[{"id":"an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding-q8","citation":"\"A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence\" — David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I (Project Gutenberg #9662)."},{"id":"autobiography-of-andrew-carnegie-q5","citation":"\"to put all good eggs in one basket and then watch that basket.\" — Andrew Carnegie, Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, Chapter XII (Project Gutenberg #17976 (Constable, 1920))."},{"id":"calvin-institutes-q1","citation":"\"Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.\" — John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book I, ch. 1, sec. 1, trans. Henry Beveridge."},{"id":"just-so-stories-q3","citation":"\"Their names are What and Where and When And How and Why and Who.\" — Rudyard Kipling, Just So Stories, The Elephant's Child, closing verses (Project Gutenberg #2781)."},{"id":"le-morte-darthur-q1","citation":"\"Do after the good and leave the evil, and it shall bring you to good fame and renown.\" — Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Caxton's Preface (Project Gutenberg #1251 (A. W. Pollard's edition of Caxton's text))."},{"id":"plutarch-lives-q2","citation":"\"Strike if you will, but hear\" — Plutarch, Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, Life of Themistocles, trans. John Dryden et al., rev. A. H. Clough (1864)."},{"id":"plato-meno-q6","citation":"\"that we shall be better and braver and less helpless if we think that we ought to enquire, than we should have been if we indulged in the idle fancy that there was no knowing and no use in seeking to know what we do not know\" — Plato, Meno, 86b-c, trans. Benjamin Jowett (1871)."},{"id":"my-fathers-dragon-q3","citation":"\"One doesn't contradict a hungry tiger.\" — Ruth Stiles Gannett, My Father's Dragon, Chapter Five, My Father Meets Some Tigers (Project Gutenberg #30017)."},{"id":"napoleons-maxims-of-war-q8","citation":"\"The first qualification in a general-in-chief is a cool head--that is, a head which receives just impressions, and estimates things and objects at their real value. He must not allow himself to be elated by good news, or depressed by bad\" — Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon's Maxims of War, Maxim LXXIII, trans. G. C. D'Aguilar from Burnod (1831; 1862 reprint)."},{"id":"d-day-order-of-the-day-q3","citation":"\"Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.\" — Dwight D. Eisenhower, Order of the Day, 6 June 1944, Paragraph 2 (National Archives transcription (1944 order))."},{"id":"pericles-funeral-oration-q4","citation":"\"instead of looking on discussion as a stumbling-block in the way of action, we think it an indispensable preliminary to any wise action at all.\" — Pericles, Pericles' Funeral Oration, Book II.40, trans. Richard Crawley (1874)."},{"id":"romeo-and-juliet-q4","citation":"\"Virtue itself turns vice being misapplied, And vice sometime’s by action dignified.\" — William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 3 (Project Gutenberg #1513 text)."},{"id":"romeo-and-juliet-q5","citation":"\"Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.\" — William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 3 (Project Gutenberg #1513 text)."},{"id":"webster-second-reply-to-hayne-q1","citation":"\"When the mariner has been tossed for many days in thick weather, and on an unknown sea, he naturally avails himself of the first pause in the storm, the earliest glance of the sun, to take his latitude, and ascertain how far the elements have driven him from his true course.\" — Daniel Webster, Second Reply to Hayne, Exordium, opening sentence (The Great Speeches and Orations of Daniel Webster, ed. Whipple (1879))."},{"id":"compromise-of-1850-speeches-q1","citation":"\"If my plan of peace, and accommodation, and harmony, is not right, present us your plan.\" — Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster, Speeches on the Compromise of 1850, Clay's speech, February 5-6, 1850, closing section (Calvin Colton, The Last Seven Years of the Life of Henry Clay (1856), appendix, Internet Archive OCR text)."},{"id":"poe-tales-q2","citation":"\"there is such a thing as being too profound. Truth is not always in a well.\" — Edgar Allan Poe, Tales (Selection), The Murders in the Rue Morgue (Project Gutenberg Raven Edition text)."},{"id":"tear-down-this-wall-q5","citation":"\"East and West do not mistrust each other because we are armed; we are armed because we mistrust each other.\" — Ronald Reagan, Tear Down This Wall (Brandenburg Gate Address), Paragraph 15 (Public Papers of the Presidents (1987))."},{"id":"the-art-of-war-q5","citation":"\"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat\" — Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Ch. III.18 (Attack by Stratagem), trans. Lionel Giles (1910)."},{"id":"the-black-arrow-q7","citation":"\"War is but noble by the cause, and y' have disgraced it.\" — Robert Louis Stevenson, The Black Arrow, Book V, Chapter V (Project Gutenberg #848)."},{"id":"burke-paine-debate-q1","citation":"\"What is the use of discussing a man's abstract right to food or medicine? The question is upon the method of procuring and administering them.\" — Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine, The Burke-Paine Debate on the French Revolution, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), on the real rights of men (The Works of Edmund Burke, vol. 3 (Nimmo), Project Gutenberg #15679; library text of reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france)."},{"id":"the-canterbury-tales-q3","citation":"\"And though that he was worthy he was wise\" — Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, the Knight (Purves edition, Project Gutenberg #2383 (spelling partly modernized))."},{"id":"fielding-tom-jones-q4","citation":"\"Prudence and circumspection are necessary even to the best of men. They are indeed, as it were, a guard to Virtue, without which she can never be safe.\" — Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book III, Chapter vii (Project Gutenberg #6593)."},{"id":"fielding-tom-jones-q8","citation":"\"He hath also, by reflection on his past follies, acquired a discretion and prudence very uncommon in one of his lively parts.\" — Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book XVIII, Chapter xii (Project Gutenberg #6593)."},{"id":"boswell-life-of-johnson-q8","citation":"\"My dear friend, clear your MIND of cant.\" — James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, 1783 (Aetat. 74) (Project Gutenberg #1564 (Osgood abridgment, 1917))."},{"id":"lincoln-douglas-debates-q3","citation":"\"In this and like communities, public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail ; without it nothing can succeed. Consequently he who moulds public sentiment, goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions.\" — Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, First Joint Debate, Ottawa, Lincoln's reply, closing section (Political Debates Between Lincoln and Douglas (Columbus: Follett, Foster, 1860), Internet Archive OCR text)."},{"id":"the-merchant-of-venice-q3","citation":"\"All that glisters is not gold\" — William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act 2, Scene 7 (Project Gutenberg #1515, modern spelling)."},{"id":"the-mysterious-affair-at-styles-q4","citation":"\"Everything must be taken into account. If the fact will not fit the theory—let the theory go.\" — Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Chapter V (Project Gutenberg #863)."},{"id":"the-oresteia-q1","citation":"\"Men shall learn wisdom, by affliction schooled\" — Aeschylus, The Oresteia, Agamemnon, parodos, trans. E. D. A. Morshead (1881)."},{"id":"the-prince-and-the-pauper-q4","citation":"\"Then how doth one know there was poison given at all?\" — Mark Twain, The Prince and the Pauper, Chapter XV (Project Gutenberg #1837)."},{"id":"the-princess-and-curdie-q1","citation":"\"the road to the next duty is the only straight one\" — George MacDonald, The Princess and Curdie, Chapter 1, The Mountain (Project Gutenberg #709)."},{"id":"the-republic-q1","citation":"\"Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest from their evils\" — Plato, The Republic, Book V, trans. Benjamin Jowett (1892)."},{"id":"the-story-of-king-arthur-and-his-knights-q2","citation":"\"thou must bear in mind that thou art not as an ordinary errant knight, but that thou art a King, and that thy life belongeth not unto thee, but unto thy people\" — Howard Pyle, The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, Book I, Part II, Chapter Third (1903 text)."},{"id":"the-story-of-my-life-q6","citation":"\"knowledge is happiness, because to have knowledge--broad, deep knowledge--is to know true ends from false, and lofty things from low.\" — Helen Keller, The Story of My Life, Part I, Chapter XX (Project Gutenberg #2397)."},{"id":"volsunga-saga-q4","citation":"\"Be kindly to friend and kin, and reward not their trespasses against thee; bear and forbear, and win for thee thereby long enduring praise of men.\" — Anonymous (Old Norse), The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga), Chapter XXI, trans. Eiríkr Magnússon and William Morris."},{"id":"lane-thousand-and-one-nights-q1","citation":"\"The lives of former generations are a lesson to posterity; that a man may review the remarkable events which have happened to others, and be admonished\" — Anonymous; translated by Edward William Lane, The Thousand and One Nights (Lane's translation, Volume I), Introduction, trans. Edward William Lane."},{"id":"lane-thousand-and-one-nights-q4","citation":"\"This is a Jinnee, and I am a man; and God hath given me sound reason; therefore, I will now plot his destruction with my art and reason, like as he hath plotted with his cunning and perfidy.\" — Anonymous; translated by Edward William Lane, The Thousand and One Nights (Lane's translation, Volume I), Chapter II, Story of the Fisherman, trans. Edward William Lane."},{"id":"theodore-roosevelt-an-autobiography-q8","citation":"\"The only safe rule is to promise little, and faithfully to keep every promise; to \"speak softly and carry a big stick.\"\" — Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography, Chapter XIV, The Monroe Doctrine and the Panama Canal (Project Gutenberg #3335 (1920 Scribner edition of the 1913 text))."},{"id":"twenty-years-at-hull-house-q4","citation":"\"It is easy to become the dupe of a deferred purpose, of the promise the future can never keep\" — Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull-House, Chapter IV, The Snare of Preparation (Macmillan, 1910 (Project Gutenberg #1325))."},{"id":"understood-betsy-q5","citation":"\"What would Cousin Ann do if she were here? She wouldn’t cry. She would THINK of something.\" — Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Understood Betsy, Chapter VII, Elizabeth Ann Fails in an Examination (Project Gutenberg #5347)."},{"id":"utopia-q3","citation":"\"you must not, therefore, abandon the commonwealth, for the same reasons as you should not forsake the ship in a storm because you cannot command the winds.\" — Thomas More, Utopia, Book I (Discourses of Raphael Hythloday), the dialogue of counsel, trans. Gilbert Burnet."}]},{"slug":"justice","name":"Justice","kind":"cardinal","summary":"The constant and firm will to give each person what is due to him: to God, to neighbors, to the community.","vices":[{"slug":"injustice","name":"Injustice","description":"Taking or withholding what belongs to another."},{"slug":"partiality","name":"Partiality","description":"Favoring persons against what the case deserves."},{"slug":"vengeance","name":"Vengeance","description":"Private retaliation that exceeds or usurps due judgment."}],"definitions":[{"source":"Aristotle","ref":"Nicomachean Ethics V.1-2","text":"Justice in the full sense is complete virtue in relation to others; particular justice concerns fair distribution and correction in exchanges."},{"source":"Cicero","ref":"De Officiis I.20-23","text":"The first office of justice is that no one harm another unless provoked by wrong; the second, that common things be used as common and private things as one’s own. Good faith, constancy and truth in promises, is its foundation."},{"source":"Aquinas","ref":"Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 58, a. 1","text":"Following the Roman lawyers, justice is a habit whereby a man renders to each one his due by a constant and perpetual will."},{"source":"Scripture","ref":"Micah 6:8 (KJV)","quote":"to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God","work":"the-bible"}],"questions":["How is giving each person his due different from treating everyone the same?","What do we owe to God, to parents, and to strangers?","When is punishment just, and when does it become vengeance?","Which character in your reading suffered injustice, and how did he or she respond?"],"url":"/virtues/justice/","works":[{"slug":"a-defence-of-the-constitutions","title":"A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America","author":"John Adams","reason":"His design gives the one, the few and the many each a share of power so that none can wrong the others.","vices":[]},{"slug":"calhoun-disquisition-on-government","title":"A Disquisition on Government","author":"John C. Calhoun","reason":"His praise of the jury, where twelve must agree on a true verdict under oath, shows the even-handed judgment he wanted government to imitate.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-letter-concerning-toleration","title":"A Letter Concerning Toleration","author":"John Locke","reason":"Excommunication may expel a member but must leave his body and estate untouched, since civil goods belong under the magistrate's equal protection.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-model-of-christian-charity","title":"A Model of Christian Charity","author":"John Winthrop","reason":"The discourse distinguishes the rule of justice in commerce from the rule of mercy toward the needy and gives careful rules for lending and forgiving debts.","vices":[]},{"slug":"joyce-portrait-of-the-artist","title":"A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man","author":"James Joyce","reason":"Pandied unfairly by Father Dolan, the small Stephen walks alone down the long corridor to tell the rector, who sets the wrong right.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mill-system-of-logic-book-iii","title":"A System of Logic, Book III: Of Induction","author":"John Stuart Mill","reason":"Mill states Whewell's views at length and in later editions answers his reply, granting where he thinks Whewell is right about Kepler's process of guessing.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-tale-of-two-cities","title":"A Tale of Two Cities","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"Darnay renounces an estate built on the misery of its tenants and returns to France to help the imprisoned Gabelle.","vices":[]},{"slug":"spinoza-theologico-political-treatise","title":"A Theologico-Political Treatise","author":"Baruch Spinoza","reason":"Spinoza insists that the faithful are known by their love of justice and charity and that a government must punish deeds, not opinions.","vices":[]},{"slug":"rawls-a-theory-of-justice","title":"A Theory of Justice","author":"John Rawls","reason":"Rawls opens the book by calling justice the first virtue of social institutions and builds his whole theory on that claim.","vices":[]},{"slug":"schechter-poultry-v-united-states","title":"A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court insists that criminal penalties rest on laws made by the body the Constitution entrusts with lawmaking.","vices":[]},{"slug":"aaron-v-sec","title":"Aaron v. SEC","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Stewart gives each clause of the statute its own meaning, so that defendants are held to the standard Congress actually wrote.","vices":[]},{"slug":"abington-school-district-v-schempp","title":"Abington School District v. Schempp","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Clark holds that a family's freedom of conscience in a public school does not depend on how many neighbors share its beliefs.","vices":[]},{"slug":"across-five-aprils","title":"Across Five Aprils","author":"Irene Hunt","reason":"Matt's earlier refusal to let a mob hang Travis Burdow shows a respect for law that Dave Burdow later repays by protecting Jethro.","vices":[]},{"slug":"addington-v-texas","title":"Addington v. Texas","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Burger holds that the State, not the individual, must bear most of the risk of a mistaken commitment.","vices":[]},{"slug":"adventures-of-huckleberry-finn","title":"Adventures of Huckleberry Finn","author":"Mark Twain","reason":"Huck steals back the Wilks gold from the frauds and hides it in Peter Wilks's coffin so the orphaned sisters will not be robbed.","vices":[]},{"slug":"aesops-fables","title":"Aesop's Fables","author":"Aesop","reason":"Fables such as The Wolf and the Lamb expose false accusation and the abuse of power.","vices":["injustice"]},{"slug":"alices-adventures-in-wonderland","title":"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland","author":"Lewis Carroll","reason":"Alice protests the Queen's demand for sentence before verdict as plain nonsense.","vices":[]},{"slug":"all-quiet-on-the-western-front","title":"All Quiet on the Western Front","author":"Erich Maria Remarque","reason":"Paul sees the starving Russian prisoners as men like himself and shares his cigarettes with them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"animal-farm","title":"Animal Farm","author":"George Orwell","reason":"Major's vision of a farm where all share the fruits of their labour is betrayed when the pigs take the milk and apples for themselves.","vices":["injustice"]},{"slug":"association-for-molecular-pathology-v-myriad-genetics","title":"Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc.","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Thomas gives Myriad credit for a genuine scientific achievement while holding that the law rewards only what a person has made, rendering to each side what the statute allows.","vices":[]},{"slug":"baker-v-carr","title":"Baker v. Carr","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Brennan holds that citizens whose votes count for a fraction of their neighbours' may at least be heard in court.","vices":[]},{"slug":"barron-v-baltimore","title":"Barron v. Baltimore","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The opinion gives each government its due sphere, insisting that state abuses be remedied by the people of the state under their own constitution.","vices":[]},{"slug":"basic-inc-v-levinson","title":"Basic Inc. v. Levinson","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Blackmun refuses to let companies misstate facts investors consider significant merely because a deal has not been finalized.","vices":[]},{"slug":"billy-budd-and-other-stories","title":"Billy Budd and Other Stories","author":"Herman Melville","reason":"Captain Vere weighs law, conscience, and necessity in judging Billy.","vices":[]},{"slug":"metaxas-bonhoeffer","title":"Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy","author":"Eric Metaxas","reason":"In 1933 he argues that the church must stand with the Jews and must not exclude pastors of Jewish descent.","vices":[]},{"slug":"botchan","title":"Botchan","author":"Natsume Sōseki","reason":"Botchan refuses the raise Red Shirt offers him out of the salary of the transferred Koga.","vices":[]},{"slug":"brown-v-board-of-education","title":"Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court held that the equal protection of the laws forbids states to assign children to schools by race.","vices":[]},{"slug":"buck-v-bell","title":"Buck v. Bell","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The case shows by its failure what justice requires: a genuine defense, honestly tested facts and regard for the person before the court.","vices":[]},{"slug":"captains-courageous","title":"Captains Courageous","author":"Rudyard Kipling","reason":"Disko refuses to sacrifice eight men's season's bread for one rich passenger and pays Harvey a fair wage.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sallust-catiline-and-jugurtha","title":"Catiline's War and The Jugurthine War","author":"Sallust (Gaius Sallustius Crispus)","reason":"Caesar urges the senate to judge the conspirators without hatred, affection, anger or pity, so that the punishment fits Roman precedent and not passion.","vices":[]},{"slug":"charles-river-bridge-v-warren-bridge","title":"Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Story insists that the state owes the bridge proprietors the full value of the bargain on which they risked their capital in 1785.","vices":[]},{"slug":"charlottes-web","title":"Charlotte's Web","author":"E. B. White","reason":"Fern protests in Chapter I that killing the runt just because it is small is unfair, and wins its life.","vices":[]},{"slug":"chiarella-v-united-states","title":"Chiarella v. United States","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Powell insists that a criminal conviction rest only on a duty the law actually imposes and a theory the jury actually heard.","vices":[]},{"slug":"villehardouin-conquest-of-constantinople","title":"Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and the Conquest of Constantinople","author":"Geoffrey de Villehardouin","reason":"The abbot of Vaux forbids the attack on Zara because its people are fellow Christians.","vices":[]},{"slug":"citizenship-in-a-republic","title":"Citizenship in a Republic (\"The Man in the Arena\")","author":"Theodore Roosevelt","reason":"He calls for equality of opportunity, puts human rights above property rights in a real conflict, and condemns class hatred on either side.","vices":[]},{"slug":"commentaries-on-the-laws-of-england","title":"Commentaries on the Laws of England","author":"William Blackstone","reason":"Book I, ch. 1 makes the protection of each person's security, liberty and property the principal aim of society.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mill-considerations-on-representative-government","title":"Considerations on Representative Government","author":"John Stuart Mill","reason":"Chapter VII calls it a needless injustice that a minority should have no representatives, and seeks representation in proportion to numbers.","vices":[]},{"slug":"cranford","title":"Cranford","author":"Elizabeth Gaskell","reason":"Miss Matty gives the farmer five sovereigns for the bank's note because she feels bound as a shareholder.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kant-critique-of-practical-reason","title":"Critique of Practical Reason","author":"Immanuel Kant","reason":"The gallows example turns on refusing to bear false witness against an innocent man, a duty the reader recognizes even at the cost of life.","vices":[]},{"slug":"cuchulain-of-muirthemne","title":"Cuchulain of Muirthemne","author":"Lady Gregory","reason":"After killing Culain's hound in self-defence, the boy offers to guard the smith's house himself until a new hound is trained.","vices":["injustice"]},{"slug":"dante-de-monarchia","title":"De Monarchia (with R. W. Church's essay on Dante)","author":"Dante Alighieri; R. W. Church","reason":"Book I argues that justice is strongest under a ruler free of greed, who can judge impartially between quarrelling princes.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mann-death-in-venice","title":"Death in Venice","author":"Thomas Mann","reason":"The English clerk tells Aschenbach the truth about the cholera, while Aschenbach resolves to warn the Polish family and then keeps silent.","vices":["injustice"]},{"slug":"ansary-destiny-disrupted","title":"Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes","author":"Tamim Ansary","reason":"Ansary sets out the beliefs and aims of reformers, secularists and Islamists in the terms each used, giving each side a fair hearing.","vices":[]},{"slug":"dirks-v-sec","title":"Dirks v. SEC","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Blackmun insists that shareholders who traded without the information should not bear the cost of exposing a fraud.","vices":[]},{"slug":"rousseau-discourse-on-inequality","title":"Discourse on the Origin of Inequality","author":"Jean-Jacques Rousseau","reason":"The conclusion judges it contrary to natural law that a handful of men abound in superfluities while the famished multitude lack necessities.","vices":[]},{"slug":"discourse-on-voluntary-servitude","title":"Discourse on Voluntary Servitude","author":"Étienne de La Boétie","reason":"The essay holds that no one is kept in servitude without injustice done him, and it ends by committing tyrants and their accomplices to the judgment of God.","vices":[]},{"slug":"district-of-columbia-v-heller","title":"District of Columbia v. Heller","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Justice Scalia sought to give the words of the Amendment the meaning they bore for the people who ratified them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"dobbs-v-jackson-womens-health-organization","title":"Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Kavanaugh sets out the arguments of each side in their strongest form before explaining what he believes the Constitution requires.","vices":[]},{"slug":"dred-scott-v-sandford","title":"Dred Scott v. Sandford","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Curtis gathered the laws of five states and the 1778 record of the Confederation Congress to argue that free men of African descent already held citizenship at the founding.","vices":[]},{"slug":"engel-v-vitale","title":"Engel v. Vitale","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Black seeks to protect religious minorities from the indirect pressure of a prayer backed by the power and prestige of the state.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ernst-and-ernst-v-hochfelder","title":"Ernst & Ernst v. Hochfelder","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Blackmun insists that investors who lost their savings deserve a remedy against professionals whose certificates the public relies on.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hume-political-essays","title":"Essays, Moral and Political (selection)","author":"David Hume","reason":"Of the Origin of Government makes the support of the judges the end of the whole apparatus of the state.","vices":[]},{"slug":"everson-v-board-of-education","title":"Everson v. Board of Education","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Black insists that the state may not cut off citizens from public welfare benefits because of their faith, while forbidding taxes in support of any church.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ex-parte-milligan","title":"Ex parte Milligan","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court insists that even a man accused of conspiring with the enemy must be indicted and tried by a jury in the open courts of his state.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mendel-experiments-in-plant-hybridisation","title":"Experiments in Plant Hybridisation (in Bateson's Mendel's Principles of Heredity)","author":"Gregor Mendel; William Bateson","reason":"Bateson's Defence insists that Mendel be judged by his own records rather than by a critic's misreading of them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"farmer-boy","title":"Farmer Boy","author":"Laura Ingalls Wilder","reason":"Almanzo returns Mr. Thompson's fifteen hundred dollars untouched, and Mr. Paddock insists that the honest boy be fairly rewarded.","vices":[]},{"slug":"balzac-father-goriot","title":"Father Goriot (Le Père Goriot)","author":"Honoré de Balzac","reason":"Rastignac refuses Vautrin's offer of Victorine's fortune bought with her brother's death.","vices":[]},{"slug":"fdr-first-inaugural-address","title":"First Inaugural Address (\"The only thing we have to fear\")","author":"Franklin D. Roosevelt","reason":"He demands an end to speculation with other people's money and to treating public office as a source of personal profit.","vices":[]},{"slug":"jefferson-first-inaugural-address","title":"First Inaugural Address (Jefferson)","author":"Thomas Jefferson","reason":"He names equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, as the first essential principle of the government.","vices":[]},{"slug":"cicero-first-catilinarian","title":"First Oration Against Catiline","author":"Marcus Tullius Cicero","reason":"The speech insists that the consul's duty is the safety of the whole republic and that the senate's decree exists to protect citizens from murder and arson.","vices":["injustice"]},{"slug":"fletcher-v-peck","title":"Fletcher v. Peck","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court protects buyers who paid fairly and knew nothing of the bribery from losing land they had honestly acquired.","vices":[]},{"slug":"freedom-and-the-law","title":"Freedom and the Law","author":"Bruno Leoni","reason":"He describes the Roman jurisconsults and English judges as discovering what each party could rightly claim in a particular case rather than imposing a new rule.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gibbons-v-ogden","title":"Gibbons v. Ogden","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court opens navigation between New York and New Jersey to any vessel licensed by Congress, ending a monopoly that kept rival boats out of shared waters.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gideon-v-wainwright","title":"Gideon v. Wainwright","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court holds that every defendant must stand equal before the law, whatever his means.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gitlow-v-new-york","title":"Gitlow v. New York","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court, for the first time, treats freedom of speech as a liberty the states themselves must respect.","vices":[]},{"slug":"give-me-liberty-or-give-me-death","title":"Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death","author":"Patrick Henry","reason":"He frames the question as one of freedom or slavery and of rights long petitioned for and spurned.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gonzales-v-raich","title":"Gonzales v. Raich","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Stevens holds that a single national rule must apply evenly, while the dissenters insist that the Constitution's division of powers be honored.","vices":[]},{"slug":"griswold-v-connecticut","title":"Griswold v. Connecticut","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The majority seeks to protect the marriage relationship from intrusion by the criminal law into the home.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hamiltons-reports-and-opinion-on-the-bank","title":"Hamilton's Reports and Opinion on the Bank","author":"Alexander Hamilton","reason":"Hamilton insists on paying both original holders and later purchasers the full amount the government promised, calling anything less a breach of contract.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hamlet","title":"Hamlet","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Claudius's murder of his brother is exposed and punished, and the throne passes to Fortinbras.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hayne-speech-on-foots-resolution","title":"Hayne's Reply to Webster (Speech on Foot's Resolution)","author":"Robert Y. Hayne","reason":"Hayne asks that the government win the people's loyalty by dispensing equal justice rather than by distributing money and favors.","vices":[]},{"slug":"henry-v","title":"Henry V","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"He condemns the Southampton traitors and the church-robber Bardolph without regard to friendship.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hepburn-v-griswold","title":"Hepburn v. Griswold","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Chase insists that creditors who lent in good faith should receive the value they were promised, not a lesser sum fixed by statute.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ovid-heroides","title":"Heroides","author":"Ovid","reason":"Hypermnestra's refusal to obey an unjust command to murder sets right above her father's will.","vices":[]},{"slug":"procopius-history-of-the-wars-persian-war","title":"History of the Wars, Books I-II (The Persian War)","author":"Procopius of Caesarea","reason":"Procopius declares in his preface that he will record the failures even of his closest acquaintances because truth alone belongs to history.","vices":[]},{"slug":"homer-price","title":"Homer Price","author":"Robert McCloskey","reason":"Homer gets to know the bearded stranger Michael Murphy before judging him, while the sheriff and the town judge him by his beard and ears.","vices":[]},{"slug":"house-divided-speech","title":"House Divided Speech","author":"Abraham Lincoln","reason":"He refuses the care-not doctrine and insists that whether slavery spreads is a moral question the nation must decide.","vices":["injustice"]},{"slug":"i-have-a-dream","title":"I Have a Dream","author":"Martin Luther King Jr.","reason":"King demands that the nation pay the debt of equal citizenship promised in the Declaration and the Constitution.","vices":["injustice"]},{"slug":"if-kipling","title":"If—","author":"Rudyard Kipling","reason":"Being lied about, the son must not deal in lies, and being hated, must not give way to hating, refusing to repay wrong with wrong.","vices":[]},{"slug":"in-flanders-fields","title":"In Flanders Fields","author":"John McCrae","reason":"The poem treats keeping faith with those who died as a debt the living owe them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"euripides-iphigenia-in-aulis-and-other-plays","title":"Iphigenia in Aulis and Other Plays","author":"Euripides","reason":"In The Suppliants Theseus defends written law and wins burial for the Argive dead.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ivanhoe","title":"Ivanhoe","author":"Walter Scott","reason":"Ivanhoe rides out still weak from his wound to defend an innocent woman at Templestowe.","vices":[]},{"slug":"jacobson-v-massachusetts","title":"Jacobson v. Massachusetts","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Harlan holds that each person's liberty must be exercised without injury to the safety of neighbors.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mccullough-john-adams","title":"John Adams","author":"David McCullough","reason":"Adams defends the British soldiers after the Boston Massacre because he believes every accused person deserves counsel.","vices":[]},{"slug":"jude-the-obscure","title":"Jude the Obscure","author":"Thomas Hardy","reason":"Phillotson, at the cost of his post, refuses to hold Sue against her will, judging that conscience outweighs his claim.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kidnapped","title":"Kidnapped","author":"Robert Louis Stevenson","reason":"David recovers his rightful estate by lawful means through Mr. Rankeillor and resolves to testify for the innocent James Stewart.","vices":[]},{"slug":"korematsu-v-united-states","title":"Korematsu v. United States","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Jackson insisted that guilt is personal and refused to let the law punish a citizen for an act innocent in anyone of different parentage.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lassie-come-home","title":"Lassie Come-Home","author":"Eric Knight","reason":"Sam Carraclough returns Lassie to the Duke every time she escapes, because she was honestly sold.","vices":["dishonor"]},{"slug":"plato-laws","title":"Laws","author":"Plato","reason":"Book IV makes rulers the servants of the law and promises salvation to the state where law stands above those who govern.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kuyper-lectures-on-calvinism","title":"Lectures on Calvinism","author":"Abraham Kuyper","reason":"In Lecture III he assigns the state the duty of protecting each sphere of society and the conscience of each person rather than absorbing them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"legal-tender-cases","title":"Legal Tender Cases","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Field insists that the Constitution's purpose to establish justice requires that debts be paid in substance and not merely in name.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lemon-v-kurtzman","title":"Lemon v. Kurtzman","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"White argues that families who educate their children in religious schools still perform a public function the state may fairly support.","vices":[]},{"slug":"les-miserables","title":"Les Misérables","author":"Victor Hugo","reason":"Valjean walks into the court at Arras and names himself so that Champmathieu will not be condemned in his place.","vices":[]},{"slug":"letters-from-a-farmer-in-pennsylvania","title":"Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania","author":"John Dickinson","reason":"Dickinson grants Parliament its lawful power over trade while denying the power to tax, giving each authority its due.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lex-rex","title":"Lex, Rex","author":"Samuel Rutherford","reason":"Question XXVI insists that the king himself is bound by the law that made him king, so that no one stands outside justice.","vices":[]},{"slug":"linder-v-united-states","title":"Linder v. United States","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"McReynolds insists that a physician's good faith be judged on evidence, not presumed absent because his patient was addicted.","vices":[]},{"slug":"little-britches","title":"Little Britches","author":"Ralph Moody","reason":"Father first negotiates a fair sharing of the ditch water with the upstream ranchers before taking them to court.","vices":[]},{"slug":"little-lord-fauntleroy","title":"Little Lord Fauntleroy","author":"Frances Hodgson Burnett","reason":"He persuades the Earl to spare the farmer Higgins and to pull down the fever-ridden cottages of Earl's Court.","vices":["indifference"]},{"slug":"plutarch-lives","title":"Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans","author":"Plutarch","reason":"Aristides the Just, Phocion, and Cato the Younger show justice in public office and in poverty.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lochner-v-new-york","title":"Lochner v. New York","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Peckham insists that the state may not favor one class of workers through a law dressed as a health measure if it bears no real relation to health.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lord-of-the-flies","title":"Lord of the Flies","author":"William Golding","reason":"Ralph insists on assemblies, the rule of the conch and shared duties, and goes to Castle Rock to demand Piggy's stolen glasses back.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lowe-v-sec","title":"Lowe v. SEC","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Stevens judges the newsletters by what they were rather than by their author's past wrongs, refusing to punish speech for the speaker's history.","vices":[]},{"slug":"magna-carta","title":"Magna Carta","author":"King John and the barons of England","reason":"Clauses 39 and 40 promise that no freeman will be punished without lawful judgment and that justice will be neither sold nor delayed.","vices":["injustice"]},{"slug":"mapp-v-ohio","title":"Mapp v. Ohio","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Clark insists that the citizen receive no more than the Constitution guarantees and the officer no less than honest law enforcement deserves.","vices":[]},{"slug":"marbury-v-madison","title":"Marbury v. Madison","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The opinion insists that every vested legal right deserves the protection of the laws, even against the highest executive officers.","vices":[]},{"slug":"friends-romans-countrymen","title":"Mark Antony's Funeral Oration (\"Friends, Romans, countrymen\")","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Antony answers the charge of ambition with evidence the citizens saw themselves, the ransoms, the tears for the poor and the refused crown.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mcculloch-v-maryland","title":"McCulloch v. Maryland","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The opinion protects an institution created by all the people from being taxed by the people of one state alone, while preserving the states' ordinary taxes.","vices":[]},{"slug":"meditations","title":"Meditations","author":"Marcus Aurelius","reason":"Marcus repeatedly reminds himself that he was made for the common good and to act justly toward others.","vices":[]},{"slug":"usama-ibn-munqidh-memoirs","title":"Memoirs of Usama ibn Munqidh","author":"Usama ibn Munqidh","reason":"After describing fatal Frankish treatments he immediately reports a Frankish cure that worked, giving the other side its due.","vices":[]},{"slug":"meyer-v-nebraska","title":"Meyer v. Nebraska","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"McReynolds insists that constitutional protection belongs equally to those who speak other languages and to those born speaking English.","vices":[]},{"slug":"middlemarch","title":"Middlemarch","author":"George Eliot","reason":"Mary Garth refuses to burn Featherstone's will at his command on his last night, though it may cost Fred his inheritance.","vices":[]},{"slug":"minersville-school-district-v-gobitis","title":"Minersville School District v. Gobitis","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Stone, writing alone against eight colleagues, argued that the Court owed special protection to a small and unpopular faith.","vices":[]},{"slug":"miranda-v-arizona","title":"Miranda v. Arizona","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Warren insists that the government produce evidence by its own labors rather than by compelling it from the accused.","vices":[]},{"slug":"oneill-mourning-becomes-electra","title":"Mourning Becomes Electra","author":"Eugene O'Neill","reason":"Lavinia refuses to let her father's murder go unpunished and finally judges herself as strictly as she judged her mother.","vices":[]},{"slug":"much-ado-about-nothing","title":"Much Ado About Nothing","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Benedick risks his friendship with Claudio and the Prince to challenge the man who shamed an innocent woman.","vices":[]},{"slug":"munn-v-illinois","title":"Munn v. Illinois","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Waite holds that those who control a passage through which all must go may charge only what is reasonable, a principle as old as Hale's ferries.","vices":[]},{"slug":"nfib-v-sebelius","title":"National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Ginsburg emphasizes fairness to insured Americans who bear the costs of care for those without coverage.","vices":[]},{"slug":"near-v-minnesota","title":"Near v. Minnesota","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Hughes holds that even a scandal sheet must be answered through libel trials on what it actually printed rather than silenced in advance.","vices":[]},{"slug":"new-york-times-v-sullivan","title":"New York Times Co. v. Sullivan","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Brennan seeks a rule that protects officials from deliberate lies while leaving citizens free to criticize their government.","vices":[]},{"slug":"nlrb-v-jones-and-laughlin-steel","title":"NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp.","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The opinion holds that workers may choose their representatives as freely as the company chooses its officers.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sartre-no-exit-and-three-other-plays","title":"No Exit and Three Other Plays","author":"Jean-Paul Sartre","reason":"Lizzie at first refuses to sign the senator's false statement against an innocent man, and hides him from the mob.","vices":[]},{"slug":"no-treason","title":"No Treason","author":"Lysander Spooner","reason":"His whole argument turns on the claim that no one may rightly take another's property or service without his agreement, as in the highwayman comparison of No. VI.","vices":[]},{"slug":"norman-v-baltimore-and-ohio-railroad","title":"Norman v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co. (Gold Clause Cases)","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Both opinions ask what creditors and debtors are fairly owed when the value of money itself has been changed by law.","vices":[]},{"slug":"oconnor-v-donaldson","title":"O'Connor v. Donaldson","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court insists that a person's liberty cannot be taken without a real justification, however unpopular or unusual that person may be.","vices":[]},{"slug":"obergefell-v-hodges","title":"Obergefell v. Hodges","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Both the majority and the dissents framed their opinions as faithful to the Constitution: Kennedy in extending equal treatment to the petitioners, Roberts in preserving the people's authority to decide.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hooker-laws-of-ecclesiastical-polity","title":"Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (Preface and Book I)","author":"Richard Hooker","reason":"Hooker teaches that human laws must be measured by the law eternal and the law of reason to discern whether they are reasonable, just and righteous.","vices":[]},{"slug":"oliver-twist","title":"Oliver Twist","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"Mr. Brownlow patiently gathers proof until Monks must confess the destroyed will and restore Oliver's inheritance.","vices":[]},{"slug":"olmstead-v-lc","title":"Olmstead v. L. C.","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court insists that people able to live in the community should not be kept apart merely because services were not arranged for them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"cicero-on-duties","title":"On Duties (De Officiis)","author":"Marcus Tullius Cicero","reason":"Book I makes good faith in promises the foundation of justice and forbids harming anyone who has done no wrong.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gilbert-de-magnete","title":"On the Magnet (De Magnete)","author":"William Gilbert","reason":"He asks that due honour be paid to Aristotle, Ptolemy, Hippocrates and Galen even while correcting them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"one-day-in-the-life-of-ivan-denisovich","title":"One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich","author":"Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn","reason":"Tyurin fights the camp administration for a fair work report so his brigade will be fed.","vices":[]},{"slug":"goldsworthy-pax-romana","title":"Pax Romana: War, Peace and Conquest in the Roman World","author":"Adrian Goldsworthy","reason":"The chapters on governors examine how provincials could prosecute extortionate officials, showing Roman law's attempt to restrain abuse.","vices":[]},{"slug":"pearl-harbor-address","title":"Pearl Harbor Address (\"A Date Which Will Live in Infamy\")","author":"Franklin D. Roosevelt","reason":"He grounds the declaration in an unprovoked attack made during negotiations, and seeks it through Congress as the Constitution requires.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kant-perpetual-peace","title":"Perpetual Peace","author":"Immanuel Kant","reason":"Kant grounds peace in right, insisting that every state's constitution and every policy toward other nations be measured by principles that could be declared publicly.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hegel-philosophy-of-right","title":"Philosophy of Right","author":"G. W. F. Hegel","reason":"§36 grounds all right in the command to be a person and respect others as persons, and Part One treats punishment as honouring the offender as rational.","vices":[]},{"slug":"heisenberg-physics-and-philosophy","title":"Physics and Philosophy","author":"Werner Heisenberg","reason":"He devotes a full chapter to stating and answering the critics of his own interpretation.","vices":[]},{"slug":"pierce-v-society-of-sisters","title":"Pierce v. Society of Sisters","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court protects lawful schools that had done nothing wrong from being destroyed by a law that served no purpose regulation could not.","vices":[]},{"slug":"planned-parenthood-v-casey","title":"Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Scalia insists that the Court's task is to decide what the Constitution protects, not what the Justices prefer, and the joint opinion likewise disclaims any power to mandate its authors' moral code.","vices":[]},{"slug":"plessy-v-ferguson","title":"Plessy v. Ferguson","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Harlan grounds his dissent in the principle that every citizen stands equal before the law in the exercise of civil rights.","vices":[]},{"slug":"plyler-v-doe","title":"Plyler v. Doe","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court insists that the protection of equal laws extends to every person within a state's jurisdiction.","vices":[]},{"slug":"politics","title":"Politics","author":"Aristotle","reason":"Aristotle grounds the city in a shared sense of the just and asks which regimes aim at the common good.","vices":[]},{"slug":"orwell-politics-and-the-english-language","title":"Politics and the English Language","author":"George Orwell","reason":"The political section insists that violent acts be called by plain names so that readers can judge them honestly.","vices":[]},{"slug":"pollock-v-farmers-loan-and-trust","title":"Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Fuller holds the government to the terms of a bargain the states made in 1787, however inconvenient its results.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tawney-religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism","title":"Religion and the Rise of Capitalism","author":"R. H. Tawney","reason":"Tawney traces the medieval demand that prices and loans not exploit a neighbour's necessity.","vices":[]},{"slug":"rerum-novarum","title":"Rerum Novarum","author":"Pope Leo XIII","reason":"Leo insists that a wage must suffice for a frugal and well-behaved worker, whatever the bargain says.","vices":[]},{"slug":"reves-v-ernst-and-young","title":"Reves v. Ernst & Young","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Marshall extends the securities laws' protection to ordinary cooperative members who bought notes advertised as safe investments.","vices":[]},{"slug":"reynolds-v-united-states","title":"Reynolds v. United States","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Waite holds that a man who keeps a witness away cannot invoke the right of confrontation to profit from his own wrong.","vices":[]},{"slug":"richard-iii","title":"Richard III","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"The fulfillment of Margaret's curses and Richard's defeat show the moral order the play upholds against tyranny.","vices":[]},{"slug":"robinson-v-california","title":"Robinson v. California","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Stewart insists that punishment answer to what a person has done, not merely to what condition he is found to be in.","vices":[]},{"slug":"roe-v-wade","title":"Roe v. Wade","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Both the majority and White's dissent insist that the interests on each side be weighed, disagreeing chiefly over whether a court or a legislature should do the weighing.","vices":[]},{"slug":"san-antonio-isd-v-rodriguez","title":"San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Marshall insists that a child's start in life should not depend on the taxable property of the district where the family happens to live.","vices":[]},{"slug":"schenck-v-united-states","title":"Schenck v. United States","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court weighs the nation's duty to raise an army in wartime against the citizen's freedom to criticize the law, giving each a place in its test.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sec-v-capital-gains-research-bureau","title":"SEC v. Capital Gains Research Bureau, Inc.","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Goldberg insists that those who are paid for advice give clients what they bargained for: counsel free of hidden self-interest.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sec-v-edwards","title":"SEC v. Edwards","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court refuses to let promoters escape the securities laws by the simple device of promising a fixed rate.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sec-v-w-j-howey-co","title":"SEC v. W. J. Howey Co.","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Murphy insists that investors receive the disclosure the law requires whatever legal form the offering takes.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lincoln-second-inaugural-address","title":"Second Inaugural Address","author":"Abraham Lincoln","reason":"He names two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil as an offense that must be paid for, and judges the war's cost righteous.","vices":[]},{"slug":"webster-second-reply-to-hayne","title":"Second Reply to Hayne","author":"Daniel Webster","reason":"He insists that each Senator must regard the good of the whole with an equal eye and that federal law binds every state alike.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sermons-and-letter-from-birmingham-jail","title":"Sermons and Letter from Birmingham Jail","author":"Martin Luther King Jr.","reason":"King distinguishes just and unjust laws, drawing on Augustine and Aquinas.","vices":[]},{"slug":"shearson-american-express-v-mcmahon","title":"Shearson/American Express Inc. v. McMahon","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Blackmun insists that the securities laws were written to protect investors and that the forum for their claims should serve that end.","vices":[]},{"slug":"pirandello-three-plays","title":"Six Characters in Search of an Author and Other Plays","author":"Luigi Pirandello","reason":"The Step-Daughter demands that the scene at Madame Pace's be shown truthfully rather than softened by the actors.","vices":[]},{"slug":"slaughter-house-cases","title":"Slaughter-House Cases","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Field and Bradley insist that every citizen, whatever his race or condition, has an equal claim to pursue a lawful calling without a state-made monopoly in the way.","vices":[]},{"slug":"elizabeth-speech-at-tilbury","title":"Speech to the Troops at Tilbury","author":"Elizabeth I","reason":"She pledges in the word of a prince that the soldiers' rewards shall be duly paid, binding herself to what she owes them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"standard-oil-v-united-states","title":"Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Both opinions agree that a combination built to exclude rivals and control a necessary commodity must be undone.","vices":[]},{"slug":"plato-statesman","title":"Statesman","author":"Plato","reason":"When true rulers are absent, the Stranger insists that cities keep their laws strictly rather than let anyone override them for private ends.","vices":[]},{"slug":"stuart-little","title":"Stuart Little","author":"E. B. White","reason":"As substitute teacher at School Number Seven, Stuart sets the children thinking about what fair laws a Chairman of the World should make.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sweatt-v-painter","title":"Sweatt v. Painter","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court insists that Sweatt is owed, as an individual and without delay, the same legal education Texas offered other applicants.","vices":[]},{"slug":"poe-tales","title":"Tales (Selection)","author":"Edgar Allan Poe","reason":"Dupin investigates the Rue Morgue killings partly to free Adolphe Le Bon, an innocent clerk who once did him a service.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lewis-the-abolition-of-man","title":"The Abolition of Man","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"The appendix gathers laws of justice, good faith and duty to parents and children as part of the Tao shared by many civilizations.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-adventures-of-sherlock-holmes","title":"The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes","author":"Arthur Conan Doyle","reason":"Holmes clears James McCarthy and Arthur Holder, both wrongly accused, and exposes James Windibank's heartless trick on his stepdaughter.","vices":[]},{"slug":"duhem-the-aim-and-structure-of-physical-theory","title":"The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory","author":"Pierre Duhem","reason":"In tracing the history of gravitation he gives credit to ancient and medieval thinkers whom earlier histories had passed over.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-arabian-nights","title":"The Arabian Nights Entertainments","author":"Andrew Lang (ed.)","reason":"The Caliph, having heard Ali Colia's case judged by a child at play, has the child decide the real case and restores the stolen gold.","vices":[]},{"slug":"articles-of-confederation","title":"The Articles of Confederation","author":"Continental Congress","reason":"Article IX sets out a careful procedure of commissioners drawn by lot to settle boundary disputes between states fairly.","vices":[]},{"slug":"athenian-constitution","title":"The Athenian Constitution","author":"Aristotle (attributed)","reason":"Solon frees the poor from debt slavery while refusing to strip the rich of their land, holding his shield over both.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-black-arrow","title":"The Black Arrow","author":"Robert Louis Stevenson","reason":"Dick gives up Gloucester's favor to buy back the life of Arblaster, whom his theft of the Good Hope had ruined.","vices":[]},{"slug":"book-of-enoch","title":"The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch)","author":"Anonymous","reason":"The archangels bring the cry of the slain earth before God in Chapter IX, and judgment falls on the Watchers who corrupted it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"burke-paine-debate","title":"The Burke-Paine Debate on the French Revolution","author":"Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine","reason":"Paine grounds his argument in the equal rights of all men by creation and closes Part II with provision for the poor and the aged.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-comedy-of-errors","title":"The Comedy of Errors","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Duke Solinus upholds the law but gives Egeon a day's grace and pardons him once the truth is known.","vices":[]},{"slug":"harrington-oceana","title":"The Commonwealth of Oceana","author":"James Harrington","reason":"The girls' rule of divide and choose, which Harrington makes the principle of his senate and people, ensures that each receives a fair share.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-count-of-monte-cristo","title":"The Count of Monte Cristo","author":"Alexandre Dumas","reason":"Dantes’ revenge raises the question of where justice ends and vengeance begins.","vices":["vengeance"]},{"slug":"camus-the-fall","title":"The Fall","author":"Albert Camus","reason":"As a lawyer Clamence defended widows and orphans and refused bribes, real works of justice whose motives he later examines.","vices":[]},{"slug":"heather-the-fall-of-the-roman-empire","title":"The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians","author":"Peter Heather","reason":"Heather presents competing interpretations of Rome's fall and answers them with evidence rather than dismissing them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-federalist-papers","title":"The Federalist Papers","author":"Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay","reason":"Madison calls justice the end of government and civil society in No. 51.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gettysburg-address","title":"The Gettysburg Address","author":"Abraham Lincoln","reason":"The address grounds the nation on the proposition that all men are created equal and calls the war a test of it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-giver","title":"The Giver","author":"Lois Lowry","reason":"After seeing his father release a newborn twin, Jonas refuses to accept the Community's practice and plans with the Giver to return the memories to all.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kennedy-the-great-arab-conquests","title":"The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In","author":"Hugh Kennedy","reason":"Kennedy gives a chapter to the conquered peoples' own accounts, setting their testimony beside the victors'.","vices":[]},{"slug":"solzhenitsyn-the-gulag-archipelago","title":"The Gulag Archipelago","author":"Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn","reason":"He gathered the testimony of hundreds of prisoners so that their wrongs, and the names of the dead, would be recorded.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kingsley-the-heroes","title":"The Heroes; or, Greek Fairy Tales for My Children","author":"Charles Kingsley","reason":"Theseus clears the road to Athens of Sinis, Sciron and Procrustes, punishing each robber with his own cruelty.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-hiding-place","title":"The Hiding Place","author":"Corrie ten Boom","reason":"The family risks everything to protect Haarlem's Jews from deportation, refusing to stand aside while their neighbors are hunted.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tacitus-the-histories","title":"The Histories","author":"Tacitus","reason":"Helvidius Priscus presses the senate in Book IV to act independently and hold informers to account after the civil war.","vices":[]},{"slug":"polybius-histories-book-vi","title":"The Histories, Book VI","author":"Polybius","reason":"Roman magistrates entrusted with great sums keep their oath, while Rome punishes bribery for office with death (ch. 56).","vices":[]},{"slug":"livy-history-of-rome-books-i-v","title":"The History of Rome, Books I-V","author":"Livy (Titus Livius)","reason":"Brutus in Book II sits in judgment on his own sons for plotting to restore the Tarquins and does not spare them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gibbon-decline-and-fall-selections","title":"The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Selections)","author":"Edward Gibbon","reason":"Gibbon praises Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius for governing a vast empire under the guidance of virtue and wisdom (Chapter III).","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-history-of-the-peloponnesian-war","title":"The History of the Peloponnesian War","author":"Thucydides","reason":"The Melian Dialogue presses the question whether justice has any place between unequal powers.","vices":["injustice"]},{"slug":"the-horse-and-his-boy","title":"The Horse and His Boy","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Aravis's scratches answer the stripes her maid suffered for her escape, and Aravis asks Aslan whether the maid will be hurt any more.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-innocence-of-father-brown","title":"The Innocence of Father Brown","author":"G. K. Chesterton","reason":"Israel Gow takes every grain of the gold willed to him and not one grain more, even putting the earl's skull back in the grave once its gold tooth is removed.","vices":[]},{"slug":"justinian-institutes","title":"The Institutes of Justinian","author":"Justinian I (Tribonian and commissioners)","reason":"Book I, Title 1 defines justice as the constant purpose of giving each his due and makes it the foundation of all the law that follows.","vices":[]},{"slug":"journal-of-john-woolman","title":"The Journal of John Woolman","author":"John Woolman","reason":"After writing one bill of sale for an enslaved woman, Woolman refuses to write the next conveyance a young Friend asks of him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-last-days-of-socrates","title":"The Last Days of Socrates","author":"Plato","reason":"In the Crito Socrates refuses to escape, holding that one must never return wrong for wrong.","vices":["injustice"]},{"slug":"bastiat-the-law","title":"The Law","author":"Frédéric Bastiat","reason":"Bastiat insists that the law exists to give each person the secure possession of what is his and to take from no one.","vices":[]},{"slug":"leipzig-disputation","title":"The Leipzig Disputation","author":"Martin Luther, Johann Eck, and Andreas Karlstadt","reason":"Both parties agreed in advance to notaries and outside university judges so that the debate would be recorded and assessed fairly.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lincoln-douglas-debates","title":"The Lincoln-Douglas Debates","author":"Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas","reason":"Lincoln insisted at Ottawa that in the right to eat the bread his own hand earns, the black man is the equal of every living man.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-lion-the-witch-and-the-wardrobe","title":"The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Edmund, rescued and forgiven, fights his way to the Witch and breaks her wand, and is crowned King Edmund the Just.","vices":[]},{"slug":"popper-the-logic-of-scientific-discovery","title":"The Logic of Scientific Discovery","author":"Karl Popper","reason":"His rules against conventionalist stratagems require that a theory be judged fairly by the evidence rather than protected by special pleading.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-magicians-nephew","title":"The Magician's Nephew","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Frank the cabby, made king, promises Aslan to rule the creatures fairly, protect them from enemies, and favor none above the others.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mayflower-compact","title":"The Mayflower Compact","author":"The Mayflower Pilgrims","reason":"The signers promise to frame just and equal laws for the general good and to obey them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-merchant-of-venice","title":"The Merchant of Venice","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Portia, as Balthazar, refuses to wrest the law of Venice even for Antonio's sake and decides the case by the bond's exact words.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood","title":"The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood","author":"Howard Pyle","reason":"The band resists corrupt force on behalf of the wronged.","vices":["injustice"]},{"slug":"archimedes-the-method","title":"The Method (Geometrical Solutions Derived from Mechanics)","author":"Archimedes","reason":"He gives due credit to Democritus for first stating the cone's volume and to Eudoxus for first proving it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lakatos-the-methodology-of-scientific-research-programmes","title":"The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes","author":"Imre Lakatos","reason":"In Chapter 2 he insists that methodologies be judged fairly against the whole history of science rather than against a few convenient cases.","vices":[]},{"slug":"monroe-doctrine","title":"The Monroe Doctrine","author":"James Monroe","reason":"The message upholds the independence of the Spanish American republics that the United States had recognized on what Monroe calls just principles.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-moonstone","title":"The Moonstone","author":"Wilkie Collins","reason":"Franklin Blake gathers the witnesses' narratives and submits to Ezra Jennings' experiment to establish the truth about his own guilt.","vices":["injustice"]},{"slug":"the-mysterious-affair-at-styles","title":"The Mysterious Affair at Styles","author":"Agatha Christie","reason":"Poirot repays Mrs. Inglethorp's charity to the Belgian refugees by refusing to rest until her murderers are found.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kaldellis-the-new-roman-empire","title":"The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium","author":"Anthony Kaldellis","reason":"The book credits the empire's endurance partly to a legal system, from Justinian's codification onward, that gave subjects reason to support the state.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tocqueville-old-regime","title":"The Old Regime and the Revolution","author":"Alexis de Tocqueville","reason":"He records how the taille and the road corvée fell on peasants while nobles and officials enjoyed exemptions.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-oresteia","title":"The Oresteia","author":"Aeschylus","reason":"The trilogy moves from blood vengeance to the founding of a jury court on the Areopagus.","vices":["vengeance"]},{"slug":"arendt-the-origins-of-totalitarianism","title":"The Origins of Totalitarianism","author":"Hannah Arendt","reason":"Ch. 9 asks what is owed to the stateless, who had lost every legal protection through no deed of their own.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-prince-and-the-pauper","title":"The Prince and the Pauper","author":"Mark Twain","reason":"Tom frees the man condemned for an unproved poisoning in Chapter XV after examining the evidence himself.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-princess-and-curdie","title":"The Princess and Curdie","author":"George MacDonald","reason":"Curdie exposes Dr Kelman and the plotting courtiers and helps the king judge them in the market place.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-republic","title":"The Republic","author":"Plato","reason":"The whole dialogue seeks a definition of justice in the city and in the soul.","vices":["injustice"]},{"slug":"cicero-republic-and-laws","title":"The Republic and The Laws","author":"Marcus Tullius Cicero","reason":"Laelius defends justice as a law of nature against Philus's argument that it is only the interest of the stronger.","vices":[]},{"slug":"grotius-rights-of-war-and-peace","title":"The Rights of War and Peace (Book I)","author":"Hugo Grotius","reason":"Grotius insists in Chapter I that even war is governed by right and must aim at peace.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hayek-the-road-to-serfdom","title":"The Road to Serfdom","author":"F. A. Hayek","reason":"Chapter 6 asks that coercion be governed by general rules applying equally to all, not by officials' judgments about particular people.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ammianus-marcellinus-roman-history","title":"The Roman History","author":"Ammianus Marcellinus","reason":"Ammianus condemns Julian's law against Christian teachers even while admiring him, an act of fairness toward those outside his own religion.","vices":[]},{"slug":"procopius-secret-history","title":"The Secret History","author":"Procopius of Caesarea","reason":"Procopius presents his book as a duty to record the truth about wrongs that the official histories concealed, though readers must judge how fairly he does so.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-souls-of-black-folk","title":"The Souls of Black Folk","author":"W. E. B. Du Bois","reason":"Du Bois argues in Chapter III that the vote, civil rights and higher education are owed to Black Americans and must be asked for openly.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-spirit-of-the-laws","title":"The Spirit of the Laws","author":"Montesquieu","reason":"Book XII demands that punishments follow the nature of each crime and that no one be punished for thoughts or indiscreet words.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-story-of-king-arthur-and-his-knights","title":"The Story of King Arthur and His Knights","author":"Howard Pyle","reason":"Arthur defends King Leodegrance and Guinevere against King Ryence and Duke Mordaunt's unjust demands.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-subjection-of-women","title":"The Subjection of Women","author":"John Stuart Mill","reason":"Mill asks that marriage law be judged by what it allows the worst husband to do, not by the conduct of the best.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-taming-of-the-shrew","title":"The Taming of the Shrew","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Kate's final speech frames marriage as an exchange of duties, the husband's labour and care answered by the wife's love and obedience.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-theban-plays","title":"The Theban Plays","author":"Sophocles","reason":"Antigone sets divine law against Creon’s decree, asking what is truly due to the dead and to the gods.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-thirty-nine-steps","title":"The Thirty-Nine Steps","author":"John Buchan","reason":"Hannay takes up the murdered Scudder's mission because he hates to see a good man downed.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lane-thousand-and-one-nights","title":"The Thousand and One Nights (Lane's translation, Volume I)","author":"Anonymous; translated by Edward William Lane","reason":"Hároon Er-Rasheed will not let the murdered damsel of the Three Apples go unanswered and holds even his own Wezeer Jaạfar to account until the cause is traced to Jaạfar's slave.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-trial","title":"The Trial","author":"Franz Kafka","reason":"Seeing the warders flogged because of his complaint, K. tries to buy them off and stop the beating, though he finally shuts the door on them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-trumpet-of-the-swan","title":"The Trumpet of the Swan","author":"E. B. White","reason":"The cob flies back to the Billings music store with Louis's money to repay the storekeeper for the trumpet and the broken window.","vices":[]},{"slug":"virginia-and-kentucky-resolutions","title":"The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions","author":"James Madison and Thomas Jefferson","reason":"Kentucky's sixth resolution insists that no person under the protection of the laws be removed on the President's suspicion without jury, public trial, confrontation of witnesses or counsel.","vices":[]},{"slug":"virginia-declaration-of-rights","title":"The Virginia Declaration of Rights","author":"George Mason","reason":"Section VIII guarantees an accused man notice of the charge, confrontation of witnesses and a speedy trial by an impartial jury before he can lose his liberty.","vices":[]},{"slug":"virginia-statute-for-religious-freedom","title":"The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom","author":"Thomas Jefferson","reason":"The act forbids that any citizen be barred from offices of trust or burdened in body or goods because of his religious opinions.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-voyage-of-the-dawn-treader","title":"The Voyage of the Dawn Treader","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Caspian deposes the governor Gumpas and abolishes the slave trade in the Lone Islands, freeing the captives.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-warden","title":"The Warden","author":"Anthony Trollope","reason":"Mr. Harding resigns his comfortable wardenship when he becomes unsure it is justly his.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-wealth-of-nations","title":"The Wealth of Nations","author":"Adam Smith","reason":"Smith's natural liberty operates only within the laws of justice, and he condemns monopolies that let producers profit at the public's expense.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-wise-woman","title":"The Wise Woman (A Double Story)","author":"George MacDonald","reason":"In the throne room Rosamond runs between the soldiers and the shepherd's family and calls the shepherdess her good, kind mistress.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-witch-of-blackbird-pond","title":"The Witch of Blackbird Pond","author":"Elizabeth George Speare","reason":"Matthew Wood refuses to join the mob against Hannah and stands by Kit before the magistrates.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-woman-in-white","title":"The Woman in White","author":"Wilkie Collins","reason":"Walter spends months gathering evidence so that Laura's identity can be proved before the people who denied it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"theodore-roosevelt-an-autobiography","title":"Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography","author":"Theodore Roosevelt","reason":"In the letter printed in Chapter XIII he insists that the square deal applies equally to wrongdoing capitalists and wrongdoing labor leaders.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hesiod-theogony-and-works-and-days","title":"Theogony and Works and Days","author":"Hesiod","reason":"Hesiod rebukes the bribe-swallowing lords and promises that the city giving straight judgements to strangers and citizens will flourish.","vices":["injustice"]},{"slug":"to-kill-a-mockingbird","title":"To Kill a Mockingbird","author":"Harper Lee","reason":"Atticus defends Tom Robinson fully and shows the jury that Mayella's injuries came from a left-handed man, though he knows he will likely lose.","vices":[]},{"slug":"transamerica-mortgage-advisors-v-lewis","title":"Transamerica Mortgage Advisors, Inc. v. Lewis","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"White insists that duties owed to clients should be enforceable by the clients they protect.","vices":[]},{"slug":"dartmouth-college-v-woodward","title":"Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court holds New Hampshire to the terms on which donors gave their property, refusing to let the state take control of what private benefactors had entrusted to the founder's trustees.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tsc-industries-v-northway","title":"TSC Industries, Inc. v. Northway, Inc.","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court resolves doubts about omitted facts in favor of shareholders while refusing to impose liability for insignificant omissions.","vices":[]},{"slug":"twelve-angry-men","title":"Twelve Angry Men","author":"Reginald Rose","reason":"Juror 8 insists on reasonable doubt and a fair weighing of evidence.","vices":[]},{"slug":"twenty-thousand-leagues-under-the-sea","title":"Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea","author":"Jules Verne","reason":"Aronnax refuses to approve the sinking of the warship, saying that whatever Nemo had suffered, he had no right to punish thus.","vices":["wrath"]},{"slug":"twenty-years-at-hull-house","title":"Twenty Years at Hull-House","author":"Jane Addams","reason":"During the Pullman strike she tries to understand both the company and the workers rather than condemn either.","vices":[]},{"slug":"uncle-toms-cabin","title":"Uncle Tom's Cabin","author":"Harriet Beecher Stowe","reason":"George Shelby frees every slave on his Kentucky farm in Tom's memory.","vices":[]},{"slug":"united-states-v-nixon","title":"United States v. Nixon","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court insisted that the twofold aim of criminal justice, convicting the guilty and protecting the innocent, requires all relevant evidence, whoever holds it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"united-states-v-ohagan","title":"United States v. O'Hagan","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Ginsburg holds that a fiduciary who secretly turns a principal's information to his own profit takes what belongs to another.","vices":[]},{"slug":"united-states-v-wong-kim-ark","title":"United States v. Wong Kim Ark","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Gray insists that the courts must give full effect to the Constitution's words even where Congress and the executive had chosen to deny Chinese immigrants citizenship.","vices":[]},{"slug":"utopia","title":"Utopia","author":"Thomas More","reason":"Raphael argues before Cardinal Morton that a law which hangs men driven to theft by enclosure is neither just nor useful.","vices":[]},{"slug":"washington-v-glucksberg","title":"Washington v. Glucksberg","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The majority insists that the law protect the poor, the elderly and the disabled from pressure, treating all lives as equally under the law's protection.","vices":[]},{"slug":"webb-v-united-states","title":"Webb v. United States","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court refuses to let a label stand in for substance, holding that an order sold to sustain a habit is not a prescription merely because a physician signed it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"west-coast-hotel-v-parrish","title":"West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Hughes asks what a worker is owed when her bargaining position leaves her unable to earn enough to live, and what the community is owed when it must make up the difference.","vices":[]},{"slug":"west-virginia-v-barnette","title":"West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Jackson's opinion protects the conscience of every citizen against officials high or petty who would prescribe orthodoxy.","vices":[]},{"slug":"white-fang","title":"White Fang","author":"Jack London","reason":"Grey Beaver, though harsh, defends White Fang against the family of a boy who tried to beat him over meat scraps he had fairly found, and White Fang learns to guard his master's property in return.","vices":[]},{"slug":"wisconsin-v-yoder","title":"Wisconsin v. Yoder","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Justice Douglas insisted that the children themselves were persons whose own convictions deserved a hearing before the courts decided their futures.","vices":[]},{"slug":"worcester-v-georgia","title":"Worcester v. Georgia","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Marshall holds the United States and Georgia to the boundaries and guarantees sworn in the treaties of Hopewell and Holston.","vices":[]},{"slug":"youngstown-sheet-and-tube-v-sawyer","title":"Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court held the President to the same constitutional limits in wartime as in peace, returning the seized property to its owners.","vices":[]},{"slug":"zelman-v-simmons-harris","title":"Zelman v. Simmons-Harris","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Thomas insists that poor urban families deserve the same freedom to seek a good education for their children that wealthier families already have.","vices":[]}],"quotes":[{"id":"villehardouin-conquest-of-constantinople-q3","citation":"\"Lords, I forbid you, on the part of the Pope of Rome, to attack this city; for those within it are Christians, and you are pilgrims.\" — Geoffrey de Villehardouin, Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and the Conquest of Constantinople, The Crusaders Leave Venice to Besiege Zara, trans. Frank T. Marzials."},{"id":"villehardouin-conquest-of-constantinople-q7","citation":"\"because covetousness, which is the root of all evil, let and hindered them.\" — Geoffrey de Villehardouin, Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and the Conquest of Constantinople, Division of the Spoil, trans. Frank T. Marzials."},{"id":"essays-bacon-q6","citation":"\"REVENGE is a kind of wild justice; which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out\" — Francis Bacon, Essays, Essay IV, Of Revenge (1625 text, modernized spelling (Project Gutenberg #575))."},{"id":"hayne-speech-on-foots-resolution-q3","citation":"\"Sir, I would lay the foundation of this government in the affections of the people—I would teach them to cling to it by dispensing equal justice, and above all, by securing the “blessings of liberty” to “themselves and to their posterity.”\" — Robert Y. Hayne, Hayne's Reply to Webster (Speech on Foot's Resolution), Section on the national debt and pecuniary dependence, conclusion (Webster and Hayne's Celebrated Speeches in the United States Senate (1853), Wikisource text)."},{"id":"henry-iv-part-1-q5","citation":"\"tell truth, and shame the devil\" — William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 1, Act 3, Scene 1 (Project Gutenberg #1516, modern spelling)."},{"id":"ovid-heroides-q5","citation":"\"Kept close in the palace am I, bound with heavy chains; and the cause of my punishment is that I was faithful.\" — Ovid, Heroides, Letter XIV (Hypermnestra to Lynceus), trans. Grant Showerman (1914)."},{"id":"procopius-history-of-the-wars-persian-war-q1","citation":"\"It was his conviction that while cleverness is appropriate to rhetoric, and inventiveness to poetry, truth alone is appropriate to history.\" — Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars, Books I-II (The Persian War), Book I, ch. 1, trans. H. B. Dewing."},{"id":"in-flanders-fields-q4","citation":"\"If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.\" — John McCrae, In Flanders Fields, Lines 13-15 (In Flanders Fields and Other Poems (1919))."},{"id":"incidents-in-the-life-of-a-slave-girl-q1","citation":"\"Reader, be assured this narrative is no fiction.\" — Harriet A. Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Preface by the Author (Project Gutenberg #11030 (1861 text))."},{"id":"euripides-iphigenia-in-aulis-and-other-plays-q3","citation":"\"But when the laws are written down, rich and poor alike have equal justice, and it is open to the weaker to use the same language to the prosperous when he is reviled by him, and the weaker prevails over the stronger if he have justice on his side.\" — Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis and Other Plays, The Suppliants, trans. E. P. Coleridge (1891)."},{"id":"euripides-iphigenia-in-aulis-and-other-plays-q6","citation":"\"It is better, my son, to honor Equality, who always joins friend to friend, city to city, allies to allies;\" — Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis and Other Plays, The Phoenician Maidens, trans. E. P. Coleridge (1891)."},{"id":"le-morte-darthur-q3","citation":"\"never to do outrageousity nor murder, and always to flee treason; also, by no means to be cruel, but to give mercy unto him that asketh mercy\" — Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book III, Ch. XV (Project Gutenberg #1251 (A. W. Pollard's edition of Caxton's text))."},{"id":"little-lord-fauntleroy-q2","citation":"\"But if I have to be an earl, there's one thing I can do: I can try to be a good one.\" — Frances Hodgson Burnett, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Chapter II (Project Gutenberg text)."},{"id":"usama-ibn-munqidh-memoirs-q4","citation":"\"I have, however, witnessed a case of their medicine which was quite different from that.\" — Usama ibn Munqidh, Memoirs of Usama ibn Munqidh, Section I, ch. 8 (An Appreciation of the Frankish Character), trans. Philip K. Hitti."},{"id":"napoleons-maxims-of-war-q5","citation":"\"It is the height of injustice not to pay a veteran more than a recruit\" — Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon's Maxims of War, Maxim LX, trans. G. C. D'Aguilar from Burnod (1831; 1862 reprint)."},{"id":"othello-q3","citation":"\"I do perceive here a divided duty\" — William Shakespeare, Othello, Act 1, Scene 3 (Project Gutenberg #1531)."},{"id":"politics-q1","citation":"\"If the state is the organisation of men seeking a common good, power and political position must be given to those who can forward this end\" — Aristotle, Politics, Introduction, trans. William Ellis (1912)."},{"id":"webster-second-reply-to-hayne-q4","citation":"\"It is, Sir, the people's Constitution, the people's government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people.\" — Daniel Webster, Second Reply to Hayne, Constitutional argument, on the origin of the government (The Great Speeches and Orations of Daniel Webster, ed. Whipple (1879))."},{"id":"compromise-of-1850-speeches-q6","citation":"\"The South asks for justice, simple justice, and less she ought not to take.\" — Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster, Speeches on the Compromise of 1850, Calhoun's speech, March 4, 1850, final section (The Works of John C. Calhoun, ed. Richard K. Crallé, vol. 4 (1854), Internet Archive OCR text)."},{"id":"the-black-arrow-q6","citation":"\"a life is a life, old shrew, and it is more than ships or liquor.\" — Robert Louis Stevenson, The Black Arrow, Book V, Chapter IV (Project Gutenberg #848)."},{"id":"the-black-arrow-q7","citation":"\"War is but noble by the cause, and y' have disgraced it.\" — Robert Louis Stevenson, The Black Arrow, Book V, Chapter V (Project Gutenberg #848)."},{"id":"the-founding-documents-q2","citation":"\"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America\" — Continental Congress and United States Constitutional Convention, The Founding Documents, Constitution of the United States, Preamble (1787) (National Archives transcription)."},{"id":"justinian-institutes-q2","citation":"\"Justice is the set and constant purpose which gives to every man his due.\" — Justinian I (Tribonian and commissioners), The Institutes of Justinian, Book I, Title 1, pr., trans. J. B. Moyle."},{"id":"justinian-institutes-q4","citation":"\"The precepts of the law are these: to live honestly, to injure no one, and to give every man his due.\" — Justinian I (Tribonian and commissioners), The Institutes of Justinian, Book I, Title 1.3, trans. J. B. Moyle."},{"id":"journal-of-john-woolman-q3","citation":"\"I believed Slave-keeping to be a Practice inconsistent with the _Christian_ Religion\" — John Woolman, The Journal of John Woolman, Journal, Chapter I (Project Gutenberg #37311 (Everyman's Library, reprinting the London edition of 1775))."},{"id":"journal-of-john-woolman-q4","citation":"\"I believed that Liberty was the natural Right of all Men equally\" — John Woolman, The Journal of John Woolman, Journal, Chapter IV (Project Gutenberg #37311 (Everyman's Library, reprinting the London edition of 1775))."},{"id":"lincoln-douglas-debates-q2","citation":"\"I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself.\" — Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, First Joint Debate, Ottawa, Lincoln's reply (reading from his Peoria speech of 1854) (Political Debates Between Lincoln and Douglas (Columbus: Follett, Foster, 1860), Internet Archive OCR text)."},{"id":"the-merchant-of-venice-q6","citation":"\"The quality of mercy is not strain’d, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath.\" — William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1 (Project Gutenberg #1515, modern spelling)."},{"id":"the-merchant-of-venice-q7","citation":"\"It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God’s When mercy seasons justice.\" — William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1 (Project Gutenberg #1515, modern spelling)."},{"id":"the-prince-and-the-pauper-q4","citation":"\"Then how doth one know there was poison given at all?\" — Mark Twain, The Prince and the Pauper, Chapter XV (Project Gutenberg #1837)."},{"id":"the-prince-and-the-pauper-q6","citation":"\"The world is made wrong; kings should go to school to their own laws, at times, and so learn mercy.\" — Mark Twain, The Prince and the Pauper, Chapter XXVII (Project Gutenberg #1837)."},{"id":"the-song-of-hiawatha-q2","citation":"\"All your strength is in your union, All your danger is in discord; Therefore be at peace henceforward, And as brothers live together.\" — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Song of Hiawatha, Canto I, The Peace-Pipe (Project Gutenberg #19)."},{"id":"the-story-of-king-arthur-and-his-knights-q2","citation":"\"thou must bear in mind that thou art not as an ordinary errant knight, but that thou art a King, and that thy life belongeth not unto thee, but unto thy people\" — Howard Pyle, The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, Book I, Part II, Chapter Third (1903 text)."},{"id":"the-theban-plays-q2","citation":"\"The immutable unwritten laws of Heaven. They were not born today nor yesterday; They die not; and none knoweth whence they sprang\" — Sophocles, The Theban Plays, Antigone, trans. F. Storr (1912)."},{"id":"the-thirty-nine-steps-q3","citation":"\"I am an ordinary sort of fellow, not braver than other people, but I hate to see a good man downed\" — John Buchan, The Thirty-Nine Steps, Chapter II (Project Gutenberg #558)."},{"id":"theodore-roosevelt-an-autobiography-q7","citation":"\"When I say \"Square deal,\" I mean a square deal to every one\" — Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography, Chapter XIII, Social and Industrial Justice (Project Gutenberg #3335 (1920 Scribner edition of the 1913 text))."},{"id":"twenty-years-at-hull-house-q7","citation":"\"the common stock of intellectual enjoyment should not be difficult of access because of the economic position of him who would approach it\" — Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull-House, Chapter XVIII, Socialized Education (Macmillan, 1910 (Project Gutenberg #1325))."},{"id":"utopia-q2","citation":"\"if you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this but that you first make thieves and then punish them?\" — Thomas More, Utopia, Book I (Discourses of Raphael Hythloday), at Cardinal Morton's table, trans. Gilbert Burnet."}]},{"slug":"fortitude","name":"Fortitude","aka":"courage","kind":"cardinal","summary":"Courage: firmness of soul in facing danger and enduring hardship for the sake of what is good.","vices":[{"slug":"cowardice","name":"Cowardice","description":"Fleeing from what ought to be faced."},{"slug":"rashness","name":"Rashness","description":"Running into danger without reason or need."}],"definitions":[{"source":"Aristotle","ref":"Nicomachean Ethics III.6-9","text":"The courageous man faces and fears the right things, for the right motive, in the right way and at the right time; courage is a mean between cowardice and rashness, and is shown most of all in the face of a noble death."},{"source":"Cicero","ref":"De Officiis I.61-66","text":"Greatness and courage of spirit shows itself in disregard for outward circumstances and in doing deeds that are great and useful, but it must fight for justice, not for its own advantage."},{"source":"Aquinas","ref":"Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 123-124","text":"Fortitude removes the obstacles that fear sets before the will; its chief act is to endure rather than to attack, and martyrdom is its perfect act."},{"source":"Scripture","ref":"Joshua 1:9 (KJV)","quote":"Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed","work":"the-bible"}],"questions":["Why does Aquinas say that enduring is harder than attacking?","What is the difference between courage and rashness?","Is there such a thing as moral courage without physical danger? Give an example.","What made the courage of a character in your reading admirable?"],"url":"/virtues/fortitude/","works":[{"slug":"twelve-years-a-slave","title":"12 Years a Slave","author":"Solomon Northup","reason":"Northup endures twelve years of bondage without losing his identity or hope of freedom.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-farewell-to-arms","title":"A Farewell to Arms","author":"Ernest Hemingway","reason":"Catherine faces a long and dangerous labour in Lausanne with jokes and courage, telling Frederic she is not afraid.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-little-princess","title":"A Little Princess","author":"Frances Hodgson Burnett","reason":"Sent to the attic, Sara tells herself that soldiers do not complain and bears cold, hunger and scolding in silence.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-tale-of-two-cities","title":"A Tale of Two Cities","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"Miss Pross stands her ground against an armed Madame Defarge to protect Lucie's escape.","vices":[]},{"slug":"spinoza-theologico-political-treatise","title":"A Theologico-Political Treatise","author":"Baruch Spinoza","reason":"He wrote in defence of freedom of thought shortly after his friend Koerbagh died in prison for his writings.","vices":[]},{"slug":"vindication-of-the-rights-of-woman","title":"A Vindication of the Rights of Woman","author":"Mary Wollstonecraft","reason":"Chapters 2 and 3 reject cultivated weakness and call women to strength of body and mind for the duties of life.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-wonder-book","title":"A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys","author":"Nathaniel Hawthorne","reason":"Bellerophon waits patiently day after day at the Fountain of Pirene before he can bridle Pegasus and face the Chimæra.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-wrinkle-in-time","title":"A Wrinkle in Time","author":"Madeleine L'Engle","reason":"Meg goes back before IT's pulsing brain knowing that her father and Calvin could not save her brother.","vices":[]},{"slug":"aaron-v-sec","title":"Aaron v. SEC","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The case faults a supervisor who, warned twice of false sales talk, lacked the resolve to stop the salesmen in his charge.","vices":[]},{"slug":"across-five-aprils","title":"Across Five Aprils","author":"Irene Hunt","reason":"Jethro takes on the ploughing and the farm after his father's heart attack and keeps working through threats, the burned barn and Tom's death.","vices":[]},{"slug":"adam-of-the-road","title":"Adam of the Road","author":"Elizabeth Janet Gray","reason":"Adam keeps searching for Nick and Roger through injury, winter and false leads after being left alone at Guildford.","vices":[]},{"slug":"challenger-disaster-address","title":"Address to the Nation on the Challenger Disaster","author":"Ronald Reagan","reason":"Reagan honors a crew who knew the dangers and overcame them, and tells children that the future belongs to the brave.","vices":[]},{"slug":"feyerabend-against-method","title":"Against Method","author":"Paul Feyerabend","reason":"Feyerabend defended unpopular positions in the face of hostile reviews, answering critics at length in Science in a Free Society.","vices":[]},{"slug":"alices-adventures-in-wonderland","title":"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland","author":"Lewis Carroll","reason":"At the trial in Chapter XII Alice refuses to hold her tongue when the Queen orders her beheaded, and calls the court a pack of cards.","vices":[]},{"slug":"all-quiet-on-the-western-front","title":"All Quiet on the Western Front","author":"Erich Maria Remarque","reason":"The men endure days of bombardment, gas and hunger and still go back into the line.","vices":[]},{"slug":"amos-fortune-free-man","title":"Amos Fortune, Free Man","author":"Elizabeth Yates","reason":"Amos endures capture, the Middle Passage and decades of bondage without losing his patience or his will to be free.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bernard-introduction-to-experimental-medicine","title":"An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine","author":"Claude Bernard","reason":"He continues to defend and practise vivisection while acknowledging the strong feelings of those who oppose it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"animal-farm","title":"Animal Farm","author":"George Orwell","reason":"Boxer and Snowball stand and fight at the Battle of the Cowshed when Jones's men attack with guns and sticks.","vices":[]},{"slug":"apologia-pro-vita-sua","title":"Apologia Pro Vita Sua","author":"John Henry Newman","reason":"He resigns St. Mary's and leaves Oxford, his friends and his career for the sake of conscience.","vices":[]},{"slug":"areopagitica","title":"Areopagitica","author":"John Milton","reason":"His warfaring Christian must go out to meet his adversary and run for the immortal garland, not without dust and heat.","vices":[]},{"slug":"around-the-world-in-eighty-days","title":"Around the World in Eighty Days","author":"Jules Verne","reason":"Fogg meets delays without panic or abandoned duty.","vices":["cowardice"]},{"slug":"as-you-like-it","title":"As You Like It","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Duke Senior and his lords endure winter exile in Arden without bitterness.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bedtime-for-frances","title":"Bedtime for Frances","author":"Russell Hoban","reason":"When the last thumping noise comes, Frances goes to see what it is for herself and finds the moth instead of running to her parents.","vices":[]},{"slug":"beowulf","title":"Beowulf","author":"Anonymous","reason":"Beowulf faces Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and in old age the dragon.","vices":[]},{"slug":"black-ships-before-troy","title":"Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Iliad","author":"Rosemary Sutcliff","reason":"Hector goes out to face Achilles before the walls, knowing he is likely to die, to defend his city and family.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bliss-and-other-stories","title":"Bliss and Other Stories","author":"Katherine Mansfield","reason":"Robert Salesby in The Man without a Temperament endures months of tending his invalid wife abroad without complaint, hiding his longing for home.","vices":[]},{"slug":"metaxas-bonhoeffer","title":"Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy","author":"Eric Metaxas","reason":"Bonhoeffer leaves the safety of New York in July 1939 to return to Germany and share the dangers facing the Confessing Church.","vices":[]},{"slug":"brown-v-board-of-education","title":"Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Families in Topeka, Clarendon County, Prince Edward County and Delaware brought suits that exposed them to economic and social pressure in their communities.","vices":[]},{"slug":"buck-v-bell","title":"Buck v. Bell","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Carrie Buck lived for more than five decades after the operation, working and twice marrying, while bearing a loss no later apology could restore.","vices":[]},{"slug":"herrin-byzantium","title":"Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire","author":"Judith Herrin","reason":"The chapter on the siege of 1453 shows the defenders of Constantinople holding the walls for weeks against a far larger Ottoman army.","vices":[]},{"slug":"captains-courageous","title":"Captains Courageous","author":"Rudyard Kipling","reason":"The crew works on through fog, bergs, gales and the loss of nearby schooners.","vices":[]},{"slug":"carmilla","title":"Carmilla","author":"J. Sheridan Le Fanu","reason":"General Spielsdorf, broken by the loss of his ward, nevertheless returns to Karnstein to find and confront the creature that killed her.","vices":[]},{"slug":"carry-on-mr-bowditch","title":"Carry On, Mr. Bowditch","author":"Jean Lee Latham","reason":"Bound to the chandlery for nine years and barred from Harvard, Nat refuses to be becalmed and studies his way to mastery.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sallust-catiline-and-jugurtha","title":"Catiline's War and The Jugurthine War","author":"Sallust (Gaius Sallustius Crispus)","reason":"Cato stands against the momentum of the debate and persuades the senate that the safety of the state must come first.","vices":[]},{"slug":"christ-legends","title":"Christ Legends","author":"Selma Lagerlöf","reason":"Raniero guards his candle flame through wind, robbers and ridicule all the way from Jerusalem to Florence.","vices":[]},{"slug":"villehardouin-conquest-of-constantinople","title":"Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and the Conquest of Constantinople","author":"Geoffrey de Villehardouin","reason":"Villehardouin rallies the fugitives and commands the rearguard in the night retreat from Adrianople in 1205, leaving none of the wounded behind.","vices":[]},{"slug":"citizenship-in-a-republic","title":"Citizenship in a Republic (\"The Man in the Arena\")","author":"Theodore Roosevelt","reason":"Roosevelt honors the man in the arena who strives valiantly and, if he fails, fails while daring greatly.","vices":["cowardice"]},{"slug":"common-sense-rights-of-man-and-other-writings","title":"Common Sense, Rights of Man, The Age of Reason, and The American Crisis","author":"Thomas Paine","reason":"Paine’s The American Crisis rallied the army in the winter of 1776.","vices":[]},{"slug":"cranford","title":"Cranford","author":"Elizabeth Gaskell","reason":"Captain Brown darts onto the line to save a strayed child and loses his life doing it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kant-critique-of-practical-reason","title":"Critique of Practical Reason","author":"Immanuel Kant","reason":"Kant's honest man in the Methodology keeps refusing to slander Anne Boleyn even when friends, kin and a prince threaten him with ruin and death.","vices":[]},{"slug":"cruzan-v-director-missouri-department-of-health","title":"Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Lester and Joyce Cruzan pursued their daughter's case through years of litigation and public attention after her accident.","vices":[]},{"slug":"cuchulain-of-muirthemne","title":"Cuchulain of Muirthemne","author":"Lady Gregory","reason":"Cuchulain holds the fords alone against the armies of Ireland while the other men of Ulster lie under Macha's curse.","vices":["cowardice"]},{"slug":"cyrano-de-bergerac","title":"Cyrano de Bergerac","author":"Edmond Rostand","reason":"He crosses the Spanish lines at Arras every day to carry Roxane's letters, and dies on his feet, sword in hand.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mann-death-in-venice","title":"Death in Venice","author":"Thomas Mann","reason":"Chapter II honours Aschenbach's years of holding out through weakness to complete his works, the endurance the narrator likens to Saint Sebastian's.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ghazali-deliverance-from-error","title":"Deliverance from Error (The Confessions of al-Ghazali)","author":"Abu Hamid al-Ghazali","reason":"He gives up the most prestigious teaching post in Baghdad and his wealth, despite the criticism of every scholar in Iraq.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ansary-destiny-disrupted","title":"Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes","author":"Tamim Ansary","reason":"The narrative of recovery after the Mongol destruction of Baghdad shows Muslim societies rebuilding learning and states in three new empires.","vices":[]},{"slug":"dirks-v-sec","title":"Dirks v. SEC","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Secrist and Dirks pressed allegations of a massive fraud that management denied and a major newspaper at first declined to print.","vices":[]},{"slug":"discourse-on-voluntary-servitude","title":"Discourse on Voluntary Servitude","author":"Étienne de La Boétie","reason":"The Spartans Sperthies and Bulis go willingly to Persia to atone for their city and refuse Hydarnes' offer of royal favour rather than give up their liberty.","vices":[]},{"slug":"epictetus-discourses-and-encheiridion","title":"Discourses (selection) and Encheiridion","author":"Epictetus","reason":"Agrippinus goes to exercise and then to dinner after the Senate condemns him, the model the opening discourse sets before students.","vices":[]},{"slug":"machiavelli-discourses-on-livy","title":"Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius","author":"Niccolò Machiavelli","reason":"Brutus presides over the execution of his own sons to preserve Rome's newly won freedom in Book III, ch. III.","vices":[]},{"slug":"dobbs-v-jackson-womens-health-organization","title":"Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Both the majority and the dissenters state their conclusions plainly on a divisive question, each acknowledging the deep convictions of those who will disagree.","vices":[]},{"slug":"dred-scott-v-sandford","title":"Dred Scott v. Sandford","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Dred and Harriet Scott pressed their claims for eleven years through state trial and appeal and a second suit in the federal courts.","vices":[]},{"slug":"early-christian-lives","title":"Early Christian Lives","author":"Athanasius, Jerome and others","reason":"The desert fathers and martyrs endure ascetic trial and persecution.","vices":[]},{"slug":"frost-early-poems","title":"Early Poems: A Boy's Will, North of Boston, Mountain Interval","author":"Robert Frost","reason":"The farm wife of A Servant to Servants keeps on with endless chores, repeating that the best way out is always through.","vices":[]},{"slug":"engel-v-vitale","title":"Engel v. Vitale","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Stewart dissented alone, setting out his reading of the nation's traditions against six colleagues.","vices":[]},{"slug":"emerson-essays","title":"Essays: First Series (Self-Reliance and Other Essays)","author":"Ralph Waldo Emerson","reason":"Self-Reliance calls the reader to speak his convictions in hard words even when the whole cry of voices is on the other side.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ex-parte-milligan","title":"Ex parte Milligan","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Davis, a close friend of the late President, wrote that the administration's commission in Indiana had acted without lawful authority.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mendel-experiments-in-plant-hybridisation","title":"Experiments in Plant Hybridisation (in Bateson's Mendel's Principles of Heredity)","author":"Gregor Mendel; William Bateson","reason":"Mendel writes that it requires courage to undertake a labour of such extent, and he carried it through without recognition.","vices":[]},{"slug":"fahrenheit-451","title":"Fahrenheit 451","author":"Ray Bradbury","reason":"Montag reads Dover Beach aloud to Mildred's friends, refuses to surrender Faber to Beatty, and flees the Hound on a numbed leg.","vices":[]},{"slug":"andersen-fairy-tales","title":"Fairy Tales (Selection)","author":"Hans Christian Andersen","reason":"The one-legged tin soldier keeps his musket shouldered and never changes countenance through the flooded gutter, the rat and the fish's belly.","vices":[]},{"slug":"far-from-the-madding-crowd","title":"Far from the Madding Crowd","author":"Thomas Hardy","reason":"Gabriel accepts the loss of his whole flock without self-pity and goes out to seek work as a labourer.","vices":[]},{"slug":"luckiest-man-speech","title":"Farewell to Baseball (\"The Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth\")","author":"Lou Gehrig","reason":"Weeks after learning his illness was fatal, he stood before more than 61,000 people and spoke without self-pity.","vices":[]},{"slug":"fdr-first-inaugural-address","title":"First Inaugural Address (\"The only thing we have to fear\")","author":"Franklin D. Roosevelt","reason":"Roosevelt calls a frightened nation to face its conditions honestly and refuses to let nameless terror paralyze the effort at recovery.","vices":["cowardice"]},{"slug":"cicero-first-catilinarian","title":"First Oration Against Catiline","author":"Marcus Tullius Cicero","reason":"Knowing assassins had been sent to his house, Cicero confronts Catiline face to face in the senate and accepts the unpopularity his course may bring.","vices":["cowardice"]},{"slug":"five-children-and-it","title":"Five Children and It","author":"E. Nesbit","reason":"During the siege Robert locks the enemy soldier Jakin in the turret, knocks another climber back into the moat, and refuses to surrender.","vices":[]},{"slug":"rabelais-gargantua-and-pantagruel","title":"Gargantua and Pantagruel","author":"François Rabelais","reason":"Friar John alone defends the abbey vineyard against Picrochole's plunderers while the other monks sing in the choir.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gideon-v-wainwright","title":"Gideon v. Wainwright","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Gideon pressed his claim from a prison cell in his own handwriting, against a precedent that seemed to settle the question against him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"give-me-liberty-or-give-me-death","title":"Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death","author":"Patrick Henry","reason":"Henry chooses death over living in chains and calls the convention to fight despite the colonies' apparent weakness.","vices":["cowardice"]},{"slug":"grace-abounding","title":"Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners","author":"John Bunyan","reason":"He tells Justice Keelin that he would preach again the day after his release, knowing it means continued imprisonment.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hans-brinker","title":"Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates","author":"Mary Mapes Dodge","reason":"Dame Brinker nurses her injured husband for ten years and keeps the family alive by spinning, knitting and gardening.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hard-times","title":"Hard Times","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"Rachael searches for Stephen and endures the town's suspicion until his name is cleared.","vices":[]},{"slug":"henry-iv-part-1","title":"Henry IV, Part 1","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Wounded at Shrewsbury, Hal refuses to withdraw and goes back into the fight to save his father from Douglas.","vices":[]},{"slug":"henry-v","title":"Henry V","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Henry leads a sick, outnumbered army into battle and refuses to wish for more men.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ovid-heroides","title":"Heroides","author":"Ovid","reason":"Hypermnestra endures chains rather than kill her husband and refuses to say she repents.","vices":[]},{"slug":"procopius-history-of-the-wars-persian-war","title":"History of the Wars, Books I-II (The Persian War)","author":"Procopius of Caesarea","reason":"Theodora counsels the court to remain in the palace during the Nika revolt rather than escape by sea.","vices":[]},{"slug":"death-be-not-proud","title":"Holy Sonnet X: \"Death, be not proud\"","author":"John Donne","reason":"The speaker faces death not with dread but with a direct challenge, telling it to be not proud.","vices":[]},{"slug":"homer-price","title":"Homer Price","author":"Robert McCloskey","reason":"Homer walks into the robbers' cabin alone, sets Aroma on their money case and keeps four armed men in place until the sheriff comes.","vices":[]},{"slug":"house-divided-speech","title":"House Divided Speech","author":"Abraham Lincoln","reason":"He kept the house-divided passage against his friends' advice, knowing it could cost him the Senate seat.","vices":["cowardice"]},{"slug":"grimms-fairy-tales","title":"Household Stories (Grimm's Fairy Tales)","author":"Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm","reason":"The sister in The Six Swans keeps silence for six years, even under accusation, to free her brothers.","vices":[]},{"slug":"i-have-a-dream","title":"I Have a Dream","author":"Martin Luther King Jr.","reason":"He honors the veterans of suffering and jail and sends the marchers back to Mississippi and Alabama to continue the struggle.","vices":["cowardice"]},{"slug":"i-will-fight-no-more-forever","title":"I Will Fight No More Forever","author":"Chief Joseph","reason":"Joseph endured a retreat of more than a thousand miles and then bore the harder duty of choosing to surrender.","vices":[]},{"slug":"if-kipling","title":"If—","author":"Rudyard Kipling","reason":"The son must hold on by the Will alone after heart, nerve, and sinew are gone, and rebuild broken work with worn-out tools.","vices":["cowardice","despair"]},{"slug":"in-flanders-fields","title":"In Flanders Fields","author":"John McCrae","reason":"The dead ask the living to take the torch from their failing hands and hold it high in the face of the foe.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kennedy-inaugural-address","title":"Inaugural Address","author":"John F. Kennedy","reason":"He calls the nation to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, against tyranny, poverty, disease, and war.","vices":["cowardice"]},{"slug":"incidents-in-the-life-of-a-slave-girl","title":"Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl","author":"Harriet A. Jacobs","reason":"Linda endures nearly seven years in a garret too low to stand in, through frostbite and illness, to remain near her children.","vices":[]},{"slug":"calvin-institutes","title":"Institutes of the Christian Religion","author":"John Calvin","reason":"The Prefatory Address defends persecuted French believers before their king, and the final section urges courage when rulers command what God forbids.","vices":[]},{"slug":"euripides-iphigenia-in-aulis-and-other-plays","title":"Iphigenia in Aulis and Other Plays","author":"Euripides","reason":"Iphigenia overcomes her terror and goes willingly to the altar for the sake of Hellas.","vices":[]},{"slug":"island-of-the-blue-dolphins","title":"Island of the Blue Dolphins","author":"Scott O'Dell","reason":"Karana builds her house, makes her weapons and faces the wild dogs alone after Ramo's death, keeping on through years of solitude.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ivanhoe","title":"Ivanhoe","author":"Walter Scott","reason":"Rebecca stands on the battlement ready to die rather than yield to Bois-Guilbert in Chapter XXIV.","vices":[]},{"slug":"jane-eyre","title":"Jane Eyre","author":"Charlotte Brontë","reason":"Jane leaves Thornfield at dawn with no money, rather than stay unlawfully with the man she loves.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mccullough-john-adams","title":"John Adams","author":"David McCullough","reason":"He crosses the Atlantic in wartime with his young son and endures a grave illness in Amsterdam to win Dutch support.","vices":[]},{"slug":"johnny-tremain","title":"Johnny Tremain","author":"Esther Forbes","reason":"Johnny rides and spies through occupied Boston and crosses to Lexington to find Rab despite the danger.","vices":[]},{"slug":"journey-of-the-magi","title":"Journey of the Magi","author":"T. S. Eliot","reason":"The Magi press on through the very dead of winter despite deserting camel men and voices calling it folly.","vices":[]},{"slug":"journey-to-the-west-a-mission-to-heaven","title":"Journey to the West (A Mission to Heaven)","author":"Wu Cheng'en","reason":"The pilgrims travel ten thousand li through eighty-one trials, and Kwanyin adds one more rather than let the count fall short.","vices":["cowardice"]},{"slug":"julius-caesar","title":"Julius Caesar","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Portia proves her constancy by a self-inflicted wound to be trusted with her husband's secret.","vices":[]},{"slug":"keep-the-lights-burning-abbie","title":"Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie","author":"Peter and Connie Roop","reason":"Abbie climbs the icy towers night after night through a storm that lasts for weeks and does not let a single lamp go out.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kidnapped","title":"Kidnapped","author":"Robert Louis Stevenson","reason":"David endures kidnapping, shipwreck, starvation on Earraid and a long flight while sick without abandoning Alan.","vices":[]},{"slug":"korematsu-v-united-states","title":"Korematsu v. United States","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Fred Korematsu stood by his challenge through conviction and detention in 1942 and again through four decades until his conviction was vacated.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lassie-come-home","title":"Lassie Come-Home","author":"Eric Knight","reason":"Lassie keeps walking south from the Highlands through hunger, storms, a cold river and lameness until she reaches the school gate.","vices":[]},{"slug":"legal-tender-cases","title":"Legal Tender Cases","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Chase and his colleagues hold to their earlier judgment in dissent even after losing the majority.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bulfinch-legends-of-charlemagne","title":"Legends of Charlemagne","author":"Thomas Bulfinch","reason":"Orlando fights on at Roncesvalles until all his strength is spent and dies having made his confession to Turpin.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lepanto","title":"Lepanto","author":"G. K. 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Gobitis","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Two children accepted expulsion from school rather than perform a gesture their parents taught them was forbidden by God.","vices":[]},{"slug":"moby-dick","title":"Moby-Dick","author":"Herman Melville","reason":"The whalemen face lowerings, storms and the try-works fire with steady courage in dangerous work.","vices":[]},{"slug":"brecht-mother-courage-and-her-children","title":"Mother Courage and Her Children","author":"Bertolt Brecht","reason":"Kattrin keeps drumming on the roof though the soldiers threaten and then shoot her.","vices":[]},{"slug":"oneill-mourning-becomes-electra","title":"Mourning Becomes Electra","author":"Eugene O'Neill","reason":"In the last act Lavinia chooses a lifetime alone in the house rather than the easier escapes of marriage or death.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mouse-soup","title":"Mouse Soup","author":"Arnold Lobel","reason":"The mouse stays calm enough in the cooking pot to tell four complete stories before making his move.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mrs-dalloway","title":"Mrs. Dalloway","author":"Virginia Woolf","reason":"Clarissa, recovering from illness and feeling her age, carries through the party and returns to her guests after the news of the young man's death.","vices":[]},{"slug":"my-fathers-dragon","title":"My Father's Dragon","author":"Ruth Stiles Gannett","reason":"Elmer keeps sawing through the dragon's thick rope while the whole mob of animals crosses the crocodile bridge toward him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"my-side-of-the-mountain","title":"My Side of the Mountain","author":"Jean Craighead George","reason":"Sam stays on the mountain through deep snow and loneliness rather than giving up and going home.","vices":[]},{"slug":"narrative-and-fourth-of-july","title":"Narrative of the Life and What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?","author":"Frederick Douglass","reason":"Douglass resists Covey and escapes to freedom.","vices":[]},{"slug":"nfib-v-sebelius","title":"National Federation of Independent Business v. 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fights on against the Normans and Pechenegs after repeated defeats.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-arabian-nights","title":"The Arabian Nights Entertainments","author":"Andrew Lang (ed.)","reason":"Scheherazade insists on becoming the Sultan's bride, knowing she may be strangled at dawn, to end his killing of the kingdom's daughters.","vices":[]},{"slug":"argonautica","title":"The Argonautica","author":"Apollonius of Rhodes","reason":"Jason yokes the fire-breathing bulls and faces the earthborn men in the field of Ares despite his fear.","vices":["cowardice"]},{"slug":"autobiography-of-benvenuto-cellini","title":"The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini","author":"Benvenuto Cellini","reason":"With a broken leg after his escape from Castel Sant'Angelo he crawls through Rome on hands and knees seeking refuge.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-bears-on-hemlock-mountain","title":"The Bears on Hemlock Mountain","author":"Alice Dalgliesh","reason":"Jonathan climbs Hemlock Mountain alone in spite of his doubts and, when the bears come, keeps still under the pot instead of running.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-black-arrow","title":"The Black Arrow","author":"Robert Louis Stevenson","reason":"Dick holds the barricade in the Battle of Shoreby against the Lancastrian cavalry until the street is cleared.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-blue-fairy-book","title":"The Blue Fairy Book","author":"Andrew Lang","reason":"Heroes endure tasks, forests, and years of waiting.","vices":["cowardice"]},{"slug":"luther-bondage-of-the-will","title":"The Bondage of the Will (De Servo Arbitrio)","author":"Martin Luther","reason":"He answers the most admired scholar in Europe at length in 1525, a year of war and danger, without withdrawing the position Erasmus attacked.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-borrowers","title":"The Borrowers","author":"Mary Norton","reason":"Arrietty overcomes her fear of the huge Boy and speaks to him on the bank, though borrowers are taught that being seen is the worst danger.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-boxcar-children","title":"The Boxcar Children","author":"Gertrude Chandler Warner","reason":"The children walk by night and sleep in a haystack rather than let Benny be sent away to a children's home.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-bronze-bow","title":"The Bronze Bow","author":"Elizabeth George Speare","reason":"Samson holds off the soldiers and breaks Joel's chains in the ambush, giving his life so that Joel can escape.","vices":[]},{"slug":"burke-paine-debate","title":"The Burke-Paine Debate on the French Revolution","author":"Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine","reason":"Paine stood by Rights of Man after the royal proclamation against seditious writings, and was convicted of seditious libel in his absence rather than recant.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-call-of-the-wild","title":"The Call of the Wild","author":"Jack London","reason":"Buck endures the club, the cold and the starvation trail of Chapter V and is beaten without being 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cross stands fast through nails, mockery, and blood because its Lord commands it, and Christ climbs the gallows boldly before many witnesses.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-eagle-of-the-ninth","title":"The Eagle of the Ninth","author":"Rosemary Sutcliff","reason":"Lame from his chariot wound, Marcus endures a second painful operation and later the long flight south with the stolen eagle.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-faerie-queene","title":"The Faerie Queene, Book I","author":"Edmund Spenser","reason":"Redcrosse fights the dragon for three days, rising each morning after being struck down.","vices":[]},{"slug":"camus-the-fall","title":"The Fall","author":"Albert Camus","reason":"Clamence's failure to turn back on the Pont Royal when he hears the woman's cries shows the courage that the moment demanded.","vices":[]},{"slug":"runciman-the-fall-of-constantinople-1453","title":"The Fall of Constantinople, 1453","author":"Steven Runciman","reason":"Constantine XI and his small force hold the walls 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century.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gettysburg-address","title":"The Gettysburg Address","author":"Abraham Lincoln","reason":"Rather than mourning alone, Lincoln asks the living to take up the unfinished work and the great task remaining before them.","vices":["cowardice"]},{"slug":"the-giver","title":"The Giver","author":"Lois Lowry","reason":"Jonas accepts the Giver's painful memories, the sunburn, the broken leg and the battlefield, so that he can carry what the Community refused to bear.","vices":[]},{"slug":"colum-the-golden-fleece","title":"The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles","author":"Padraic Colum","reason":"Jason yokes the fire-breathing bulls and faces the earth-born warriors in the field of Aeetes.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kennedy-the-great-arab-conquests","title":"The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In","author":"Hugh Kennedy","reason":"Berber leaders such as al-Kahina held out against the Arab armies in North Africa for years.","vices":[]},{"slug":"solzhenitsyn-the-gulag-archipelago","title":"The Gulag Archipelago","author":"Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn","reason":"Solzhenitsyn wrote and hid the manuscript for a decade at great personal risk and published it knowing he would be punished.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kingsley-the-heroes","title":"The Heroes; or, Greek Fairy Tales for My Children","author":"Charles Kingsley","reason":"Perseus accepts a seven years' journey from which he cannot turn back, saying it is better to die than to live useless and despised.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-hiding-place","title":"The Hiding Place","author":"Corrie ten Boom","reason":"Corrie keeps faith through months of solitary confinement at Scheveningen and the cold, hunger and roll calls of Ravensbrück.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tacitus-the-histories","title":"The Histories","author":"Tacitus","reason":"Tacitus opens by honouring mothers and wives who followed their families into exile and slaves who stayed loyal under torture in the worst of times.","vices":[]},{"slug":"polybius-histories-book-vi","title":"The Histories, Book VI","author":"Polybius","reason":"Horatius Cocles holds the Tiber bridge alone under many wounds until it is cut down behind him (ch. 55).","vices":[]},{"slug":"livy-history-of-rome-books-i-v","title":"The History of Rome, Books I-V","author":"Livy (Titus Livius)","reason":"Mucius holds his right hand in Porsena's altar fire in Book II to show that Romans can suffer as bravely as they act.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gibbon-decline-and-fall-selections","title":"The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Selections)","author":"Edward Gibbon","reason":"Constantine Palaeologus refuses to leave the breach and dies fighting with his nobles when the walls are carried (Chapter LXVIII).","vices":[]},{"slug":"fielding-tom-jones","title":"The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling","author":"Henry Fielding","reason":"Sophia defies her father's threats and an unwanted marriage by leaving home with only her maid.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-hobbit","title":"The Hobbit","author":"J. 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Milne","reason":"Afraid of heights, Piglet is pulled up to Owl's letter-box and squeezes out to fetch help for his trapped friends.","vices":["cowardice"]},{"slug":"the-hundred-dresses","title":"The Hundred Dresses","author":"Eleanor Estes","reason":"Maddie resolves after the empty house on Boggins Heights that she will speak up the next time anyone is picked on, even at the risk of being teased herself.","vices":[]},{"slug":"huxley-wilberforce-debate","title":"The Huxley-Wilberforce Debate","author":"Thomas Henry Huxley and Samuel Wilberforce","reason":"Huxley, a young lecturer, rose to answer the bishop of the diocese before a crowded Oxford audience in defence of a theory then under heavy criticism.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-iliad","title":"The Iliad","author":"Homer","reason":"Hector goes out to face Achilles before the walls of Troy knowing he will likely die defending his city.","vices":["cowardice"]},{"slug":"the-jewish-war","title":"The Jewish War","author":"Flavius Josephus","reason":"Josephus describes the endurance of the defenders of Jerusalem and Masada.","vices":[]},{"slug":"journal-of-john-woolman","title":"The Journal of John Woolman","author":"John Woolman","reason":"He travels through a dangerous wilderness in wartime in 1763, resigned even to captivity, to visit the town on the Susquehanna.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-jungle-book","title":"The Jungle Book","author":"Rudyard Kipling","reason":"Rikki-tikki goes alone into the dark bathroom and holds on to Nag's head until the cobra is killed.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-last-battle","title":"The Last Battle","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Tirian, Jewel, Poggin and the children fight on at Stable Hill against Calormenes and Dwarfs when they know they cannot win.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-last-days-of-socrates","title":"The Last Days of Socrates","author":"Plato","reason":"Socrates faces execution calmly, refusing to abandon philosophy or plead dishonorably.","vices":["cowardice"]},{"slug":"the-last-of-the-mohicans","title":"The Last of the Mohicans","author":"James Fenimore Cooper","reason":"Cora refuses Magua's offer of life as his wife and kneels calmly before his knife on the mountain ledge.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bastiat-the-law","title":"The Law","author":"Frédéric Bastiat","reason":"He published the pamphlet against the prevailing currents of the 1848 Assembly while seriously ill in the last months of his life.","vices":[]},{"slug":"leipzig-disputation","title":"The Leipzig Disputation","author":"Martin Luther, Johann Eck, and Andreas Karlstadt","reason":"Pressed by Eck before the duke and the university, Luther stated that some of Hus's condemned articles were Christian, knowing how dangerous the admission was.","vices":[]},{"slug":"apollodorus-library","title":"The Library (Bibliotheca)","author":"Apollodorus (attributed)","reason":"Heracles endures twelve labours for Eurystheus, from the Nemean lion to Cerberus, to atone for his madness.","vices":[]},{"slug":"boswell-life-of-johnson","title":"The Life of Samuel Johnson","author":"James Boswell","reason":"After the 1783 stroke takes his speech, he tests his mind with Latin verse and calmly writes notes summoning his physicians.","vices":[]},{"slug":"life-of-st-teresa-of-jesus","title":"The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus","author":"Teresa of Avila","reason":"She endures years of paralysis and the hostility of Avila over St. Joseph's without abandoning her purpose.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lincoln-douglas-debates","title":"The Lincoln-Douglas Debates","author":"Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. 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H. Lawrence","reason":"Elizabeth Bates keeps her children calm and does the work of laying out her husband's body.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-railway-children","title":"The Railway Children","author":"E. Nesbit","reason":"Bobbie keeps the secret of Father's imprisonment from her brother and sister and shares Mother's grief bravely.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ramayana","title":"The Ramayana","author":"Valmiki","reason":"Sita, held captive in the Asoka grove, refuses Ravan's wealth and endures his threats rather than betray Rama.","vices":["cowardice"]},{"slug":"the-red-badge-of-courage","title":"The Red Badge of Courage","author":"Stephen Crane","reason":"On the second day Henry takes up the colors from the dying color sergeant and carries them forward through the charge and the retreat.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hayek-the-road-to-serfdom","title":"The Road to Serfdom","author":"F. A. 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H. White","reason":"As a merlin in the mews, the Wart keeps the hawks' night ordeal beside the dangerous goshawk Cully.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall","title":"The Tenant of Wildfell Hall","author":"Anne Brontë","reason":"Helen plans and carries out her escape from Grassdale with her son after Huntingdon burns her paints and seizes her money.","vices":["cowardice"]},{"slug":"the-thirty-nine-steps","title":"The Thirty-Nine Steps","author":"John Buchan","reason":"Hannay sets the lentonite charge in the locked storeroom knowing it may kill him, because the alternative is certain death and failure.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lane-thousand-and-one-nights","title":"The Thousand and One Nights (Lane's translation, Volume I)","author":"Anonymous; translated by Edward William Lane","reason":"Shahrazád asks to be married to the King knowing that every bride before her has been killed at dawn.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-three-musketeers","title":"The Three Musketeers","author":"Alexandre Dumas","reason":"The friends hold the ruined bastion Saint-Gervais for an hour against repeated Rochellais attacks.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ibn-battuta-travels","title":"The Travels of Ibn Battuta","author":"Ibn Battuta","reason":"Ibn Battuta crosses deserts, mountains and seas for years after a holy man's charge in Alexandria, and does not abandon the purpose until he has met all three brothers.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-travels-of-marco-polo","title":"The Travels of Marco Polo","author":"Marco Polo (with Rustichello da Pisa)","reason":"The Polos cross the Pamirs and the desert of Lop and spend nearly two years at sea on the voyage to Persia, during which most of their company died.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-trial","title":"The Trial","author":"Franz Kafka","reason":"At his first hearing K. stands before the crowded court and openly denounces its proceedings, refusing to be cowed.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-trial-of-joan-of-arc","title":"The Trial of Joan of Arc","author":"Jeanne d'Arc; Pierre Cauchon; Guillaume Bouille; T. 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Georgia","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Worcester and Butler chose imprisonment at hard labour rather than take Georgia's oath, keeping the case alive for the Court to decide.","vices":[]},{"slug":"zelman-v-simmons-harris","title":"Zelman v. Simmons-Harris","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Souter holds that constitutional limits must be kept especially in hard cases where a sympathetic purpose invites impatience with them.","vices":[]}],"quotes":[{"id":"a-farewell-to-arms-q6","citation":"\"The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places.\" — Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms, Book IV, Chapter XXXIV (Project Gutenberg #75201 (Scribner's, 1929))."},{"id":"a-little-princess-q1","citation":"\"\"Soldiers don't complain,\" she would say between her small, shut teeth, \"I am not going to do it; I will pretend this is part of a war.\"\" — Frances Hodgson Burnett, A Little Princess, Chapter 8, In the Attic (Project Gutenberg #146)."},{"id":"a-little-princess-q3","citation":"\"If I am a princess in rags and tatters, I can be a princess inside. It would be easy to be a princess if I were dressed in cloth of gold, but it is a great deal more of a triumph to be one all the time when no one knows it.\" — Frances Hodgson Burnett, A Little Princess, Chapter 11, Ram Dass (Project Gutenberg #146)."},{"id":"a-tale-of-two-cities-q7","citation":"\"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.\" — Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, Book III, Chapter 15 (Project Gutenberg #98 text)."},{"id":"adventures-of-huckleberry-finn-q6","citation":"\"All right, then, I’ll _go_ to hell\" — Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapter XXXI (Project Gutenberg #76 text)."},{"id":"as-you-like-it-q1","citation":"\"Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head\" — William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 1 (Project Gutenberg #1523)."},{"id":"villehardouin-conquest-of-constantinople-q2","citation":"\"he was an old man, and albeit his eyes were unclouded, yet he saw naught, having lost his sight through a wound in the head. He was of a great heart.\" — Geoffrey de Villehardouin, Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and the Conquest of Constantinople, The Doge and a Number of Venetians Take the Cross, trans. Frank T. Marzials."},{"id":"cyrano-de-bergerac-q8","citation":"\"But who fights ever hoping for success? I fought for lost cause, and for fruitless quest!\" — Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 5, Scene 6, trans. Gladys Thomas and Mary F. Guillemard."},{"id":"emerson-essays-q2","citation":"\"Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.\" — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: First Series (Self-Reliance and Other Essays), II. Self-Reliance (Project Gutenberg #2944)."},{"id":"andersen-fairy-tales-q1","citation":"\"he stood as firmly upon his one leg as the others on their two\" — Hans Christian Andersen, Fairy Tales (Selection), The Hardy Tin Soldier, trans. W. A. Craigie."},{"id":"grace-abounding-q7","citation":"\"the parting with my wife and poor children, hath often been to me in this place, as the pulling the flesh from the bones\" — John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, §327 (Project Gutenberg #654 (Religious Tract Society, 1905))."},{"id":"grace-abounding-q8","citation":"\"if I were out of prison to-day, I would preach the Gospel again to-morrow, by the help of God.\" — John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, A Relation of the Imprisonment (Project Gutenberg #654 (Religious Tract Society, 1905))."},{"id":"hamlet-q12","citation":"\"There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ’tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all\" — William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 2 (Project Gutenberg #1524, modern spelling)."},{"id":"hans-brinker-q1","citation":"\"we must be nearer starvation than this before we turn faithless to the father!\" — Mary Mapes Dodge, Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates, Chapter 5, Shadows in the Home (Project Gutenberg #764)."},{"id":"hans-brinker-q3","citation":"\"Not a leak can show itself anywhere either in its politics, honor, or public safety, that a million fingers are not ready to stop it, at any cost.\" — Mary Mapes Dodge, Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates, Chapter 18, Friends in Need (Project Gutenberg #764)."},{"id":"hayne-speech-on-foots-resolution-q6","citation":"\"Never was there exhibited in the history of the world higher examples of noble daring, dreadful suffering, and heroic endurance, than by the whigs of Carolina during the revolution.\" — Robert Y. Hayne, Hayne's Reply to Webster (Speech on Foot's Resolution), Section on the South in the Revolution (Webster and Hayne's Celebrated Speeches in the United States Senate (1853), Wikisource text)."},{"id":"henry-v-q9","citation":"\"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers\" — William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act 4, Scene 3 (Project Gutenberg #1521, modern spelling)."},{"id":"ovid-heroides-q5","citation":"\"Kept close in the palace am I, bound with heavy chains; and the cause of my punishment is that I was faithful.\" — Ovid, Heroides, Letter XIV (Hypermnestra to Lynceus), trans. Grant Showerman (1914)."},{"id":"ovid-heroides-q6","citation":"\"She is not faithful who regrets her faith.\" — Ovid, Heroides, Letter XIV (Hypermnestra to Lynceus), trans. Grant Showerman (1914)."},{"id":"procopius-history-of-the-wars-persian-war-q3","citation":"\"For while it is impossible for a man who has seen the light not also to die, for one who has been an emperor it is unendurable to be a fugitive.\" — Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars, Books I-II (The Persian War), Book I, ch. 24, trans. H. B. Dewing."},{"id":"i-will-fight-no-more-forever-q5","citation":"\"Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.\" — Chief Joseph, I Will Fight No More Forever, Harper's Weekly text, sentences 13-15 (Harper's Weekly, 17 November 1877)."},{"id":"in-flanders-fields-q3","citation":"\"Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The Torch:  be yours to hold it high!\" — John McCrae, In Flanders Fields, Lines 10-12 (In Flanders Fields and Other Poems (1919))."},{"id":"incidents-in-the-life-of-a-slave-girl-q5","citation":"\"Yet I would have chosen this, rather than my lot as a slave\" — Harriet A. Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Chapter XXI, The Loophole of Retreat (Project Gutenberg #11030 (1861 text))."},{"id":"calvin-institutes-q8","citation":"\"we were redeemed by Christ at the great price which our redemption cost him, in order that we might not yield a slavish obedience to the depraved wishes of men, far less do homage to their impiety.\" — John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book IV, ch. 20, sec. 32 (the closing words of the Institutes), trans. Henry Beveridge."},{"id":"ivanhoe-q2","citation":"\"Remain where thou art, proud Templar, or at thy choice advance!\" — Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, Chapter XXIV (Project Gutenberg #82)."},{"id":"ivanhoe-q4","citation":"\"I will not cast away the gift of God, while he affords me the means of defending it.\" — Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, Chapter XXXVII (Project Gutenberg #82)."},{"id":"jane-eyre-q2","citation":"\"It is far better to endure patiently a smart which nobody feels but yourself, than to commit a hasty action whose evil consequences will extend to all connected with you\" — Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter VI (Project Gutenberg #1260)."},{"id":"jane-eyre-q6","citation":"\"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will, which I now exert to leave you.\" — Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter XXIII (Project Gutenberg #1260)."},{"id":"jane-eyre-q7","citation":"\"Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour\" — Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter XXVII (Project Gutenberg #1260)."},{"id":"little-lord-fauntleroy-q3","citation":"\"But only be good, dear, only be brave, only be kind and true always, and then you will never hurt any one, so long as you live, and you may help many, and the big world may be better because my little child was born.\" — Frances Hodgson Burnett, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Chapter VII (Project Gutenberg text)."},{"id":"little-women-q3","citation":"\"I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship\" — Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, Part Two, Ch. 44 (1869 first edition)."},{"id":"plutarch-lives-q3","citation":"\"The city is well fortified which hath a wall of men instead of brick\" — Plutarch, Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, Life of Lycurgus, trans. John Dryden et al., rev. A. H. Clough (1864)."},{"id":"plato-meno-q6","citation":"\"that we shall be better and braver and less helpless if we think that we ought to enquire, than we should have been if we indulged in the idle fancy that there was no knowing and no use in seeking to know what we do not know\" — Plato, Meno, 86b-c, trans. Benjamin Jowett (1871)."},{"id":"much-ado-about-nothing-q5","citation":"\"Come, lady, die to live: this wedding day Perhaps is but prolong’d: have patience and endure.\" — William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 4, Scene 1 (Project Gutenberg #1519)."},{"id":"my-fathers-dragon-q6","citation":"\"Steady, old boy, steady. We'll make it. Just stand still,\" — Ruth Stiles Gannett, My Father's Dragon, Chapter Ten, My Father Finds the Dragon (Project Gutenberg #30017)."},{"id":"napoleons-maxims-of-war-q4","citation":"\"The first qualification of a soldier is fortitude under fatigue and privation. Courage is only the second; hardship, poverty and want, are the best school for a soldier\" — Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon's Maxims of War, Maxim LVIII, trans. G. C. D'Aguilar from Burnod (1831; 1862 reprint)."},{"id":"o-captain-my-captain-q5","citation":"\"Exult O shores, and ring O bells! But I with mournful tread, Walk the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.\" — Walt Whitman, O Captain! My Captain!, Stanza 3, lines 21-24 (Leaves of Grass, deathbed edition (1891-92))."},{"id":"on-liberty-q5","citation":"\"if it is not fully, frequently, and fearlessly discussed, it will be held as a dead dogma, not a living truth\" — John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Ch. II, Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion."},{"id":"d-day-order-of-the-day-q5","citation":"\"I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle.\" — Dwight D. Eisenhower, Order of the Day, 6 June 1944, Paragraph 4 (National Archives transcription (1944 order))."},{"id":"pericles-funeral-oration-q7","citation":"\"judging happiness to be the fruit of freedom and freedom of valour, never decline the dangers of war.\" — Pericles, Pericles' Funeral Oration, Book II.43, trans. Richard Crawley (1874)."},{"id":"pollyanna-q7","citation":"\"I can be glad I've HAD my legs, anyway\" — Eleanor H. Porter, Pollyanna, Chapter XXVIII (Project Gutenberg #1450)."},{"id":"psalm-23-q4","citation":"\"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.\" — Attributed to David, Psalm 23, Psalm 23:4, trans. King James Version (1611)."},{"id":"shaw-saint-joan-q4","citation":"\"France is alone; and God is alone; and what is my loneliness before the loneliness of my country and my God?\" — George Bernard Shaw, Saint Joan, Scene V (Project Gutenberg #76323 (Brentano's, 1926))."},{"id":"webster-second-reply-to-hayne-q6","citation":"\"That Union we reached only by the discipline of our virtues in the severe school of adversity.\" — Daniel Webster, Second Reply to Hayne, Peroration (The Great Speeches and Orations of Daniel Webster, ed. Whipple (1879))."},{"id":"tanglewood-tales-q2","citation":"\"Your body, my little friend, is about the size of an ordinary man's finger. Pray, how big may your soul be?\" — Nathaniel Hawthorne, Tanglewood Tales, The Pygmies (Project Gutenberg #976)."},{"id":"tear-down-this-wall-q4","citation":"\"General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!\" — Ronald Reagan, Tear Down This Wall (Brandenburg Gate Address), Paragraph 12 (Public Papers of the Presidents (1987))."},{"id":"the-arabian-nights-q1","citation":"\"If I fail, my death will be a glorious one, and if I succeed I shall have done a great service to my country.\" — Andrew Lang (ed.), The Arabian Nights Entertainments, The Arabian Nights (frame story), trans. Andrew Lang (ed.), from Galland's French (1898)."},{"id":"the-arabian-nights-q6","citation":"\"I have only reached this happy state after having for years suffered every possible kind of toil and danger.\" — Andrew Lang (ed.), The Arabian Nights Entertainments, The Seven Voyages of Sindbad the Sailor (introduction), trans. Andrew Lang (ed.), from Galland's French (1898)."},{"id":"autobiography-of-benvenuto-cellini-q6","citation":"\"I felt such vigour fill my veins, that all those pains of fever, all those fears of death, were quite forgotten.\" — Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, Book II, Chapter LXXVII, trans. John Addington Symonds."},{"id":"the-bible-q4","citation":"\"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me\" — Anonymous, The Bible, Psalm 23:4 (KJV)."},{"id":"the-call-of-the-wild-q2","citation":"\"He was beaten (he knew that); but he was not broken.\" — Jack London, The Call of the Wild, Chapter I (Project Gutenberg text)."},{"id":"the-conquest-of-gaul-q3","citation":"\"Leap, fellow soldiers, unless you wish to betray your eagle to the enemy. I, for my part, will perform my duty to the commonwealth and my general\" — Julius Caesar, The Conquest of Gaul, Book IV.25, trans. W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn (1869)."},{"id":"the-faerie-queene-q3","citation":"\"Vertue gives her selfe light, through darkenesse for to wade.\" — Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book I, Book I, Canto I, stanza 12 (Project Gutenberg #15272 (Wauchope, 1903))."},{"id":"the-faerie-queene-q8","citation":"\"In that disease of grieved conscience, And well could cure the same; his name was Patience.\" — Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book I, Book I, Canto X, stanza 23 (Project Gutenberg #15272 (Wauchope, 1903))."},{"id":"kingsley-the-heroes-q3","citation":"\"he who overcomes in one trial merits thereby a sharper trial still.\" — Charles Kingsley, The Heroes; or, Greek Fairy Tales for My Children, Perseus, Part II: How Perseus Vowed a Rash Vow (Project Gutenberg #677 (1889 Macmillan edition))."},{"id":"livy-history-of-rome-books-i-v-q4","citation":"\"Both to act and to suffer with fortitude is a Roman's part.\" — Livy (Titus Livius), The History of Rome, Books I-V, Book II, ch. 12, trans. D. Spillan (1853)."},{"id":"journal-of-john-woolman-q3","citation":"\"I believed Slave-keeping to be a Practice inconsistent with the _Christian_ Religion\" — John Woolman, The Journal of John Woolman, Journal, Chapter I (Project Gutenberg #37311 (Everyman's Library, reprinting the London edition of 1775))."},{"id":"the-jungle-book-q5","citation":"\"I am the only white seal that has ever been born on the beaches, and I am the only seal, black or white, who ever thought of looking for new islands.\" — Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, The White Seal (Project Gutenberg #236)."},{"id":"the-last-of-the-mohicans-q4","citation":"\"I am thine; do with me as thou seest best!\" — James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans, Chapter XXXII (Project Gutenberg #940)."},{"id":"life-of-st-teresa-of-jesus-q7","citation":"\"I am really much more afraid of those people who have so great a fear of the devil, than I am of the devil himself.\" — Teresa of Avila, The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, Chapter XXV, § 27, trans. David Lewis."},{"id":"lincoln-douglas-debates-q6","citation":"\"Whenever the great principle of self-government — the right of the people to make their own Constitution, and come into the Union with slavery or without it, as they see proper, shall again arise, you will find me standing firm in defense of that principle, and fighting whoever fights it.\" — Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Second Joint Debate, Freeport, Douglas's reply, on Lecompton (Political Debates Between Lincoln and Douglas (Columbus: Follett, Foster, 1860), Internet Archive OCR text)."},{"id":"walton-lives-q4","citation":"\"Lord, abate my great affliction, or increase my patience: but Lord, I repine not\" — Izaak Walton, The Lives of Richard Hooker, George Herbert and Robert Sanderson, Life of Herbert (Project Gutenberg #13139 (Cassell's National Library, 1898))."},{"id":"rowlandson-narrative-of-the-captivity-q6","citation":"\"I have learned to look beyond present and smaller troubles, and to be quieted under them.\" — Mary Rowlandson, The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, Closing reflections (Project Gutenberg #851)."},{"id":"the-persian-expedition-q11","citation":"\"by the same token we shall all one day be dead, but that is no reason why meantime we should all be buried alive\" — Xenophon, The Persian Expedition, Book V, Chapter VIII, trans. H. G. Dakyns (1890s)."},{"id":"practice-of-the-presence-of-god-q7","citation":"\"One does not become holy all at once.\" — Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, Ninth Letter, trans. Anonymous (Revell edition)."},{"id":"the-prince-and-the-pauper-q7","citation":"\"Let him go--I will take his lashes.\" — Mark Twain, The Prince and the Pauper, Chapter XXVIII (Project Gutenberg #1837)."},{"id":"prose-edda-q3","citation":"\"It is a proverb, that he is Tyr-valiant, who surpasses other men and does not waver.\" — Snorri Sturluson, The Prose Edda, Gylfaginning XXV, trans. Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur (1916)."},{"id":"the-railway-children-q5","citation":"\"We two must help each other to be brave.\" — E. Nesbit, The Railway Children, Chapter XI, The hound in the red jersey (Project Gutenberg #1874)."},{"id":"story-of-a-soul-q2","citation":"\"My God, I choose everything, I will not be a Saint by halves, I am not afraid of suffering for Thee, I only fear one thing, and that is to do my own will.\" — Therese of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul, Chapter I, trans. Thomas N. Taylor."},{"id":"the-story-of-my-life-q5","citation":"\"Every struggle is a victory.\" — Helen Keller, The Story of My Life, Part I, Chapter XX (Project Gutenberg #2397)."},{"id":"volsunga-saga-q2","citation":"\"Whenas men meet foes in fight, better is stout heart than sharp sword.\" — Anonymous (Old Norse), The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga), Chapter XIX, trans. Eiríkr Magnússon and William Morris."},{"id":"the-thirty-nine-steps-q3","citation":"\"I am an ordinary sort of fellow, not braver than other people, but I hate to see a good man downed\" — John Buchan, The Thirty-Nine Steps, Chapter II (Project Gutenberg #558)."},{"id":"the-thirty-nine-steps-q6","citation":"\"I think he was the bravest man in the world, for he was always shivering with fright, and yet nothing would choke him off.\" — John Buchan, The Thirty-Nine Steps, Chapter VII (Project Gutenberg #558)."},{"id":"lane-thousand-and-one-nights-q2","citation":"\"either I shall die, and be a ransom for one of the daughters of the Muslims, or I shall live, and be the cause of their deliverance from him.\" — Anonymous; translated by Edward William Lane, The Thousand and One Nights (Lane's translation, Volume I), Introduction, trans. Edward William Lane."},{"id":"euripides-trojan-women-and-other-plays-q7","citation":"\"willingly I die, let no man Confine these arms, I with undaunted breast Will meet the stroke.\" — Euripides, The Trojan Women and Other Plays, Hecuba, Talthybius's report of the sacrifice, trans. Michael Wodhull (1782)."},{"id":"the-true-story-of-my-life-q4","citation":"\"at first an immense deal of adversity to go through, and then they will be famous.\" — Hans Christian Andersen, The True Story of My Life, Chapter I, trans. Mary Howitt."},{"id":"the-wise-woman-q3","citation":"\"But the man who will do his work in spite of his fear is a man of true courage.\" — George MacDonald, The Wise Woman (A Double Story), Chapter VII (Project Gutenberg #5676 (A Double Story))."},{"id":"the-wonderful-wizard-of-oz-q4","citation":"\"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, a big beast like you, to bite a poor little dog!\" — L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter VI, The Cowardly Lion (Project Gutenberg #55)."},{"id":"the-wonderful-wizard-of-oz-q5","citation":"\"There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The True courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty.\" — L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter XV, The Discovery of Oz, the Terrible (Project Gutenberg #55)."},{"id":"theodore-roosevelt-an-autobiography-q4","citation":"\"There were all kinds of things of which I was afraid at first, ranging from grizzly bears to \"mean\" horses and gun-fighters; but by acting as if I was not afraid I gradually ceased to be afraid.\" — Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography, Chapter II, The Vigor of Life (Project Gutenberg #3335 (1920 Scribner edition of the 1913 text))."},{"id":"theodore-roosevelt-an-autobiography-q5","citation":"\"But life is a great adventure, and the worst of all fears is the fear of living.\" — Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography, Chapter IX, Outdoors and Indoors (Project Gutenberg #3335 (1920 Scribner edition of the 1913 text))."},{"id":"tennyson-ulysses-q7","citation":"\"Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’ We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.\" — Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Ulysses, Lines 65-70 (Poems (1842), ed. Collins 1900)."},{"id":"uncle-toms-cabin-q1","citation":"\"But now I’m a free man, standing on God’s free soil; and my wife and my child I claim as mine.\" — Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Chapter XVII (Project Gutenberg #203)."},{"id":"uncle-toms-cabin-q5","citation":"\"No! no! no! my soul an’t yours, Mas’r! You haven’t bought it,—ye can’t buy it! It’s been bought and paid for, by one that is able to keep it\" — Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Chapter XXXIII (Project Gutenberg #203)."},{"id":"chekhov-uncle-vanya-q6","citation":"\"we shall patiently bear the trials that fate imposes on us; we shall work for others without rest, both now and when we are old\" — Anton Chekhov, Uncle Vanya, Act IV, trans. Marian Fell."},{"id":"understood-betsy-q5","citation":"\"What would Cousin Ann do if she were here? She wouldn’t cry. She would THINK of something.\" — Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Understood Betsy, Chapter VII, Elizabeth Ann Fails in an Examination (Project Gutenberg #5347)."},{"id":"up-from-slavery-q3","citation":"\"success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.\" — Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, Chapter II (Project Gutenberg #2376)."},{"id":"wonderful-adventures-of-mrs-seacole-q3","citation":"\"Let what might happen, to the Crimea I would go. If in no other way, then would I upon my own responsibility and at my own cost.\" — Mary Seacole, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, Chapter VIII (Project Gutenberg #23031 (1857 text))."},{"id":"wonderful-adventures-of-mrs-seacole-q5","citation":"\"And the grateful words and smile which rewarded me for binding up a wound or giving cooling drink was a pleasure worth risking life for at any time.\" — Mary Seacole, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, Chapter XVI (Project Gutenberg #23031 (1857 text))."}]},{"slug":"temperance","name":"Temperance","kind":"cardinal","summary":"Self-mastery: ordering the desires for pleasure, food, drink, and comfort by reason.","vices":[{"slug":"intemperance","name":"Intemperance","description":"Indulgence beyond what reason allows."},{"slug":"wrath","name":"Wrath","description":"Anger without measure."},{"slug":"gluttony","name":"Gluttony","description":"Disordered desire for food and drink."}],"definitions":[{"source":"Aristotle","ref":"Nicomachean Ethics III.10-12","text":"Temperance is a mean with regard to bodily pleasures; the temperate man desires the things he ought, as he ought, and when he ought."},{"source":"Cicero","ref":"De Officiis I.93-104","text":"Temperance and moderation (decorum) bring order and measure into every word and deed, with appetite obedient to reason."},{"source":"Aquinas","ref":"Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 141","text":"Temperance restrains the appetite from the pleasures that most strongly draw it from reason; its parts include abstinence, sobriety, chastity, meekness, and modesty."},{"source":"Scripture","ref":"Proverbs 16:32 (KJV)","quote":"He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city","work":"the-bible"},{"source":"Scripture","ref":"1 Corinthians 9:25 (KJV)","quote":"every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things","work":"the-bible"}],"questions":["Why might ruling your spirit be harder than taking a city?","Is temperance only about saying no?","How does temperance make other virtues possible?","Which character in your reading was ruled by appetite or anger, and what followed?"],"url":"/virtues/temperance/","works":[{"slug":"a-childs-garden-of-verses","title":"A Child's Garden of Verses","author":"Robert Louis Stevenson","reason":"Poems of bedtime and quiet play honor the day’s order and limits.","vices":["intemperance"]},{"slug":"calhoun-disquisition-on-government","title":"A Disquisition on Government","author":"John C. Calhoun","reason":"His concurrent majority makes compromise, the restraint of each interest's demands, the principle that preserves constitutional government.","vices":[]},{"slug":"vindication-of-the-rights-of-woman","title":"A Vindication of the Rights of Woman","author":"Mary Wollstonecraft","reason":"Chapter 4 sets the aim of women's education as power over themselves, the government of passion by reason.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-wonder-book","title":"A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys","author":"Nathaniel Hawthorne","reason":"Midas learns, when his breakfast turns to gold, that bread and water matter more than riches, and he washes away the Golden Touch.","vices":[]},{"slug":"schechter-poultry-v-united-states","title":"A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Cardozo, sympathetic to reform, draws a measured line between delegation to curb unfair practices and an unlimited power over industry.","vices":[]},{"slug":"areopagitica","title":"Areopagitica","author":"John Milton","reason":"Milton argues that God entrusts each grown person with the diet of the mind as of the body, to be governed by temperance rather than by a licenser.","vices":[]},{"slug":"because-i-could-not-stop-for-death","title":"Because I could not stop for Death","author":"Emily Dickinson","reason":"Death knows no haste, and the speaker's calm, measured recollection refuses both panic and self-pity.","vices":[]},{"slug":"caps-for-sale","title":"Caps for Sale","author":"Esphyr Slobodkina","reason":"The peddler's growing rage, from a shaken finger to stamping feet, only makes the monkeys more mischievous, a comic picture of why self-control matters.","vices":["wrath"]},{"slug":"sallust-catiline-and-jugurtha","title":"Catiline's War and The Jugurthine War","author":"Sallust (Gaius Sallustius Crispus)","reason":"Sallust says Cato's ambition was for temperance, discretion and austerity, contending with the modest in simplicity and with the temperate in abstinence.","vices":[]},{"slug":"villehardouin-conquest-of-constantinople","title":"Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and the Conquest of Constantinople","author":"Geoffrey de Villehardouin","reason":"Villehardouin condemns the covetousness of those who kept back booty from the common stock after the conquest.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mann-death-in-venice","title":"Death in Venice","author":"Thomas Mann","reason":"The story shows by its absence what temperance guards against, as Aschenbach's lifelong control gives way to a desire he lets rule him on the Lido.","vices":["intemperance"]},{"slug":"rousseau-discourse-on-inequality","title":"Discourse on the Origin of Inequality","author":"Jean-Jacques Rousseau","reason":"Natural man's few desires, simple food and freedom from luxury are presented as the ground of his health and contentment.","vices":[]},{"slug":"epictetus-discourses-and-encheiridion","title":"Discourses (selection) and Encheiridion","author":"Epictetus","reason":"Encheiridion X names continence as the power to use when a fair face presents itself as an appearance.","vices":[]},{"slug":"elegy-written-in-a-country-churchyard","title":"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard","author":"Thomas Gray","reason":"The villagers' sober wishes never learned to stray, and they kept the noiseless tenor of their way.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hume-political-essays","title":"Essays, Moral and Political (selection)","author":"David Hume","reason":"Of the Delicacy of Taste and Passion recommends cooling an excessive sensitivity to fortune by cultivating a calm, refined taste.","vices":[]},{"slug":"dewey-experience-and-education","title":"Experience and Education","author":"John Dewey","reason":"Chapter 5 makes self-control, the power to stop and think before acting on impulse, the true aim of a free education.","vices":[]},{"slug":"five-children-and-it","title":"Five Children and It","author":"E. Nesbit","reason":"The children's hasty wishes for beauty and boundless wealth bring trouble, and they find peace only when they give up wishing.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gods-grandeur","title":"God's Grandeur","author":"Gerard Manley Hopkins","reason":"The picture of a land seared with trade and smeared with toil warns against a life so absorbed in getting and working that the senses go numb, being shod.","vices":["intemperance"]},{"slug":"grasshopper-on-the-road","title":"Grasshopper on the Road","author":"Arnold Lobel","reason":"Grasshopper enjoys morning, afternoon and evening alike, while the beetles, the housefly and the dragonflies each let one thing take over their lives.","vices":[]},{"slug":"if-kipling","title":"If—","author":"Rudyard Kipling","reason":"Dreams and thoughts must not become masters, and Triumph and Disaster must be treated the same, a discipline of the passions throughout the poem.","vices":[]},{"slug":"calvin-institutes","title":"Institutes of the Christian Religion","author":"John Calvin","reason":"Book III, chapter 10 teaches believers to use food, clothing and pleasures with gratitude and moderation, neither rejecting God's gifts nor indulging in them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"jane-eyre","title":"Jane Eyre","author":"Charlotte Brontë","reason":"She governs her passion for Rochester when every feeling urges her to yield.","vices":[]},{"slug":"journey-to-the-west-a-mission-to-heaven","title":"Journey to the West (A Mission to Heaven)","author":"Wu Cheng'en","reason":"Pa Kiel's ravenous eating and the Monkey's theft of the peaches and pills set appetite against the discipline the pilgrimage requires.","vices":["gluttony"]},{"slug":"kalevala","title":"Kalevala","author":"Elias Lönnrot (compiler)","reason":"Kullervo's unchecked anger after the stone in his bread leads to destruction on all sides and finally his own death.","vices":["wrath"]},{"slug":"plato-laws","title":"Laws","author":"Plato","reason":"Book I calls the victory over oneself the first and best of victories and makes self-mastery, tested even at the drinking party, the aim of training.","vices":[]},{"slug":"letters-from-a-stoic","title":"Letters from a Stoic","author":"Seneca","reason":"Seneca counsels moderation in wealth, food, and pleasure, and practice in going without.","vices":[]},{"slug":"plutarch-lives","title":"Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans","author":"Plutarch","reason":"Alcibiades, Sulla, Demetrius, and Antony show how great gifts are undone by unruled passion.","vices":["intemperance","wrath"]},{"slug":"macbeth","title":"Macbeth","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Macbeth’s vaulting ambition leads from one murder to many.","vices":["presumption-ambition"]},{"slug":"mansfield-park","title":"Mansfield Park","author":"Jane Austen","reason":"Fanny Price holds to her principles amid the Bertrams’ indulgences.","vices":[]},{"slug":"meditations","title":"Meditations","author":"Marcus Aurelius","reason":"Marcus Aurelius trains himself to master anger, desire, and fear by reason.","vices":["wrath"]},{"slug":"mouse-soup","title":"Mouse Soup","author":"Arnold Lobel","reason":"The two large stones give up their restless longing for the far side of the hill once the mouse tells them it is just like their own.","vices":[]},{"slug":"nlrb-v-jones-and-laughlin-steel","title":"NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp.","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Hughes stresses that the act compels no agreement and leaves employers free to discharge for proper reasons, keeping the holding within measured bounds.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ode-on-a-grecian-urn","title":"Ode on a Grecian Urn","author":"John Keats","reason":"The ode contrasts the urn's untouched love with human passion that leaves a heart cloyed, a burning forehead and a parching tongue.","vices":[]},{"slug":"cicero-on-duties","title":"On Duties (De Officiis)","author":"Marcus Tullius Cicero","reason":"Cicero's teaching on decorum asks Marcus to govern speech, appetite and bearing so that his whole life is consistent.","vices":[]},{"slug":"othello","title":"Othello","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Cassio loses his lieutenancy after one night of drinking on watch, and laments it in Act 2, Scene 3.","vices":[]},{"slug":"owl-at-home","title":"Owl at Home","author":"Arnold Lobel","reason":"Upstairs and Downstairs shows Owl wearing himself out trying to be everywhere at once, a comic lesson in being content with one place at a time.","vices":[]},{"slug":"paradise-lost","title":"Paradise Lost","author":"John Milton","reason":"Raphael counsels Adam to be lowly wise and Michael names temperance among the virtues that make a paradise within.","vices":[]},{"slug":"aristotle-poetics","title":"Poetics","author":"Aristotle","reason":"Chapter XXII asks for diction that mixes ordinary and unusual words with moderation, clear without being mean.","vices":[]},{"slug":"orwell-politics-and-the-english-language","title":"Politics and the English Language","author":"George Orwell","reason":"The rules to cut every word that can be cut and prefer short words ask the writer to restrain the urge to inflate.","vices":[]},{"slug":"romeo-and-juliet","title":"Romeo and Juliet","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"The Friar warns before the wedding that violent delights have violent ends and urges a moderate love.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sec-v-capital-gains-research-bureau","title":"SEC v. Capital Gains Research Bureau, Inc.","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Harlan urges judicial restraint, declining to fashion a rule the legislature had not enacted, however salutary it might seem.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sec-v-edwards","title":"SEC v. Edwards","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The case illustrates the danger of yielding to promises of steady, high returns without asking how they could be earned.","vices":[]},{"slug":"shane","title":"Shane","author":"Jack Schaefer","reason":"Shane walks away from Chris's taunts at Grafton's rather than use his skill on a boastful cowhand.","vices":[]},{"slug":"shakespeares-sonnets","title":"Sonnets","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Sonnet 129 condemns lust as perjured and savage, and Sonnet 146 urges the soul to starve the body's excess.","vices":["intemperance"]},{"slug":"plato-statesman","title":"Statesman","author":"Plato","reason":"The digression on measure makes the due mean the standard of every art, and the royal weaver prizes the temperate nature as one strand of the city.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-strange-case-of-dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde","title":"Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde","author":"Robert Louis Stevenson","reason":"Jekyll's two months of abstinence collapse into a frenzy that ends in the Carew murder, showing what is lost when appetite is indulged rather than mastered.","vices":["intemperance"]},{"slug":"tanglewood-tales","title":"Tanglewood Tales","author":"Nathaniel Hawthorne","reason":"Ulysses' greedy companions become swine at Circe's feast, while Ulysses, protected by the white flower, keeps his head.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bulfinch-age-of-fable","title":"The Age of Fable","author":"Thomas Bulfinch","reason":"Midas learns that his wish for gold would starve him and begs to be freed from the golden touch.","vices":[]},{"slug":"avicenna-canon-of-medicine-book-i","title":"The Canon of Medicine, Book I","author":"Ibn Sina (Avicenna)","reason":"The regimen of Part 3 makes moderation in food, exercise, sleep and bathing, and in the emotions, the ordinary means of keeping health.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-collar","title":"The Collar","author":"George Herbert","reason":"The poem weighs the heart's plea for double pleasures against the discipline of service and comes down for restraint.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-comedy-of-errors","title":"The Comedy of Errors","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Luciana urges her sister to govern her jealousy and speak gently to her husband.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-iliad","title":"The Iliad","author":"Homer","reason":"The wrath of Achilles, the poem’s first word, costs countless Greek lives, showing the ruin of unruled anger.","vices":["wrath"]},{"slug":"journal-of-john-woolman","title":"The Journal of John Woolman","author":"John Woolman","reason":"In 1756 he lays down a growing shop of goods and keeps only his tailoring and apple trees so as to live free of cumbers.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-magicians-nephew","title":"The Magician's Nephew","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"In the garden Digory carries the silver apple back to Aslan without eating it, though its smell makes him hungry and thirsty.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ibn-khaldun-muqaddimah","title":"The Muqaddimah","author":"Ibn Khaldun","reason":"Chapters 2 and 3 show how simplicity of life sustains a people's strength and how luxury in the later generations of a dynasty undoes it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"rowlandson-narrative-of-the-captivity","title":"The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson","author":"Mary Rowlandson","reason":"She gives up tobacco from the day of her capture and refuses Metacom's offered pipe.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-odyssey","title":"The Odyssey","author":"Homer","reason":"The crew perish for eating the cattle of the Sun against warning, while Odysseus restrains himself.","vices":["intemperance"]},{"slug":"the-picture-of-dorian-gray","title":"The Picture of Dorian Gray","author":"Oscar Wilde","reason":"Dorian's eighteen years of pursuing every sensation recommended in Lord Henry's new Hedonism leave the portrait coarsened and his friends ruined.","vices":["intemperance"]},{"slug":"poetic-edda","title":"The Poetic Edda","author":"Anonymous (Old Norse)","reason":"Hovamol warns that the more a man drinks the less he masters his mind, and Othin offers his own drunkenness at Gunnloth's as the cautionary example.","vices":[]},{"slug":"weber-the-protestant-ethic-and-the-spirit-of-capitalism","title":"The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism","author":"Max Weber","reason":"Puritan ethics in Chapter 5 forbid the enjoyment of wealth in luxury and idleness, directing it instead to plain living and saving.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lawrence-the-prussian-officer","title":"The Prussian Officer and Other Stories","author":"D. H. Lawrence","reason":"In The White Stocking Ted Whiston, after striking his wife, is sickened by his own violence and comes back to tenderness with her.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-republic","title":"The Republic","author":"Plato","reason":"Plato describes temperance as the harmony of the soul’s parts under reason.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ammianus-marcellinus-roman-history","title":"The Roman History","author":"Ammianus Marcellinus","reason":"Ammianus praises Julian's chastity, plain food and short sleep, and holds up sober provincial bishops as a model against Roman luxury.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-screwtape-letters","title":"The Screwtape Letters","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Screwtape's account of the mother's gluttony of delicacy in Letter XVII shows that intemperance can lie in fussiness over small portions as well as in excess.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-spirit-of-the-laws","title":"The Spirit of the Laws","author":"Montesquieu","reason":"Book XI's claim that even virtue needs limits makes moderation the condition of political liberty.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-symposium","title":"The Symposium","author":"Plato","reason":"Alcibiades describes Socrates’ self-command in the cold of Potidaea and before temptation.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-tale-of-peter-rabbit","title":"The Tale of Peter Rabbit","author":"Beatrix Potter","reason":"Peter’s greedy feast of lettuces, beans, and radishes brings on sickness and fright.","vices":["gluttony"]},{"slug":"the-taming-of-the-shrew","title":"The Taming of the Shrew","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"By the road scene of Act 4, Scene 5 Kate has mastered her temper and turns Petruchio's contradictions into a shared joke.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-tempest","title":"The Tempest","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Prospero masters his own fury with his nobler reason, and he charges Ferdinand to keep chaste until the wedding.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall","title":"The Tenant of Wildfell Hall","author":"Anne Brontë","reason":"Huntingdon's drinking turns a minor hunting injury fatal, while Hattersley's reform shows the other path open to the same company.","vices":["intemperance"]},{"slug":"veblen-theory-of-the-leisure-class","title":"The Theory of the Leisure Class","author":"Thorstein Veblen","reason":"The analysis of feasts, stimulants and fashion in Chapters Four and Seven exposes how far consumption is driven by display rather than need.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lane-thousand-and-one-nights","title":"The Thousand and One Nights (Lane's translation, Volume I)","author":"Anonymous; translated by Edward William Lane","reason":"Ghánim keeps his distance from Ḳoot-el-Ḳuloob once he learns she belongs to the Khaleefeh, though he loves her.","vices":[]},{"slug":"virginia-declaration-of-rights","title":"The Virginia Declaration of Rights","author":"George Mason","reason":"Section XV names moderation, temperance and frugality among the habits without which no free government can be preserved.","vices":[]},{"slug":"huizinga-the-waning-of-the-middle-ages","title":"The Waning of the Middle Ages","author":"Johan Huizinga","reason":"Jean Gerson urges restraint against excess in devotion and in courtly literature, a measured voice in an age Huizinga describes as given to extremes.","vices":[]},{"slug":"eliot-the-waste-land","title":"The Waste Land","author":"T. S. Eliot","reason":"The Fire Sermon's close joins Augustine and the Buddha in renouncing burning desire, and Damyata calls for control.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-wind-in-the-willows","title":"The Wind in the Willows","author":"Kenneth Grahame","reason":"Toad’s mania shows appetite without measure; friends urge restraint.","vices":["intemperance"]},{"slug":"the-wise-woman","title":"The Wise Woman (A Double Story)","author":"George MacDonald","reason":"In the forest trial Rosamond masters her envy of the flower-child's pony and blesses the child's gift instead.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hesiod-theogony-and-works-and-days","title":"Theogony and Works and Days","author":"Hesiod","reason":"Hesiod warns against loading all one's goods on a ship or overloading a wagon, and sums it up as due measure in all things.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tinker-v-des-moines","title":"Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The students chose a silent armband and a fast rather than any disorderly form of protest, as Fortas emphasizes.","vices":[]},{"slug":"to-kill-a-mockingbird","title":"To Kill a Mockingbird","author":"Harper Lee","reason":"When Bob Ewell spits in his face, Atticus wipes it off and walks away without striking back.","vices":[]},{"slug":"transamerica-mortgage-advisors-v-lewis","title":"Transamerica Mortgage Advisors, Inc. v. Lewis","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Stewart restrains the Court from adding remedies Congress did not enact, however useful they might seem.","vices":[]},{"slug":"utopia","title":"Utopia","author":"Thomas More","reason":"The Utopians seek only true pleasures and keep gold for chamber-pots and fetters so that no one will covet it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"walden","title":"Walden","author":"Henry David Thoreau","reason":"In \"Higher Laws\" Thoreau drinks only water and keeps a plain diet of bread, rice and potatoes, treating restraint in appetite as the path to a purer life.","vices":[]},{"slug":"chernow-washington","title":"Washington: A Life","author":"Ron Chernow","reason":"Chernow shows Washington governing a fierce temper through decades of deliberate self-command.","vices":[]},{"slug":"webb-v-united-states","title":"Webb v. United States","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The certified facts set the aim of breaking a habit against the practice of feeding it, a contrast at the heart of the classical virtue of self-mastery.","vices":[]},{"slug":"youngstown-sheet-and-tube-v-sawyer","title":"Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Truman, though convinced he was right, complied with the Court's ruling and returned the mills at once.","vices":[]}],"quotes":[{"id":"a-wonder-book-q2","citation":"\"the commonest things, such as lie within everybody's grasp, are more valuable than the riches which so many mortals sigh and struggle after.\" — Nathaniel Hawthorne, A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys, The Golden Touch (Project Gutenberg eBook #32242)."},{"id":"franklin-autobiography-and-poor-richard-q1","citation":"\"early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise\" — Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography and Poor Richard's Almanack, The Way to Wealth (Public-domain Poor Richard text)."},{"id":"villehardouin-conquest-of-constantinople-q7","citation":"\"because covetousness, which is the root of all evil, let and hindered them.\" — Geoffrey de Villehardouin, Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and the Conquest of Constantinople, Division of the Spoil, trans. Frank T. Marzials."},{"id":"hayne-speech-on-foots-resolution-q2","citation":"\"A moneyed interest in the government is essentially a base interest; and just so far as it operates to bind the feelings of those who are subjected to it to the government,—just so far as it operates in creating sympathies and interests that would not otherwise exist,—is it opposed to all the principles of free government, and at war with virtue and patriotism.\" — Robert Y. Hayne, Hayne's Reply to Webster (Speech on Foot's Resolution), Section on the national debt and pecuniary dependence (Webster and Hayne's Celebrated Speeches in the United States Senate (1853), Wikisource text)."},{"id":"euripides-iphigenia-in-aulis-and-other-plays-q6","citation":"\"It is better, my son, to honor Equality, who always joins friend to friend, city to city, allies to allies;\" — Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis and Other Plays, The Phoenician Maidens, trans. E. P. Coleridge (1891)."},{"id":"ivanhoe-q2","citation":"\"Remain where thou art, proud Templar, or at thy choice advance!\" — Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, Chapter XXIV (Project Gutenberg #82)."},{"id":"jane-eyre-q2","citation":"\"It is far better to endure patiently a smart which nobody feels but yourself, than to commit a hasty action whose evil consequences will extend to all connected with you\" — Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter VI (Project Gutenberg #1260)."},{"id":"jane-eyre-q7","citation":"\"Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour\" — Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter XXVII (Project Gutenberg #1260)."},{"id":"plutarch-lives-q2","citation":"\"Strike if you will, but hear\" — Plutarch, Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, Life of Themistocles, trans. John Dryden et al., rev. A. H. Clough (1864)."},{"id":"othello-q4","citation":"\"O God, that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains!\" — William Shakespeare, Othello, Act 2, Scene 3 (Project Gutenberg #1531)."},{"id":"pericles-funeral-oration-q3","citation":"\"wealth we employ more for use than for show, and place the real disgrace of poverty not in owning to the fact but in declining the struggle against it.\" — Pericles, Pericles' Funeral Oration, Book II.40, trans. Richard Crawley (1874)."},{"id":"romeo-and-juliet-q5","citation":"\"Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.\" — William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 3 (Project Gutenberg #1513 text)."},{"id":"romeo-and-juliet-q6","citation":"\"These violent delights have violent ends\" — William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 6 (Project Gutenberg #1513 text)."},{"id":"tanglewood-tales-q5","citation":"\"When men once turn to brutes, the trifle of man's wit that remains in them adds tenfold to their brutality.\" — Nathaniel Hawthorne, Tanglewood Tales, Circe's Palace (Project Gutenberg #976)."},{"id":"journal-of-john-woolman-q7","citation":"\"O! that all may take Heed and beware of Covetousness! O that all may learn of Christ, who was meek and low of Heart!\" — John Woolman, The Journal of John Woolman, Journal, Chapter X (Project Gutenberg #37311 (Everyman's Library, reprinting the London edition of 1775))."},{"id":"rowlandson-narrative-of-the-captivity-q6","citation":"\"I have learned to look beyond present and smaller troubles, and to be quieted under them.\" — Mary Rowlandson, The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, Closing reflections (Project Gutenberg #851)."},{"id":"poetic-edda-q5","citation":"\"Less good there lies | than most believe In ale for mortal men; For the more he drinks | the less does man Of his mind the mastery hold.\" — Anonymous (Old Norse), The Poetic Edda, Hovamol, stanza 12, trans. Henry Adams Bellows (1923)."},{"id":"practice-of-the-presence-of-god-q1","citation":"\"in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess GOD in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the blessed sacrament.\" — Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, Fourth Conversation (editor's account), trans. Anonymous (Revell edition)."},{"id":"the-swiss-family-robinson-q4","citation":"\"With God's help, let us endeavor to live here contentedly, thankful that we were not cast upon some bare and inhospitable island\" — Johann David Wyss, The Swiss Family Robinson, Chapter II, trans. W. H. G. Kingston (1879)."},{"id":"the-tempest-q5","citation":"\"the rarer action is In virtue than in vengeance\" — William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 5, Scene 1 (Project Gutenberg #1540)."},{"id":"the-wise-woman-q6","citation":"\"Whoever does what she is bound to do, be she the dirtiest little girl in the street, is a princess, worshipful, honorable.\" — George MacDonald, The Wise Woman (A Double Story), Chapter XII (Project Gutenberg #5676 (A Double Story))."},{"id":"up-from-slavery-q7","citation":"\"I would permit no man, no matter what his colour might be, to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.\" — Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, Chapter XI (Project Gutenberg #2376)."}]},{"slug":"faith","name":"Faith","kind":"theological","summary":"The theological virtue by which we believe God and all that he has revealed, trusting him who cannot deceive.","vices":[{"slug":"unbelief","name":"Unbelief","description":"Refusing to believe what God has revealed."},{"slug":"apostasy","name":"Apostasy","description":"Abandoning the faith once held."}],"definitions":[{"source":"Aquinas","ref":"Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 4, a. 1","text":"Following Hebrews 11:1, faith is a habit of the mind whereby eternal life is begun in us, making the intellect assent to what is not seen."},{"source":"Augustine","ref":"Enchiridion 2-8","text":"Faith believes, hope and love pray; there is no love without hope, no hope without love, and neither without faith."},{"source":"Scripture","ref":"Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)","quote":"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen","work":"the-bible"}],"questions":["How does faith differ from opinion or wishful thinking?","How do faith and reason work together in the authors you have read?","What does it look like to keep faith under trial?","Which character in your reading lived by faith?"],"url":"/virtues/faith/","works":[{"slug":"amos-fortune-free-man","title":"Amos Fortune, Free Man","author":"Elizabeth Yates","reason":"Amos holds to the Christian faith he learned in the Copeland home through every loss, and his epitaph records that he professed Christianity and died hopefully.","vices":[]},{"slug":"apologia-pro-vita-sua","title":"Apologia Pro Vita Sua","author":"John Henry Newman","reason":"In Part VII he says that since his conversion he has never had one doubt, despite feeling every difficulty.","vices":[]},{"slug":"metaxas-bonhoeffer","title":"Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy","author":"Eric Metaxas","reason":"At Finkenwalde he leads ordinands in daily prayer, meditation on Scripture and common life under the threat of closure by the Gestapo.","vices":[]},{"slug":"carmilla","title":"Carmilla","author":"J. Sheridan Le Fanu","reason":"The prayer an old priest teaches the frightened child Laura remains with her for years and stands against the vampire's hatred of hymns and prayers.","vices":[]},{"slug":"christ-legends","title":"Christ Legends","author":"Selma Lagerlöf","reason":"Old Faustina travels from Capri to Judaea trusting that a prophet there can heal her emperor, and is baptized Veronica.","vices":[]},{"slug":"confessions","title":"Confessions","author":"Augustine of Hippo","reason":"The books trace his journey to faith, culminating in the garden at Milan.","vices":[]},{"slug":"early-christian-lives","title":"Early Christian Lives","author":"Athanasius, Jerome and others","reason":"Antony and others leave the world in faith to seek God.","vices":[]},{"slug":"everson-v-board-of-education","title":"Everson v. Board of Education","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The case arose from families' commitment to give their children an education shaped by their religious convictions at their own expense.","vices":[]},{"slug":"andersen-fairy-tales","title":"Fairy Tales (Selection)","author":"Hans Christian Andersen","reason":"Eliza keeps praying and knitting nettle shirts in silence even as she is led to the stake, and her brothers are freed.","vices":[]},{"slug":"grace-abounding","title":"Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners","author":"John Bunyan","reason":"After years of despair Bunyan rests his hope on Christ's righteousness at God's right hand rather than on his own feelings (§229).","vices":[]},{"slug":"hamlet","title":"Hamlet","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"In Act 5 Hamlet trusts the special providence in the fall of a sparrow and goes to the duel ready for whatever comes.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hans-brinker","title":"Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates","author":"Mary Mapes Dodge","reason":"Before consenting to the operation, Dame Brinker prays, and after Raff wakes the family kneels and reads a chapter from the Bible.","vices":[]},{"slug":"death-be-not-proud","title":"Holy Sonnet X: \"Death, be not proud\"","author":"John Donne","reason":"Donne's confidence that death shall be no more is drawn from the Christian promise of resurrection.","vices":[]},{"slug":"grimms-fairy-tales","title":"Household Stories (Grimm's Fairy Tales)","author":"Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm","reason":"Hansel comforts Grethel on the night of their abandonment, telling her that God will not forsake them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"incidents-in-the-life-of-a-slave-girl","title":"Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl","author":"Harriet A. Jacobs","reason":"Aunt Martha meets the sale of her children and the dangers to her granddaughter with steady trust in God.","vices":[]},{"slug":"calvin-institutes","title":"Institutes of the Christian Religion","author":"John Calvin","reason":"Book III, chapter 2 defines faith as a firm and sure knowledge of God's favour, sealed on the heart by the Spirit.","vices":[]},{"slug":"journey-of-the-magi","title":"Journey of the Magi","author":"T. S. Eliot","reason":"Though the signs give no information, the travelers keep going and the speaker affirms there was a Birth, certainly.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lepanto","title":"Lepanto","author":"G. K. Chesterton","reason":"The victory cry gives the glory to the Lord with Domino Gloria, and the Pope's prayer is placed at the center of the battle.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mere-christianity","title":"Mere Christianity","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Lewis's two chapters on faith describe holding to what reason has accepted despite changing moods, and then trusting God fully after one's own efforts fail.","vices":[]},{"slug":"on-his-blindness","title":"On His Blindness (Sonnet XIX)","author":"John Milton","reason":"The sonnet ends in trust that God's kingly rule includes a place for the servant who cannot labor.","vices":[]},{"slug":"one-day-in-the-life-of-ivan-denisovich","title":"One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich","author":"Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn","reason":"Alyoshka reads his copied Gospel in the barracks and thanks God for the chance to think of his soul.","vices":[]},{"slug":"chesterton-orthodoxy","title":"Orthodoxy","author":"G. K. Chesterton","reason":"Chapter IX explains why Chesterton trusts the Church as a living teacher after finding it truthful where he could test it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"pensees","title":"Pensees","author":"Blaise Pascal","reason":"Pascal argues for the reasonableness of faith and the wager.","vices":[]},{"slug":"polanyi-personal-knowledge","title":"Personal Knowledge","author":"Michael Polanyi","reason":"Part Three revives Augustine's principle that belief comes before understanding and makes trust the ground of knowledge.","vices":[]},{"slug":"poems-of-emily-dickinson","title":"Poems: First, Second and Third Series","author":"Emily Dickinson","reason":"The speaker of I never saw a moor is certain of heaven as if the chart were given.","vices":[]},{"slug":"prince-caspian","title":"Prince Caspian","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Lucy wakes the others in the night and follows Aslan though only she can see him and they grumble behind her.","vices":[]},{"slug":"psalm-23","title":"Psalm 23","author":"Attributed to David","reason":"The psalm opens by resting everything on one confession, that the LORD is the speaker's shepherd.","vices":[]},{"slug":"shaw-saint-joan","title":"Saint Joan","author":"George Bernard Shaw","reason":"Abandoned at Rheims, she trusts that God's friendship will not fail her.","vices":[]},{"slug":"silas-marner","title":"Silas Marner","author":"George Eliot","reason":"Dolly Winthrop teaches Silas to trust in a goodness larger than he can see, and he comes to say there are dealings with us.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sonnet-116","title":"Sonnet 116","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"The speaker's love keeps faith with the beloved when beauty fades within the sickle's compass.","vices":[]},{"slug":"summa-theologica","title":"Summa Theologica","author":"Thomas Aquinas","reason":"Aquinas sets reason to the service of faith, holding that grace perfects nature.","vices":[]},{"slug":"surprised-by-joy","title":"Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"On the ride to Whipsnade he finds that he has come to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.","vices":[]},{"slug":"autobiography-of-benvenuto-cellini","title":"The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini","author":"Benvenuto Cellini","reason":"In the dark dungeon he reads the Bible from the beginning, sings the Miserere and trusts God for deliverance.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-bible","title":"The Bible","author":"Anonymous","reason":"Hebrews 11 recounts the faith of Abraham, Moses, and others.","vices":[]},{"slug":"luther-bondage-of-the-will","title":"The Bondage of the Will (De Servo Arbitrio)","author":"Martin Luther","reason":"Luther rests the whole argument on trust in God's promise, ending with the claim that he would refuse free will in order to depend on grace alone.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-bronze-bow","title":"The Bronze Bow","author":"Elizabeth George Speare","reason":"In desperation over Leah's fever, Daniel goes to Jesus and trusts him to come to the house.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-brothers-karamazov","title":"The Brothers Karamazov","author":"Fyodor Dostoevsky","reason":"Alyosha’s faith is tested against Ivan’s arguments and Zosima’s death.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-collar","title":"The Collar","author":"George Herbert","reason":"The speaker's return rests on hearing and trusting a voice, not on winning the argument he has been having with himself.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-cost-of-discipleship","title":"The Cost of Discipleship","author":"Dietrich Bonhoeffer","reason":"Bonhoeffer distinguishes costly grace that calls to discipleship from cheap grace.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-dream-of-the-rood","title":"The Dream of the Rood","author":"Anonymous","reason":"The dreamer ends by directing all his hope to the rood, trusting that it will carry him to the feast of the saints.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-faerie-queene","title":"The Faerie Queene, Book I","author":"Edmund Spenser","reason":"Una keeps faith with Redcrosse through his desertion and goes in search of help to free him from Orgoglio.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-hiding-place","title":"The Hiding Place","author":"Corrie ten Boom","reason":"Betsie thanks God even for the fleas in their Ravensbrück barracks, trusting His goodness before she can see any reason for it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-horse-and-his-boy","title":"The Horse and His Boy","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"In the fog Shasta tells the unseen Voice all his sorrows and learns to trust that Aslan has been guiding him all along.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-idiot","title":"The Idiot","author":"Fyodor Dostoevsky","reason":"Answering Rogozhin's question about belief, Myshkin tells of the peasant mother and her words on God's gladness.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-last-battle","title":"The Last Battle","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Bound to a tree and deceived on every side, Tirian still calls on the true Aslan and is answered by the arrival of Eustace and Jill.","vices":[]},{"slug":"boswell-life-of-johnson","title":"The Life of Samuel Johnson","author":"James Boswell","reason":"Before his last communion in December 1784 he prays that his whole hope and confidence may rest on Christ's merits.","vices":[]},{"slug":"life-of-st-teresa-of-jesus","title":"The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus","author":"Teresa of Avila","reason":"Before the image of the wounded Christ in Chapter IX she gives herself to God after years of wavering.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-magicians-nephew","title":"The Magician's Nephew","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Digory trusts Aslan and refuses Jadis's plan to steal an apple for his dying mother.","vices":[]},{"slug":"rowlandson-narrative-of-the-captivity","title":"The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson","author":"Mary Rowlandson","reason":"She turns to the Bible from Medfield at every crisis and reads her release as God's deliverance.","vices":[]},{"slug":"eddington-the-nature-of-the-physical-world","title":"The Nature of the Physical World","author":"Arthur Eddington","reason":"In Chapter XV he defends religious experience as a genuine approach to reality alongside science.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-phantom-of-the-opera","title":"The Phantom of the Opera","author":"Gaston Leroux","reason":"Christine keeps her promise to return the ring and bury Erik, and the narrator prays over his remains that God might show him mercy.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-pilgrims-progress","title":"The Pilgrim's Progress","author":"John Bunyan","reason":"Christian walks by promise toward a City not yet seen.","vices":["unbelief"]},{"slug":"camus-the-plague","title":"The Plague","author":"Albert Camus","reason":"After the death of Othon's son Paneloux refuses to abandon his belief, preaching that Christians must hold to God even where they cannot understand.","vices":[]},{"slug":"practice-of-the-presence-of-god","title":"The Practice of the Presence of God","author":"Brother Lawrence","reason":"After four years of fearing damnation, he resolves to love God whatever becomes of him and finds peace.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-princess-and-curdie","title":"The Princess and Curdie","author":"George MacDonald","reason":"Curdie steps into the princess's room when he sees no floor, because feeling for it first would be to distrust her.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-princess-and-the-goblin","title":"The Princess and the Goblin","author":"George MacDonald","reason":"Irene trusts the grandmother’s thread beyond sight.","vices":["unbelief"]},{"slug":"the-silver-chair","title":"The Silver Chair","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"The travellers untie the dangerous knight because he asks in Aslan's name, trusting the fourth Sign even though they fear what he may do.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-story-of-king-arthur-and-his-knights","title":"The Story of King Arthur and His Knights","author":"Howard Pyle","reason":"Pyle frames Excalibur as a sign of God's calling and closes the episode with a blessing of truth and faith.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall","title":"The Tenant of Wildfell Hall","author":"Anne Brontë","reason":"Through the years recorded in her diary Helen holds to prayer and Scripture, and she urges her dying husband to trust Christ rather than her.","vices":["despair"]},{"slug":"the-trial-of-joan-of-arc","title":"The Trial of Joan of Arc","author":"Jeanne d'Arc; Pierre Cauchon; Guillaume Bouille; T. Douglas Murray","reason":"Joan holds to her Voices and to God under pressure.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-true-story-of-my-life","title":"The True Story of My Life","author":"Hans Christian Andersen","reason":"He opens and closes his story by thanking a loving God who directs all things for the best.","vices":[]},{"slug":"through-gates-of-splendor","title":"Through Gates of Splendor","author":"Elisabeth Elliot","reason":"The widows, waiting at Shell Mera and then learning of the deaths, hold to their trust that God has not failed them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"till-we-have-faces","title":"Till We Have Faces","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Psyche trusts her unseen husband in the valley although her sister can see no palace and pleads with her to doubt.","vices":[]},{"slug":"unbroken","title":"Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption","author":"Laura Hillenbrand","reason":"At the 1949 crusade he remembers his promises to God on the raft and turns his life over to Christ.","vices":[]},{"slug":"uncle-toms-cabin","title":"Uncle Tom's Cabin","author":"Harriet Beecher Stowe","reason":"Tom tells Legree that his soul belongs to Christ and keeps his trust through the beatings of Chapters XXXIII and XL.","vices":[]},{"slug":"villette","title":"Villette","author":"Charlotte Brontë","reason":"Lucy holds to her Protestant creed under Père Silas's persuasion and M. Paul's pleading, and he comes to honour her for it.","vices":[]}],"quotes":[{"id":"a-tale-of-two-cities-q6","citation":"\"I am the Resurrection and the Life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live\" — Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, Book III, Chapter 15 (Project Gutenberg #98 text)."},{"id":"a-wonder-book-q7","citation":"\"But if thy faith had not helped me, I should never have waited for Pegasus, and never have gone up above the clouds, and never have conquered the terrible Chimæra.\" — Nathaniel Hawthorne, A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys, The Chimæra (Project Gutenberg eBook #32242)."},{"id":"apologia-pro-vita-sua-q8","citation":"\"Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt, as I understand the subject; difficulty and doubt are incommensurate.\" — John Henry Newman, Apologia Pro Vita Sua, Part VII (Project Gutenberg #19690 (Dent edition))."},{"id":"as-you-like-it-q3","citation":"\"He that doth the ravens feed, Yea, providently caters for the sparrow, Be comfort to my age.\" — William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 3 (Project Gutenberg #1523)."},{"id":"carmilla-q2","citation":"\"Lord hear all good prayers for us, for Jesus’ sake.\" — J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla, Chapter I, An Early Fright (Project Gutenberg #10007)."},{"id":"confessions-q1","citation":"\"Thou awakest us to delight in Thy praise; for Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee\" — Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, Book I.1, trans. E. B. Pusey (1838)."},{"id":"andersen-fairy-tales-q6","citation":"\"Roses bloom and roses decay, But we the Christ-child shall see one day.\" — Hans Christian Andersen, Fairy Tales (Selection), The Snow Queen, Seventh Story, trans. W. A. Craigie."},{"id":"grace-abounding-q5","citation":"\"my righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, _The same yesterday_, _to-day_, _and for ever_.\" — John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, §229 (Project Gutenberg #654 (Religious Tract Society, 1905))."},{"id":"grace-abounding-q8","citation":"\"if I were out of prison to-day, I would preach the Gospel again to-morrow, by the help of God.\" — John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, A Relation of the Imprisonment (Project Gutenberg #654 (Religious Tract Society, 1905))."},{"id":"hamlet-q12","citation":"\"There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ’tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all\" — William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 2 (Project Gutenberg #1524, modern spelling)."},{"id":"hans-brinker-q4","citation":"\"Say what God tells thee, Mother\" — Mary Mapes Dodge, Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates, Chapter 32, The Crisis (Project Gutenberg #764)."},{"id":"death-be-not-proud-q5","citation":"\"One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally, And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.\" — John Donne, Holy Sonnet X: \"Death, be not proud\", Lines 13-14 (Grierson 1912, original spelling)."},{"id":"grimms-fairy-tales-q1","citation":"\"Be easy, dear little sister, and go to sleep quietly; God will not forsake us\" — Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household Stories (Grimm's Fairy Tales), Hansel and Grethel, trans. Lucy Crane."},{"id":"calvin-institutes-q5","citation":"\"Thus we simply interpret justification, as the acceptance with which God receives us into his favor as if we were righteous; and we say that this justification consists in the forgiveness of sins and the imputation of the righteousness of Christ\" — John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III, ch. 11, sec. 2, trans. Henry Beveridge."},{"id":"pensees-q10","citation":"\"If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is\" — Blaise Pascal, Pensees, Fragment 233, Section III, trans. W. F. Trotter (1908)."},{"id":"poems-of-emily-dickinson-q3","citation":"\"I never spoke with God, Nor visited in heaven; Yet certain am I of the spot As if the chart were given.\" — Emily Dickinson, Poems: First, Second and Third Series, First Series, Time and Eternity XVII (Project Gutenberg #12242 (1890 text))."},{"id":"pollyanna-q5","citation":"\"He said if God took the trouble to tell us eight hundred times to be glad and rejoice, He must want us to do it--SOME.\" — Eleanor H. Porter, Pollyanna, Chapter XXII (Project Gutenberg #1450)."},{"id":"psalm-23-q1","citation":"\"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.\" — Attributed to David, Psalm 23, Psalm 23:1, trans. King James Version (1611)."},{"id":"psalm-23-q4","citation":"\"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.\" — Attributed to David, Psalm 23, Psalm 23:4, trans. King James Version (1611)."},{"id":"shaw-saint-joan-q4","citation":"\"France is alone; and God is alone; and what is my loneliness before the loneliness of my country and my God?\" — George Bernard Shaw, Saint Joan, Scene V (Project Gutenberg #76323 (Brentano's, 1926))."},{"id":"summa-theologica-q1","citation":"\"Since therefore grace does not destroy nature but perfects it, natural reason should minister to faith as the natural bent of the will ministers to charity\" — Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I, Q. 1, Art. 8, Reply Obj. 2, trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province (1911-1920)."},{"id":"tear-down-this-wall-q7","citation":"\"Yet even today when the Sun strikes that sphere--that sphere that towers over all Berlin--the light makes the sign of the cross.\" — Ronald Reagan, Tear Down This Wall (Brandenburg Gate Address), Paragraph 23 (Public Papers of the Presidents (1987))."},{"id":"tear-down-this-wall-q8","citation":"\"Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.\" — Ronald Reagan, Tear Down This Wall (Brandenburg Gate Address), Paragraph 24 (Public Papers of the Presidents (1987))."},{"id":"autobiography-of-benvenuto-cellini-q5","citation":"\"I BEGAN the Bible from the commencement, reading and reflecting on it so devoutly, and finding in it such deep treasures of delight, that, if I had been able, I should have done naught else but study it.\" — Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, Book I, Chapter CXVIII, trans. John Addington Symonds."},{"id":"the-bible-q4","citation":"\"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me\" — Anonymous, The Bible, Psalm 23:4 (KJV)."},{"id":"the-collar-q6","citation":"\"But as I rav’d and grew more fierce and wilde At every word, Me thoughts I heard one calling, Childe: And I reply’d, My Lord.\" — George Herbert, The Collar, Lines 33-36 (The Temple, 1633 spelling)."},{"id":"early-christian-creeds-q2","citation":"\"We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible\" — Various, The Early Christian Creeds, Nicene Creed (325), opening article, trans. Philip Schaff, Creeds of Christendom (1877)."},{"id":"the-faerie-queene-q2","citation":"\"The deare remembrance of his dying Lord, For whose sweete sake that glorious badge he wore, And dead as living ever him ador'd\" — Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book I, Book I, Canto I, stanza 2 (Project Gutenberg #15272 (Wauchope, 1903))."},{"id":"the-faerie-queene-q5","citation":"\"Ay me, how many perils doe enfold The righteous man, to make him daily fall, Were not that heavenly grace doth him uphold, And stedfast truth acquite him out of all.\" — Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book I, Book I, Canto VIII, stanza 1 (Project Gutenberg #15272 (Wauchope, 1903))."},{"id":"journal-of-john-woolman-q8","citation":"\"I believe my being here is in the Wisdom of Christ; I know not as to Life or Death.\" — John Woolman, The Journal of John Woolman, Journal, Chapter XI (account of his last illness) (Project Gutenberg #37311 (Everyman's Library, reprinting the London edition of 1775))."},{"id":"the-jungle-book-q8","citation":"\"If you don’t trust your man, you may as well run away at once.\" — Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, Her Majesty's Servants (Project Gutenberg #236)."},{"id":"the-last-of-the-mohicans-q4","citation":"\"I am thine; do with me as thou seest best!\" — James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans, Chapter XXXII (Project Gutenberg #940)."},{"id":"life-of-st-teresa-of-jesus-q3","citation":"\"mental prayer is nothing else, in my opinion, but being on terms of friendship with God, frequently conversing in secret with Him Who, we know, loves us.\" — Teresa of Avila, The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, Chapter VIII, § 7, trans. David Lewis."},{"id":"life-of-st-teresa-of-jesus-q6","citation":"\"All things fail; but Thou, Lord of all, never failest!\" — Teresa of Avila, The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, Chapter XXV, § 22, trans. David Lewis."},{"id":"walton-lives-q4","citation":"\"Lord, abate my great affliction, or increase my patience: but Lord, I repine not\" — Izaak Walton, The Lives of Richard Hooker, George Herbert and Robert Sanderson, Life of Herbert (Project Gutenberg #13139 (Cassell's National Library, 1898))."},{"id":"walton-lives-q7","citation":"\"a picture of the many spiritual conflicts that have passed betwixt God and my soul, before I could subject mine to the will of Jesus my Master: in whose service I have now found perfect freedom.\" — Izaak Walton, The Lives of Richard Hooker, George Herbert and Robert Sanderson, Life of Herbert (Project Gutenberg #13139 (Cassell's National Library, 1898))."},{"id":"rowlandson-narrative-of-the-captivity-q1","citation":"\"as He wounded me with one hand, so he healed me with the other.\" — Mary Rowlandson, The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, The Third Remove (Project Gutenberg #851)."},{"id":"rowlandson-narrative-of-the-captivity-q3","citation":"\"my Bible; which was my guide by day, and my pillow by night.\" — Mary Rowlandson, The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, The Thirteenth Remove (Project Gutenberg #851)."},{"id":"practice-of-the-presence-of-god-q4","citation":"\"A little lifting up of the heart suffices.\" — Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, Third Letter, trans. Anonymous (Revell edition)."},{"id":"story-of-a-soul-q2","citation":"\"My God, I choose everything, I will not be a Saint by halves, I am not afraid of suffering for Thee, I only fear one thing, and that is to do my own will.\" — Therese of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul, Chapter I, trans. Thomas N. Taylor."},{"id":"story-of-a-soul-q5","citation":"\"Thine Arms, then, O Jesus, are the lift which must raise me up even unto Heaven.\" — Therese of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul, Chapter IX, trans. Thomas N. Taylor."},{"id":"the-story-of-king-arthur-and-his-knights-q4","citation":"\"may He give you Faith (for Faith containeth Truth as a scabbard containeth its sword), and may that Faith heal all your wounds of sorrow as the sheath of Excalibur healed all the wounds of him who wore that excellent weapon\" — Howard Pyle, The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, Book I, Part II, Chapter Third (1903 text)."},{"id":"the-story-of-my-life-q7","citation":"\"God is love, God is our Father, we are His children; therefore the darkest clouds will break and though right be worsted, wrong shall not triumph.\" — Helen Keller, The Story of My Life, Part I, Chapter XXIII (Project Gutenberg #2397)."},{"id":"the-trial-of-joan-of-arc-q4","citation":"\"I would He might send me yet more, so that it might be discerned that I am come from God and that it is He Who hath sent me\" — Jeanne d'Arc; Pierre Cauchon; Guillaume Bouille; T. Douglas Murray, The Trial of Joan of Arc, Condemnation trial, article response, trans. T. Douglas Murray (1902)."},{"id":"the-true-story-of-my-life-q2","citation":"\"There is a loving God, who directs all things for the best.\" — Hans Christian Andersen, The True Story of My Life, Chapter I, trans. Mary Howitt."},{"id":"the-true-story-of-my-life-q8","citation":"\"It is a joy to live and to believe in God and man.\" — Hans Christian Andersen, The True Story of My Life, Chapter VIII, trans. Mary Howitt."},{"id":"the-wise-woman-q7","citation":"\"Every time you feel you want me, that is a sign I am wanting you.\" — George MacDonald, The Wise Woman (A Double Story), Chapter XIII (Project Gutenberg #5676 (A Double Story))."},{"id":"uncle-toms-cabin-q5","citation":"\"No! no! no! my soul an’t yours, Mas’r! You haven’t bought it,—ye can’t buy it! It’s been bought and paid for, by one that is able to keep it\" — Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Chapter XXXIII (Project Gutenberg #203)."},{"id":"uncle-toms-cabin-q7","citation":"\"Who,—who,—who shall separate us from the love of Christ?\" — Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Chapter XLI (Project Gutenberg #203)."},{"id":"chekhov-uncle-vanya-q2","citation":"\"Man is forgetful, but God remembers.\" — Anton Chekhov, Uncle Vanya, Act I, trans. Marian Fell."},{"id":"chekhov-uncle-vanya-q7","citation":"\"We shall rest. We shall hear the angels. We shall see heaven shining like a jewel.\" — Anton Chekhov, Uncle Vanya, Act IV, trans. Marian Fell."}]},{"slug":"hope","name":"Hope","kind":"theological","summary":"The theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, trusting in God’s promises and the help of his grace.","vices":[{"slug":"despair","name":"Despair","description":"Giving up on God’s mercy and the possibility of salvation."},{"slug":"presumption","name":"Presumption","description":"Expecting salvation or success without repentance or effort."}],"definitions":[{"source":"Aquinas","ref":"Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 17","text":"The object of hope is a future good, difficult but possible to obtain; theological hope rests on the divine help. Its opposing vices are despair and presumption (q. 20-21)."},{"source":"Scripture","ref":"Hebrews 6:19 (KJV)","quote":"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast","work":"the-bible"}],"questions":["Why is hope a virtue and not just a feeling?","How are despair and presumption both failures of hope?","What anchors a character in your reading through suffering?","How can hope be shown in ordinary work and study?"],"url":"/virtues/hope/","works":[{"slug":"twelve-years-a-slave","title":"12 Years a Slave","author":"Solomon Northup","reason":"Northup never abandons hope of returning to his family.","vices":["despair"]},{"slug":"a-childs-garden-of-verses","title":"A Child's Garden of Verses","author":"Robert Louis Stevenson","reason":"Happy Thought teaches glad expectation toward the given world of many things.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-wonder-book","title":"A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys","author":"Nathaniel Hawthorne","reason":"Hope flies out of Pandora's box last and promises to stay with mankind as long as they live in the world.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-wrinkle-in-time","title":"A Wrinkle in Time","author":"Madeleine L'Engle","reason":"Mrs. Murry keeps faith that her husband will return through more than a year of silence and village gossip.","vices":[]},{"slug":"challenger-disaster-address","title":"Address to the Nation on the Challenger Disaster","author":"Ronald Reagan","reason":"He insists that nothing ends here and closes with the image of the crew touching the face of God.","vices":[]},{"slug":"anne-of-green-gables","title":"Anne of Green Gables","author":"L. M. Montgomery","reason":"Anne finds delight in Octobers, new days and the bend in the road even after loss.","vices":[]},{"slug":"atlanta-exposition-address","title":"Atlanta Exposition Address","author":"Booker T. Washington","reason":"He closes by praying that God will bring the blotting out of racial animosities and a new heaven and a new earth to the South.","vices":[]},{"slug":"because-i-could-not-stop-for-death","title":"Because I could not stop for Death","author":"Emily Dickinson","reason":"The poem ends with the horses' heads turned toward eternity, so the grave is only a pause on the road.","vices":[]},{"slug":"city-of-god","title":"City of God","author":"Augustine of Hippo","reason":"The work points beyond the fall of Rome to the heavenly city.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kant-critique-of-practical-reason","title":"Critique of Practical Reason","author":"Immanuel Kant","reason":"Book II grounds hope in God and immortality as conditions under which the highest good can be achieved.","vices":[]},{"slug":"dante-de-monarchia","title":"De Monarchia (with R. W. Church's essay on Dante)","author":"Dante Alighieri; R. W. Church","reason":"Book I looks to universal peace under a just monarch as the condition in which mankind can fulfil its work, the hope Dante placed in Henry VII.","vices":[]},{"slug":"elegy-written-in-a-country-churchyard","title":"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard","author":"Thomas Gray","reason":"The Epitaph places the youth's merits and frailties in trembling hope with his Father and his God.","vices":[]},{"slug":"fahrenheit-451","title":"Fahrenheit 451","author":"Ray Bradbury","reason":"Granger's book-people memorize their books and walk back toward the bombed city at dawn to begin rebuilding.","vices":[]},{"slug":"luckiest-man-speech","title":"Farewell to Baseball (\"The Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth\")","author":"Lou Gehrig","reason":"He closes by insisting that, despite a bad break, he has a great deal to live for.","vices":[]},{"slug":"fdr-first-inaugural-address","title":"First Inaugural Address (\"The only thing we have to fear\")","author":"Franklin D. Roosevelt","reason":"He insists that the nation will revive and prosper, since the distress comes from no failure of substance.","vices":[]},{"slug":"frog-and-toad-are-friends","title":"Frog and Toad Are Friends","author":"Arnold Lobel","reason":"Frog keeps calling Toad out of his winter sleep until the two of them go out together into spring.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gods-grandeur","title":"God's Grandeur","author":"Gerard Manley Hopkins","reason":"The sestet grounds confidence that morning will spring again not in human effort but in the Holy Ghost brooding over the bent world.","vices":[]},{"slug":"heidi","title":"Heidi","author":"Johanna Spyri","reason":"Return to the Alps restores joy after wasting exile.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ovid-heroides","title":"Heroides","author":"Ovid","reason":"Penelope keeps waiting for Ulysses years after Troy has fallen and the other Greeks have come home.","vices":[]},{"slug":"death-be-not-proud","title":"Holy Sonnet X: \"Death, be not proud\"","author":"John Donne","reason":"The couplet rests the whole poem on waking eternally after one short sleep.","vices":[]},{"slug":"i-have-a-dream","title":"I Have a Dream","author":"Martin Luther King Jr.","reason":"He will not concede that the nation has nothing left to pay in justice, and he closes with a vision of reconciliation grounded in Isaiah's prophecy.","vices":["despair"]},{"slug":"peirce-illustrations-of-the-logic-of-science","title":"Illustrations of the Logic of Science","author":"Charles Sanders Peirce","reason":"Peirce names hope in the unlimited continuance of inquiry as one of the sentiments logic presupposes.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bulfinch-legends-of-charlemagne","title":"Legends of Charlemagne","author":"Thomas Bulfinch","reason":"Alardo begs his brothers to spare Bayard a little longer in the starving castle, trusting that God may yet help them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"letters-and-papers-from-prison","title":"Letters and Papers from Prison","author":"Dietrich Bonhoeffer","reason":"Bonhoeffer’s letters keep hope in God under confinement.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tintern-abbey","title":"Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey","author":"William Wordsworth","reason":"The speaker dares to hope that this moment will be life and food for future years, for himself and for his sister.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mans-search-for-meaning","title":"Man's Search for Meaning","author":"Viktor E. Frankl","reason":"On the camp fasting day he tells his despairing fellow prisoners that the future may still hold meaning and that someone is looking down on each of them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mere-christianity","title":"Mere Christianity","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"The chapter on hope argues that longing for heaven is not escapism, since those who thought most of the next world did most for this one.","vices":[]},{"slug":"much-ado-about-nothing","title":"Much Ado About Nothing","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Friar Francis reads Hero's innocence in her face and devises a plan to restore her name rather than despair at the altar.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ode-on-a-grecian-urn","title":"Ode on a Grecian Urn","author":"John Keats","reason":"The urn remains in midst of other woe as a friend to man, offering each generation something beyond its sorrows.","vices":[]},{"slug":"chesterton-orthodoxy","title":"Orthodoxy","author":"G. K. Chesterton","reason":"Chapter VII grounds perpetual reform in a fixed ideal, so that decay is never final and renewal is always possible.","vices":[]},{"slug":"paradise-lost","title":"Paradise Lost","author":"John Milton","reason":"Adam leaves Eden comforted by the promise that good will come of evil through the Redeemer.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kant-perpetual-peace","title":"Perpetual Peace","author":"Immanuel Kant","reason":"In the First Supplement Kant argues that even human discord serves a design that moves mankind toward lawful peace.","vices":[]},{"slug":"peter-pan","title":"Peter Pan (Peter and Wendy)","author":"J. M. Barrie","reason":"Mrs. Darling keeps the nursery window open every night her children are gone, trusting they will return.","vices":[]},{"slug":"poems-of-emily-dickinson","title":"Poems: First, Second and Third Series","author":"Emily Dickinson","reason":"In Hope the small bird keeps singing through gale and storm and never asks a crumb in return.","vices":[]},{"slug":"pollyanna","title":"Pollyanna","author":"Eleanor H. Porter","reason":"Pollyanna looks for something to be glad about even in the bare attic room and, at last, in her paralysed legs.","vices":[]},{"slug":"james-pragmatism","title":"Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking","author":"William James","reason":"Lecture VIII's meliorism holds that the world's salvation is genuinely possible and that each person's effort can make it more likely.","vices":[]},{"slug":"prince-caspian","title":"Prince Caspian","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Trufflehunter keeps believing through the long Telmarine years that Aslan and the kings and queens of old will come back.","vices":[]},{"slug":"psalm-23","title":"Psalm 23","author":"Attributed to David","reason":"Verse 6 looks ahead to goodness and mercy for all his days and a dwelling in the LORD's house for ever.","vices":[]},{"slug":"richard-iii","title":"Richard III","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Richmond marches on Bosworth trusting that true hope flies with swallow's wings and prays before the battle.","vices":[]},{"slug":"shaw-saint-joan","title":"Saint Joan","author":"George Bernard Shaw","reason":"Her final prayer looks for a day when the earth will be ready to receive God's saints.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sarah-plain-and-tall","title":"Sarah, Plain and Tall","author":"Patricia MacLachlan","reason":"Caleb keeps asking whether Sarah will stay and keeps hoping, even on the day she drives to town alone.","vices":[]},{"slug":"compromise-of-1850-speeches","title":"Speeches on the Compromise of 1850","author":"Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster","reason":"Clay closed by praying that he would never see the Union dissolved, staking his last strength on its preservation.","vices":[]},{"slug":"stuart-little","title":"Stuart Little","author":"E. B. White","reason":"In the last chapter, with no news of Margalo, Stuart drives north believing he is headed in the right direction.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tear-down-this-wall","title":"Tear Down This Wall (Brandenburg Gate Address)","author":"Ronald Reagan","reason":"The speech reads the graffiti on the wall as a promise and declares that across Europe this wall will fall.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-blue-fairy-book","title":"The Blue Fairy Book","author":"Andrew Lang","reason":"Tales often move through curse and sleep toward awakening and restored joy.","vices":[]},{"slug":"book-of-enoch","title":"The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch)","author":"Anonymous","reason":"The Epistle promises the persecuted righteous that their names are written before the Most High and that they will be vindicated after death.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-comedy-of-errors","title":"The Comedy of Errors","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Egeon keeps searching for his wife and sons for years and travels to hostile Ephesus in the attempt.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-consolation-of-philosophy","title":"The Consolation of Philosophy","author":"Boethius","reason":"In prison Boethius is led by Philosophy from despair toward the true good that fortune cannot take away.","vices":["despair"]},{"slug":"the-count-of-monte-cristo","title":"The Count of Monte Cristo","author":"Alexandre Dumas","reason":"The novel closes on the words wait and hope.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-divine-comedy","title":"The Divine Comedy","author":"Dante Alighieri","reason":"The pilgrim passes from the gate that bids hope be abandoned through Purgatory, where souls hope, to the vision of God.","vices":["despair"]},{"slug":"the-door-in-the-wall","title":"The Door in the Wall","author":"Marguerite de Angeli","reason":"Robin learns from Brother Luke to look for a door in every wall instead of despairing over his legs.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-faerie-queene","title":"The Faerie Queene, Book I","author":"Edmund Spenser","reason":"Una snatches the knife from Redcrosse in the Cave of Despair and reminds him that he shares in heavenly mercy.","vices":[]},{"slug":"colum-the-golden-fleece","title":"The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles","author":"Padraic Colum","reason":"In the story told after Lemnos, Hope caught under the rim of Pandora's jar lets men and women see an end to their troubles.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-great-gatsby","title":"The Great Gatsby","author":"F. Scott Fitzgerald","reason":"Gatsby keeps faith for five years that he can win Daisy back, which Nick calls an extraordinary gift for hope even as it destroys him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"solzhenitsyn-the-gulag-archipelago","title":"The Gulag Archipelago","author":"Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn","reason":"He describes prisoners who kept their souls intact and his own moral and religious awakening behind barbed wire.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-hiding-place","title":"The Hiding Place","author":"Corrie ten Boom","reason":"Dying at Ravensbrück, Betsie describes the homes she and Corrie will open after the war, and Corrie lives to open them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-jungle-book","title":"The Jungle Book","author":"Rudyard Kipling","reason":"Kotick searches the oceans for five seasons for a beach where no men come, though every seal tells him it does not exist.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-little-house","title":"The Little House","author":"Virginia Lee Burton","reason":"Even surrounded by tall buildings, the shabby house keeps longing for the country, and her longing is answered when she is moved to a new hill.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-lord-of-the-rings","title":"The Lord of the Rings","author":"J. R. R. Tolkien","reason":"Aragorn and Gandalf lead the march to the Black Gate to buy Frodo time though they expect to die.","vices":[]},{"slug":"rowlandson-narrative-of-the-captivity","title":"The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson","author":"Mary Rowlandson","reason":"After despairing at Deuteronomy 28 she reads on to the promise of gathering in Deuteronomy 30 and takes heart.","vices":[]},{"slug":"arendt-the-origins-of-totalitarianism","title":"The Origins of Totalitarianism","author":"Hannah Arendt","reason":"The final chapter sets the human capacity to begin anew, grounded in each birth, against the logic of total domination.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-pilgrims-progress","title":"The Pilgrim's Progress","author":"John Bunyan","reason":"Hopeful’s companionship pulls Christian out of despair.","vices":["despair"]},{"slug":"the-princess-and-the-goblin","title":"The Princess and the Goblin","author":"George MacDonald","reason":"Light and song outlast underground fear.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-railway-children","title":"The Railway Children","author":"E. Nesbit","reason":"The children keep sending their love to Father by the 9.15 until he comes home.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-raven","title":"The Raven","author":"Edgar Allan Poe","reason":"The poem portrays hope's absence with such precision, as the speaker refuses forgetting, healing, and reunion, that it shows by contrast what hope would require.","vices":["despair"]},{"slug":"the-second-coming","title":"The Second Coming","author":"W. B. Yeats","reason":"Read alongside Matthew 24, the poem's false second coming sharpens by contrast the Christian hope in a true return of Christ.","vices":["despair"]},{"slug":"the-souls-of-black-folk","title":"The Souls of Black Folk","author":"W. E. B. Du Bois","reason":"The final chapter hears in the Sorrow Songs a faith that men will someday be judged by their souls.","vices":[]},{"slug":"story-of-a-soul","title":"The Story of a Soul","author":"Therese of Lisieux","reason":"She receives her first hemorrhage on Good Friday 1896 with joy as a sign that she will soon be with Christ.","vices":[]},{"slug":"euripides-trojan-women-and-other-plays","title":"The Trojan Women and Other Plays","author":"Euripides","reason":"Hecuba tells Andromache that life always holds hope, even as she herself faces slavery under Odysseus.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-true-story-of-my-life","title":"The True Story of My Life","author":"Hans Christian Andersen","reason":"Laughed at by the theatre and nearly penniless in Copenhagen, the fourteen-year-old keeps seeking help instead of going home.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-velveteen-rabbit","title":"The Velveteen Rabbit","author":"Margery Williams","reason":"The ending grants a living future beyond the rubbish heap and the infected-toys burning.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-voyage-of-the-dawn-treader","title":"The Voyage of the Dawn Treader","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Reepicheep sails the whole voyage in hope of Aslan's country, and at the end goes on gladly where the others cannot follow.","vices":[]},{"slug":"eliot-the-waste-land","title":"The Waste Land","author":"T. S. Eliot","reason":"Amid the ruins the speaker shores up fragments and ends with the word for a peace beyond understanding.","vices":[]},{"slug":"unbroken","title":"Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption","author":"Laura Hillenbrand","reason":"On the raft he keeps planning meals and future races with Phil, refusing to believe they will die.","vices":[]},{"slug":"uncle-toms-cabin","title":"Uncle Tom's Cabin","author":"Harriet Beecher Stowe","reason":"Tom passes through despair on Legree's plantation to a renewed hope of heaven in Chapter XXXVIII.","vices":[]},{"slug":"chekhov-uncle-vanya","title":"Uncle Vanya","author":"Anton Chekhov","reason":"Sonia, rejected by Astroff, answers Vanya's despair at the close of Act IV with her promise of rest and heaven.","vices":[]},{"slug":"up-from-slavery","title":"Up from Slavery","author":"Booker T. Washington","reason":"He closes the book in Richmond, where he once slept under a sidewalk, delivering a message of hope to both races.","vices":[]},{"slug":"beckett-waiting-for-godot","title":"Waiting for Godot","author":"Samuel Beckett","reason":"Vladimir returns to the tree for a second evening and still answers that they are waiting for Godot.","vices":[]},{"slug":"we-shall-fight-on-the-beaches","title":"We Shall Fight on the Beaches","author":"Winston Churchill","reason":"He looks beyond a possibly subjugated island to the Empire and the New World coming to the rescue under Providence.","vices":[]},{"slug":"where-the-red-fern-grows","title":"Where the Red Fern Grows","author":"Wilson Rawls","reason":"The family reads the red fern growing between the graves as a sign that the dogs' deaths were part of God's purpose.","vices":[]},{"slug":"winnie-the-pooh","title":"Winnie-the-Pooh","author":"A. A. Milne","reason":"Scrapes end in rescue and renewed play together.","vices":[]},{"slug":"wonderful-adventures-of-mrs-seacole","title":"Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands","author":"Mary Seacole","reason":"Bankrupt at the war's end, she closes her book counting the friends she meets everywhere in London as her reward.","vices":[]}],"quotes":[{"id":"a-tale-of-two-cities-q6","citation":"\"I am the Resurrection and the Life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live\" — Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, Book III, Chapter 15 (Project Gutenberg #98 text)."},{"id":"a-wonder-book-q3","citation":"\"glad as my nature is, I am partly made of tears as well as smiles.\" — Nathaniel Hawthorne, A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys, The Paradise of Children (Project Gutenberg eBook #32242)."},{"id":"a-wonder-book-q4","citation":"\"Hope spiritualizes the earth; Hope makes it always new; and, even in the earth's best and brightest aspect, Hope shows it to be only the shadow of an infinite bliss hereafter.\" — Nathaniel Hawthorne, A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys, The Paradise of Children (Project Gutenberg eBook #32242)."},{"id":"anne-of-green-gables-q4","citation":"\"Marilla, isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet\" — L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, Chapter XXI (1908 text)."},{"id":"anne-of-green-gables-q7","citation":"\"The joy of sincere work and worthy aspiration and congenial friendship were to be hers; nothing could rob her of her birthright of fancy or her ideal world of dreams. And there was always the bend in the road\" — L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, Chapter XXXVIII (1908 text)."},{"id":"apologia-pro-vita-sua-q7","citation":"\"it was like coming into port after a rough sea\" — John Henry Newman, Apologia Pro Vita Sua, Part VII (Project Gutenberg #19690 (Dent edition))."},{"id":"confessions-q1","citation":"\"Thou awakest us to delight in Thy praise; for Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee\" — Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, Book I.1, trans. E. B. Pusey (1838)."},{"id":"bede-ecclesiastical-history-q8","citation":"\"And I beseech Thee, good Jesus, that to whom Thou hast graciously granted sweetly to drink in the words of Thy knowledge, Thou wilt also vouchsafe in Thy loving-kindness that he may one day come to Thee, the Fountain of all wisdom, and appear for ever before Thy face.\" — Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Book V, Chapter XXIV (closing prayer), trans. A. M. Sellar."},{"id":"grace-abounding-q5","citation":"\"my righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, _The same yesterday_, _to-day_, _and for ever_.\" — John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, §229 (Project Gutenberg #654 (Religious Tract Society, 1905))."},{"id":"grace-abounding-q6","citation":"\"Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed\" — John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, §230 (Project Gutenberg #654 (Religious Tract Society, 1905))."},{"id":"death-be-not-proud-q5","citation":"\"One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally, And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.\" — John Donne, Holy Sonnet X: \"Death, be not proud\", Lines 13-14 (Grierson 1912, original spelling)."},{"id":"grimms-fairy-tales-q1","citation":"\"Be easy, dear little sister, and go to sleep quietly; God will not forsake us\" — Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household Stories (Grimm's Fairy Tales), Hansel and Grethel, trans. Lucy Crane."},{"id":"incidents-in-the-life-of-a-slave-girl-q7","citation":"\"Reader, my story ends with freedom; not in the usual way, with marriage.\" — Harriet A. Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Chapter XLI, Free at Last (Project Gutenberg #11030 (1861 text))."},{"id":"incidents-in-the-life-of-a-slave-girl-q8","citation":"\"The dream of my life is not yet realized. I do not sit with my children in a home of my own.\" — Harriet A. Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Chapter XLI, Free at Last (Project Gutenberg #11030 (1861 text))."},{"id":"ivanhoe-q4","citation":"\"I will not cast away the gift of God, while he affords me the means of defending it.\" — Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, Chapter XXXVII (Project Gutenberg #82)."},{"id":"ivanhoe-q5","citation":"\"When Israel, of the Lord beloved, Out of the land of bondage came, Her father’s God before her moved, An awful guide, in smoke and flame.\" — Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, Chapter XXXIX (Project Gutenberg #82)."},{"id":"le-morte-darthur-q5","citation":"\"Now, blessed Lord, would I not longer live, if it might please thee, Lord.\" — Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XVII, Ch. XXII (Project Gutenberg #1252 (A. W. Pollard's edition of Caxton's text))."},{"id":"bulfinch-legends-of-charlemagne-q8","citation":"\"Brother, let Bayard live a little longer; who knows what God may do for us?\" — Thomas Bulfinch, Legends of Charlemagne, Death of Rinaldo (Project Gutenberg #4927)."},{"id":"tintern-abbey-q7","citation":"\"Knowing that Nature never did betray The heart that loved her;\" — William Wordsworth, Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, Verse paragraph 5 (Lyrical Ballads, 1798 text)."},{"id":"much-ado-about-nothing-q5","citation":"\"Come, lady, die to live: this wedding day Perhaps is but prolong’d: have patience and endure.\" — William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 4, Scene 1 (Project Gutenberg #1519)."},{"id":"d-day-order-of-the-day-q2","citation":"\"The eyes of the world are upon you. The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.\" — Dwight D. Eisenhower, Order of the Day, 6 June 1944, Paragraph 1 (National Archives transcription (1944 order))."},{"id":"poems-of-emily-dickinson-q6","citation":"\"Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all,\" — Emily Dickinson, Poems: First, Second and Third Series, Second Series, Life VI (Hope) (Project Gutenberg #12242 (1891 text))."},{"id":"pollyanna-q1","citation":"\"the game was to just find something about everything to be glad about--no matter what 'twas\" — Eleanor H. Porter, Pollyanna, Chapter V (Project Gutenberg #1450)."},{"id":"pollyanna-q5","citation":"\"He said if God took the trouble to tell us eight hundred times to be glad and rejoice, He must want us to do it--SOME.\" — Eleanor H. Porter, Pollyanna, Chapter XXII (Project Gutenberg #1450)."},{"id":"psalm-23-q6","citation":"\"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.\" — Attributed to David, Psalm 23, Psalm 23:6, trans. King James Version (1611)."},{"id":"richard-iii-q8","citation":"\"True hope is swift, and flies with swallow’s wings\" — William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act 5, Scene 2 (Project Gutenberg #1503)."},{"id":"shaw-saint-joan-q8","citation":"\"O God that madest this beautiful earth, when will it be ready to receive Thy saints? How long, O Lord, how long?\" — George Bernard Shaw, Saint Joan, Epilogue (closing lines) (Project Gutenberg #76323 (Brentano's, 1926))."},{"id":"compromise-of-1850-speeches-q3","citation":"\"I implore, as the best blessing which Heaven can bestow upon me, upon earth, that if the direful event of the dissolution of this Union is to happen, I shall not survive to behold the sad and heart-rending spectacle.\" — Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster, Speeches on the Compromise of 1850, Clay's speech, February 5-6, 1850, last sentence (Calvin Colton, The Last Seven Years of the Life of Henry Clay (1856), appendix, Internet Archive OCR text)."},{"id":"tanglewood-tales-q3","citation":"\"Everything else is a dream, save that.\" — Nathaniel Hawthorne, Tanglewood Tales, The Dragon's Teeth (Project Gutenberg #976)."},{"id":"tear-down-this-wall-q1","citation":"\"For I join you, as I join your fellow countrymen in the West, in this firm, this unalterable belief: Es gibt nur ein Berlin.\" — Ronald Reagan, Tear Down This Wall (Brandenburg Gate Address), Paragraph 3 (Public Papers of the Presidents (1987))."},{"id":"tear-down-this-wall-q8","citation":"\"Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.\" — Ronald Reagan, Tear Down This Wall (Brandenburg Gate Address), Paragraph 24 (Public Papers of the Presidents (1987))."},{"id":"the-bible-q4","citation":"\"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me\" — Anonymous, The Bible, Psalm 23:4 (KJV)."},{"id":"colum-the-golden-fleece-q3","citation":"\"And now because of Hope they could see an end to their troubles.\" — Padraic Colum, The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles, Part I, X: The Departure from Lemnos (Project Gutenberg #2395)."},{"id":"the-great-gatsby-q2","citation":"\"it was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person\" — F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Chapter I (Project Gutenberg #64317 (1925 text))."},{"id":"journal-of-john-woolman-q8","citation":"\"I believe my being here is in the Wisdom of Christ; I know not as to Life or Death.\" — John Woolman, The Journal of John Woolman, Journal, Chapter XI (account of his last illness) (Project Gutenberg #37311 (Everyman's Library, reprinting the London edition of 1775))."},{"id":"the-jungle-book-q5","citation":"\"I am the only white seal that has ever been born on the beaches, and I am the only seal, black or white, who ever thought of looking for new islands.\" — Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, The White Seal (Project Gutenberg #236)."},{"id":"the-last-of-the-mohicans-q5","citation":"\"Tell them, that the Being we all worship, under different names, will be mindful of their charity; and that the time shall not be distant when we may assemble around His throne without distinction of sex, or rank, or color.\" — James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans, Chapter XXXIII (Project Gutenberg #940)."},{"id":"life-of-st-teresa-of-jesus-q6","citation":"\"All things fail; but Thou, Lord of all, never failest!\" — Teresa of Avila, The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, Chapter XXV, § 22, trans. David Lewis."},{"id":"the-murder-on-the-links-q6","citation":"\"You are your mother’s son as well as your father’s.\" — Agatha Christie, The Murder on the Links, Chapter 28, Journey's End (Project Gutenberg #58866)."},{"id":"rowlandson-narrative-of-the-captivity-q6","citation":"\"I have learned to look beyond present and smaller troubles, and to be quieted under them.\" — Mary Rowlandson, The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, Closing reflections (Project Gutenberg #851)."},{"id":"story-of-a-soul-q4","citation":"\"I will seek out a means of getting to Heaven by a little way--very short and very straight, a little way that is wholly new.\" — Therese of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul, Chapter IX, trans. Thomas N. Taylor."},{"id":"the-story-of-my-boyhood-and-youth-q2","citation":"\"This sudden plash into pure wildness—baptism in Nature’s warm heart—how utterly happy it made us!\" — John Muir, The Story of My Boyhood and Youth, Chapter II (Project Gutenberg #18359)."},{"id":"the-story-of-my-life-q1","citation":"\"The most important day I remember in all my life is the one on which my teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, came to me.\" — Helen Keller, The Story of My Life, Part I, Chapter IV (Project Gutenberg #2397)."},{"id":"the-story-of-my-life-q2","citation":"\"That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free!\" — Helen Keller, The Story of My Life, Part I, Chapter IV (Project Gutenberg #2397)."},{"id":"the-story-of-my-life-q7","citation":"\"God is love, God is our Father, we are His children; therefore the darkest clouds will break and though right be worsted, wrong shall not triumph.\" — Helen Keller, The Story of My Life, Part I, Chapter XXIII (Project Gutenberg #2397)."},{"id":"the-story-of-my-life-q8","citation":"\"My heart is singing for joy this morning. A miracle has happened!\" — Helen Keller, The Story of My Life, Part III, Chapter III (letter of March 20, 1887) (Project Gutenberg #2397)."},{"id":"the-swiss-family-robinson-q2","citation":"\"You silly little thing,\" said Fritz, my eldest son, sharply, \"don't you know that we must not settle what God is to do for us? We must have patience and wait his time\" — Johann David Wyss, The Swiss Family Robinson, Chapter I, trans. W. H. G. Kingston (1879)."},{"id":"the-swiss-family-robinson-q4","citation":"\"With God's help, let us endeavor to live here contentedly, thankful that we were not cast upon some bare and inhospitable island\" — Johann David Wyss, The Swiss Family Robinson, Chapter II, trans. W. H. G. Kingston (1879)."},{"id":"euripides-trojan-women-and-other-plays-q2","citation":"\"Death cannot be what Life is, Child; the cup Of Death is empty, and Life hath always hope.\" — Euripides, The Trojan Women and Other Plays, The Trojan Women, Andromache scene, trans. Gilbert Murray (1905)."},{"id":"the-true-story-of-my-life-q2","citation":"\"There is a loving God, who directs all things for the best.\" — Hans Christian Andersen, The True Story of My Life, Chapter I, trans. Mary Howitt."},{"id":"the-true-story-of-my-life-q4","citation":"\"at first an immense deal of adversity to go through, and then they will be famous.\" — Hans Christian Andersen, The True Story of My Life, Chapter I, trans. Mary Howitt."},{"id":"the-true-story-of-my-life-q8","citation":"\"It is a joy to live and to believe in God and man.\" — Hans Christian Andersen, The True Story of My Life, Chapter VIII, trans. Mary Howitt."},{"id":"theodore-roosevelt-an-autobiography-q5","citation":"\"But life is a great adventure, and the worst of all fears is the fear of living.\" — Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography, Chapter IX, Outdoors and Indoors (Project Gutenberg #3335 (1920 Scribner edition of the 1913 text))."},{"id":"uncle-toms-cabin-q7","citation":"\"Who,—who,—who shall separate us from the love of Christ?\" — Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Chapter XLI (Project Gutenberg #203)."},{"id":"chekhov-uncle-vanya-q7","citation":"\"We shall rest. We shall hear the angels. We shall see heaven shining like a jewel.\" — Anton Chekhov, Uncle Vanya, Act IV, trans. Marian Fell."},{"id":"up-from-slavery-q2","citation":"\"this was the day for which she had been so long praying, but fearing that she would never live to see.\" — Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, Chapter I (Project Gutenberg #2376)."},{"id":"wonderful-adventures-of-mrs-seacole-q7","citation":"\"Now, would all this have happened if I had returned to England a rich woman? Surely not.\" — Mary Seacole, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, Conclusion (Project Gutenberg #23031 (1857 text))."}]},{"slug":"charity","name":"Charity","kind":"theological","summary":"The theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.","vices":[{"slug":"envy","name":"Envy","description":"Sorrow at another’s good."},{"slug":"hatred","name":"Hatred","description":"Willing evil to another."},{"slug":"indifference","name":"Indifference","description":"Coldness to the needs of a neighbor."}],"definitions":[{"source":"Aquinas","ref":"Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 23","text":"Charity is friendship of man with God, founded on his sharing of his happiness with us; it is the form and mother of all the virtues."},{"source":"Augustine","ref":"City of God XIV.28","text":"Two loves have made two cities: love of self to the contempt of God, and love of God to the contempt of self."},{"source":"Scripture","ref":"1 Corinthians 13:4 (KJV)","quote":"Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up","work":"the-bible"},{"source":"Scripture","ref":"1 Corinthians 13:13 (KJV)","quote":"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity","work":"the-bible"}],"questions":["Why does Paul call charity the greatest of the three?","Who is my neighbor? Answer from a work you have read.","How is charity different from feeling kindly?","What does a deed of charity cost the one who does it?"],"url":"/virtues/charity/","works":[{"slug":"a-bear-called-paddington","title":"A Bear Called Paddington","author":"Michael Bond","reason":"Mrs. Brown takes a lost bear home from Paddington station on the strength of the label round his neck, and the family keeps him as their own.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-christmas-carol","title":"A Christmas Carol","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"Scrooge is converted from avarice to generosity toward the Cratchits and the poor.","vices":["indifference"]},{"slug":"a-farewell-to-arms","title":"A Farewell to Arms","author":"Ernest Hemingway","reason":"The priest visits the wounded Frederic in the field hospital with vermouth and newspapers and speaks to him of the love that wishes to serve.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-letter-concerning-toleration","title":"A Letter Concerning Toleration","author":"John Locke","reason":"Locke insists that no one can be a Christian without the faith that works by love, and that persecutors who claim to love souls contradict themselves.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-little-princess","title":"A Little Princess","author":"Frances Hodgson Burnett","reason":"Starving herself, Sara gives five of her six hot buns to the beggar girl on the baker's step.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-model-of-christian-charity","title":"A Model of Christian Charity","author":"John Winthrop","reason":"Winthrop defines love as the bond of perfection and calls the company to make other's conditions their own, rejoicing, mourning, laboring, and suffering together.","vices":[]},{"slug":"narrative-of-yellow-fever-1793","title":"A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Black People During the Late Awful Calamity in Philadelphia","author":"Richard Allen and Absalom Jones","reason":"Allen and Jones describe how Black Philadelphians nursed the sick and buried the dead during the epidemic.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-tale-of-two-cities","title":"A Tale of Two Cities","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"Carton takes Darnay's place at the guillotine so that Lucie may keep the life she loves.","vices":[]},{"slug":"al-razi-treatise-on-smallpox-and-measles","title":"A Treatise on the Smallpox and Measles","author":"Abu Bakr al-Razi (Rhazes)","reason":"His careful remedies for the eyes, throat and skin aim to spare sick children blindness, pain and lasting scars.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-wonder-book","title":"A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys","author":"Nathaniel Hawthorne","reason":"Baucis and Philemon give their last bread and milk to two ragged strangers whom the whole village has mocked.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-wrinkle-in-time","title":"A Wrinkle in Time","author":"Madeleine L'Engle","reason":"Meg returns alone to Camazotz and frees Charles Wallace from IT by loving him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"across-five-aprils","title":"Across Five Aprils","author":"Irene Hunt","reason":"Jethro feeds and shelters his deserter cousin Eb in the woods instead of abandoning him to hunger or arrest.","vices":[]},{"slug":"challenger-disaster-address","title":"Address to the Nation on the Challenger Disaster","author":"Ronald Reagan","reason":"He speaks tenderly to the families and to the anguished workers of NASA, telling them that the nation shares their pain.","vices":[]},{"slug":"adventures-of-huckleberry-finn","title":"Adventures of Huckleberry Finn","author":"Mark Twain","reason":"Jim gives up his chance of escape to stay beside the wounded Tom Sawyer and help the doctor nurse him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"all-quiet-on-the-western-front","title":"All Quiet on the Western Front","author":"Erich Maria Remarque","reason":"In the shell-hole Paul bandages and gives water to the Frenchman he has stabbed and asks his forgiveness.","vices":[]},{"slug":"amos-fortune-free-man","title":"Amos Fortune, Free Man","author":"Elizabeth Yates","reason":"Amos spends his savings to buy freedom for the dying Lily and later bids at the vendue so Polly Burdoo can spend a free year in his home.","vices":[]},{"slug":"anne-of-green-gables","title":"Anne of Green Gables","author":"L. M. Montgomery","reason":"Anne gives up the Avery scholarship to stay with Marilla after Matthew's death, and Gilbert yields her the Avonlea school.","vices":[]},{"slug":"as-you-like-it","title":"As You Like It","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Adam gives Orlando his life's savings, and Orlando risks his life to save Oliver from the lioness.","vices":[]},{"slug":"autobiography-of-andrew-carnegie","title":"Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie","author":"Andrew Carnegie","reason":"Remembering Colonel Anderson's books, he spends his later years funding thousands of public libraries.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bedtime-for-frances","title":"Bedtime for Frances","author":"Russell Hoban","reason":"Mother and Father answer every one of Frances's fears with patience, giving her milk, kisses, cake and explanations.","vices":[]},{"slug":"black-beauty","title":"Black Beauty","author":"Anna Sewell","reason":"The novel urges kindness to horses and other creatures.","vices":[]},{"slug":"black-ships-before-troy","title":"Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Iliad","author":"Rosemary Sutcliff","reason":"Achilles weeps with Priam, returns Hector's body and grants a truce for the funeral.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bleak-house","title":"Bleak House","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"Esther nurses her maid Charley through the fever and catches it herself.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bliss-and-other-stories","title":"Bliss and Other Stories","author":"Katherine Mansfield","reason":"Kezia's horror and tears when Pat beheads the duck in Prelude show a child's tenderness toward a creature the others treat as sport.","vices":["indifference"]},{"slug":"botchan","title":"Botchan","author":"Natsume Sōseki","reason":"Kiyo's unwavering love for the boy no one else favoured is repaid when he keeps house with her in Tokyo until her death.","vices":[]},{"slug":"carmilla","title":"Carmilla","author":"J. Sheridan Le Fanu","reason":"Laura's father takes in an apparently injured stranger out of kindness, a generous act that the story shows can also be exploited.","vices":[]},{"slug":"carry-on-mr-bowditch","title":"Carry On, Mr. Bowditch","author":"Jean Lee Latham","reason":"Nat teaches even the cook and the deckhands to work lunars and writes a navigator any seaman can use, so that fewer ships are lost.","vices":[]},{"slug":"charlottes-web","title":"Charlotte's Web","author":"E. B. White","reason":"Wilbur carries Charlotte's egg sac home from the fair and watches over it all winter after she has died.","vices":[]},{"slug":"christ-legends","title":"Christ Legends","author":"Selma Lagerlöf","reason":"The shepherd in The Holy Night gives his sheepskin to keep the newborn Child warm, and the robin pulls a thorn from the brow of the Crucified One.","vices":[]},{"slug":"city-of-god","title":"City of God","author":"Augustine of Hippo","reason":"Augustine distinguishes the two cities by their two loves: love of God and love of self.","vices":[]},{"slug":"commentaries-on-the-laws-of-england","title":"Commentaries on the Laws of England","author":"William Blackstone","reason":"Chapter 8 casts the crown as trustee for lunatics, preserving their estates for their use should they recover.","vices":[]},{"slug":"cranford","title":"Cranford","author":"Elizabeth Gaskell","reason":"Miss Matty's friends secretly give from their own small incomes so she can keep her home after the bank fails.","vices":[]},{"slug":"crime-and-punishment","title":"Crime and Punishment","author":"Fyodor Dostoevsky","reason":"Sonya reads him the raising of Lazarus and follows Raskolnikov to Siberia, loving him toward repentance.","vices":[]},{"slug":"cruzan-v-director-missouri-department-of-health","title":"Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Chief Justice acknowledges that Nancy Cruzan's parents are loving and caring, and the dissenters press their daughter's dignity and best interests.","vices":[]},{"slug":"cyrano-de-bergerac","title":"Cyrano de Bergerac","author":"Edmond Rostand","reason":"He keeps silent for fifteen years so that Roxane's memory of Christian is not spoiled.","vices":[]},{"slug":"rousseau-discourse-on-inequality","title":"Discourse on the Origin of Inequality","author":"Jean-Jacques Rousseau","reason":"Rousseau makes natural pity, which hurries us without reflection to help those in distress, the root of every social virtue in the First Part.","vices":[]},{"slug":"early-franciscan-sources","title":"Early Franciscan Sources","author":"Francis of Assisi; Thomas of Celano; Bonaventure; Brother Ugolino; others","reason":"Francis embraces the leper and serves the poor.","vices":[]},{"slug":"frost-early-poems","title":"Early Poems: A Boy's Will, North of Boston, Mountain Interval","author":"Robert Frost","reason":"Mary urges Warren to be kind to Silas and to give the dying hired man a home he has not earned.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bede-ecclesiastical-history","title":"Ecclesiastical History of the English People","author":"Bede","reason":"King Oswald sends his Easter feast to the poor at his gate and has the silver dish broken up and shared among them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"elegy-written-in-a-country-churchyard","title":"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard","author":"Thomas Gray","reason":"The youth of the Epitaph gave to misery all he had, a tear, and his bounty was large.","vices":[]},{"slug":"emma","title":"Emma","author":"Jane Austen","reason":"Mr. Knightley quietly sends the Bateses his last apples and his carriage, and reminds Emma that Miss Bates's poverty should secure her compassion.","vices":[]},{"slug":"rush-essays-on-education-in-a-republic","title":"Essays on Education in a Republic","author":"Benjamin Rush","reason":"In the letter to Clymer Rush pleads the cause of children beaten in school, arguing that they should be governed by reason, hope and love.","vices":[]},{"slug":"everson-v-board-of-education","title":"Everson v. Board of Education","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Jackson acknowledges with sympathy the burden on Catholic families who support both public and parochial schools, even as he dissents.","vices":[]},{"slug":"fairy-and-folk-tales-of-the-irish-peasantry","title":"Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry","author":"W. B. Yeats (editor)","reason":"Countess Kathleen O'Shea gives away her wealth and finally her soul to save her people from the demon merchants.","vices":[]},{"slug":"andersen-fairy-tales","title":"Fairy Tales (Selection)","author":"Hans Christian Andersen","reason":"Gerda walks barefoot through the world to rescue Kay, and her tears melt the ice in his heart.","vices":[]},{"slug":"farmer-boy","title":"Farmer Boy","author":"Laura Ingalls Wilder","reason":"Eliza Jane, after their quarrel, patches the blacking stain herself and never tells their parents what Almanzo did.","vices":[]},{"slug":"balzac-father-goriot","title":"Father Goriot (Le Père Goriot)","author":"Honoré de Balzac","reason":"Rastignac and Bianchon nurse the dying Goriot and pawn a watch to bury him when his daughters will not.","vices":[]},{"slug":"five-children-and-it","title":"Five Children and It","author":"E. Nesbit","reason":"Anthea treats the cross Psammead gently from the first day and in the last chapter asks it whether it would like to rest.","vices":[]},{"slug":"frog-and-toad-are-friends","title":"Frog and Toad Are Friends","author":"Arnold Lobel","reason":"Toad sews all the buttons found during the search onto his jacket and gives it to Frog as a thank-you.","vices":[]},{"slug":"pasteur-and-lister-germ-theory-papers","title":"Germ Theory Papers (Pasteur and Lister)","author":"Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister","reason":"Lister measures his method by the lives and limbs of his patients, reporting that limbs once condemned to amputation could now be kept.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gideon-v-wainwright","title":"Gideon v. Wainwright","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Abe Fortas and his firm served without fee to argue the case of a stranger the Court had assigned to them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gonzales-v-raich","title":"Gonzales v. Raich","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Raich's caregivers supplied her medicine without charge, and the Court treats the patients' suffering with evident sympathy.","vices":[]},{"slug":"grace-abounding","title":"Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners","author":"John Bunyan","reason":"In prison his strongest grief is for his blind daughter Mary and the hardship his family may suffer (§§327-328).","vices":[]},{"slug":"grasshopper-on-the-road","title":"Grasshopper on the Road","author":"Arnold Lobel","reason":"Grasshopper carries the mosquito across the puddle in his own boat rather than mocking the little ferryman's rule.","vices":[]},{"slug":"great-expectations","title":"Great Expectations","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"Joe nurses Pip through his fever and secretly pays his debts after Pip has neglected him for years.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hans-brinker","title":"Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates","author":"Mary Mapes Dodge","reason":"Hans gives his skate strap to Peter just before the race, giving up his own chance at the silver skates.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hard-times","title":"Hard Times","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"Sissy Jupe goes alone to James Harthouse and persuades him to leave Coketown, protecting Louisa's name.","vices":[]},{"slug":"heidi","title":"Heidi","author":"Johanna Spyri","reason":"Heidi’s love softens her grandfather and serves Clara.","vices":["indifference"]},{"slug":"helvering-v-davis","title":"Helvering v. Davis","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Cardozo's opinion dwells on the fear of destitution among the elderly and treats their security as a concern of the whole nation.","vices":[]},{"slug":"procopius-history-of-the-wars-persian-war","title":"History of the Wars, Books I-II (The Persian War)","author":"Procopius of Caesarea","reason":"During the plague of 542 members of the rival factions bury the bodies of strangers with their own hands.","vices":[]},{"slug":"grimms-fairy-tales","title":"Household Stories (Grimm's Fairy Tales)","author":"Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm","reason":"The Simpleton shares his poor cake and sour beer with the little grey man, who in return gives him the golden goose and helps him win the princess.","vices":[]},{"slug":"i-have-a-dream","title":"I Have a Dream","author":"Martin Luther King Jr.","reason":"He warns his followers against bitterness and hatred and welcomes the white marchers as allies whose destiny is tied to their own.","vices":["hatred"]},{"slug":"i-will-fight-no-more-forever","title":"I Will Fight No More Forever","author":"Chief Joseph","reason":"His only request is time to look for the children and families who fled into the hills.","vices":[]},{"slug":"peirce-illustrations-of-the-logic-of-science","title":"Illustrations of the Logic of Science","author":"Charles Sanders Peirce","reason":"The Doctrine of Chances argues that sound reasoning requires identifying one's interests with an unlimited community rather than oneself.","vices":[]},{"slug":"in-flanders-fields","title":"In Flanders Fields","author":"John McCrae","reason":"The dead remember first that they loved and were loved, setting love at the centre of the lives they gave.","vices":[]},{"slug":"incidents-in-the-life-of-a-slave-girl","title":"Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl","author":"Harriet A. Jacobs","reason":"Mrs. Bruce buys Linda's freedom and tells her she did it not for her services but so she would be a free woman.","vices":[]},{"slug":"euripides-iphigenia-in-aulis-and-other-plays","title":"Iphigenia in Aulis and Other Plays","author":"Euripides","reason":"Electra tends her raving brother night and day in the opening of Orestes.","vices":[]},{"slug":"island-of-the-blue-dolphins","title":"Island of the Blue Dolphins","author":"Scott O'Dell","reason":"Karana carries home and nurses the wounded leader of the dogs that killed her brother instead of finishing him with an arrow.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ivanhoe","title":"Ivanhoe","author":"Walter Scott","reason":"Rebecca nurses the wounded Ivanhoe though his people despise hers, and leaves England to serve the sick.","vices":[]},{"slug":"jacobson-v-massachusetts","title":"Jacobson v. Massachusetts","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The opinion treats submission to a public-health measure as a duty owed for the protection of the whole community.","vices":[]},{"slug":"jane-eyre","title":"Jane Eyre","author":"Charlotte Brontë","reason":"Jane forgives the dying Mrs. Reed and divides her uncle's twenty thousand pounds equally with her newfound cousins.","vices":[]},{"slug":"jude-the-obscure","title":"Jude the Obscure","author":"Thomas Hardy","reason":"Mrs. Edlin keeps faith with Jude and Sue when others shun them, and comes to Jude at the end.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kalevala","title":"Kalevala","author":"Elias Lönnrot (compiler)","reason":"Lemminkäinen's mother wades into the river of death and rakes it again and again until she recovers her son.","vices":["indifference"]},{"slug":"keep-the-lights-burning-abbie","title":"Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie","author":"Peter and Connie Roop","reason":"She nurses her sick mother and looks after her little sisters, and her lights protect sailors she will never meet.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lassie-come-home","title":"Lassie Come-Home","author":"Eric Knight","reason":"Dan'l and Dally Fadden take in a starving stray collie, nurse her, and let her go when they see she must.","vices":[]},{"slug":"le-morte-darthur","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur","author":"Thomas Malory","reason":"Launcelot prays over the wounded Sir Urre, asking that the healing be God's work and not his own.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lemon-v-kurtzman","title":"Lemon v. Kurtzman","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Burger takes care to honor the enormous contribution of church schools and the sacrifice of the faithful who sustain them, even while ruling against the aid.","vices":[]},{"slug":"les-miserables","title":"Les Misérables","author":"Victor Hugo","reason":"Bishop Myriel gives Valjean the candlesticks after he has stolen the silver, and Valjean spends his fortune on Fantine and Cosette.","vices":[]},{"slug":"life-of-st-martin","title":"Life of St. Martin","author":"Sulpitius Severus; Alexander Roberts","reason":"Martin divides his cloak with a freezing beggar at Amiens.","vices":[]},{"slug":"life-on-the-mississippi","title":"Life on the Mississippi","author":"Mark Twain","reason":"Henry swims back to the wrecked Pennsylvania to help the wounded, and the people of Memphis nurse forty scalded strangers in a public hall.","vices":[]},{"slug":"linder-v-united-states","title":"Linder v. United States","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The opinion treats persons suffering from addiction as patients deserving care rather than merely as customers of an illegal trade.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tintern-abbey","title":"Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey","author":"William Wordsworth","reason":"He prizes the little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love as the best portion of a good man's life.","vices":[]},{"slug":"little-bear","title":"Little Bear","author":"Else Holmelund Minarik","reason":"Mother Bear sews Little Bear a hat, coat and snow pants and arrives with a birthday cake she had planned all along.","vices":[]},{"slug":"little-house-in-the-big-woods","title":"Little House in the Big Woods","author":"Laura Ingalls Wilder","reason":"Laura and Mary each save half of Mrs. Peterson's cookies for baby Carrie.","vices":[]},{"slug":"little-house-on-the-prairie","title":"Little House on the Prairie","author":"Laura Ingalls Wilder","reason":"Dr. Tan and Mrs. Scott tend the whole sick family in the fever chapter, and Mr. Edwards swims a flooded creek to bring the girls their Christmas.","vices":[]},{"slug":"little-lord-fauntleroy","title":"Little Lord Fauntleroy","author":"Frances Hodgson Burnett","reason":"Cedric spends his first money as heir on Bridget's rent, Dick's business and the apple-woman, and later asks for crutches for the lame boy Hartle.","vices":[]},{"slug":"little-women","title":"Little Women","author":"Louisa May Alcott","reason":"The girls give their Christmas breakfast to the poor Hummel family.","vices":[]},{"slug":"make-way-for-ducklings","title":"Make Way for Ducklings","author":"Robert McCloskey","reason":"Michael feeds the Mallards each day and stops a highway of cars so the family can cross.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mans-search-for-meaning","title":"Man's Search for Meaning","author":"Viktor E. Frankl","reason":"He describes prisoners who walked through the huts comforting others and giving away their last piece of bread.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mere-christianity","title":"Mere Christianity","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"In Book III Lewis argues that charity is an act of the will, and that acting as if one loved a neighbour leads to actually loving him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"middlemarch","title":"Middlemarch","author":"George Eliot","reason":"Dorothea pays the thousand pounds Lydgate owes Bulstrode and goes to Rosamond to comfort her after the scandal.","vices":[]},{"slug":"brecht-mother-courage-and-her-children","title":"Mother Courage and Her Children","author":"Bertolt Brecht","reason":"Kattrin rescues a baby from a burning house in Scene 5 and gives her life to warn Halle in Scene 11.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mouse-soup","title":"Mouse Soup","author":"Arnold Lobel","reason":"The policeman stops to help the weeping old lady and waters her thorn bush until it blooms.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mr-poppers-penguins","title":"Mr. Popper's Penguins","author":"Richard and Florence Atwater","reason":"Mr. Popper turns down a rich film contract and gives his penguins to Admiral Drake because a cold northern home is better for them than the stage.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mrs-dalloway","title":"Mrs. Dalloway","author":"Virginia Woolf","reason":"Rezia stays beside Septimus through his visions in Regent's Park, though she is lonely and frightened, and fights to keep him from being taken away.","vices":[]},{"slug":"my-fathers-dragon","title":"My Father's Dragon","author":"Ruth Stiles Gannett","reason":"Elmer brings the drippy alley cat home and keeps feeding her in secret for three weeks after his mother forbids it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"my-last-duchess","title":"My Last Duchess","author":"Robert Browning","reason":"The Duchess thanks the painter, the servant who brought cherries and her husband alike, a generous warmth the Duke calls a fault.","vices":[]},{"slug":"notes-from-underground","title":"Notes from Underground","author":"Fyodor Dostoevsky","reason":"When the narrator breaks down during her visit, Liza embraces him in pity instead of answering his insults.","vices":[]},{"slug":"number-the-stars","title":"Number the Stars","author":"Lois Lowry","reason":"The Johansens take Ellen into their home as a third daughter and risk arrest to hide her during the night search.","vices":[]},{"slug":"oconnor-v-donaldson","title":"O'Connor v. Donaldson","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The friends and the halfway house that offered to care for Donaldson show the kind of neighborly help the Court recognized as an alternative to confinement.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hooker-laws-of-ecclesiastical-polity","title":"Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (Preface and Book I)","author":"Richard Hooker","reason":"He praises Calvin as the wisest man the French church ever had and addresses those he argues against as beloved brethren.","vices":[]},{"slug":"old-yeller","title":"Old Yeller","author":"Fred Gipson","reason":"Burn Sanderson gives up his own dog because he sees how much Little Arliss loves him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"oliver-twist","title":"Oliver Twist","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"The Maylies and Mr. Losberne nurse the wounded Oliver and shield him from arrest although he was found in their house after a burglary.","vices":[]},{"slug":"olmstead-v-lc","title":"Olmstead v. L. C.","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Kennedy's concurrence speaks movingly of the suffering of those with severe mental illness who go untreated.","vices":[]},{"slug":"erasmus-on-free-will","title":"On Free Will (De Libero Arbitrio)","author":"Desiderius Erasmus","reason":"Writing against Luther, he keeps the form of a scholarly discussion and avoids the personal abuse common in the pamphlets of 1524.","vices":[]},{"slug":"othello","title":"Othello","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Desdemona keeps pleading for Cassio after Othello strikes her and with her dying words protects her husband.","vices":[]},{"slug":"our-town","title":"Our Town","author":"Thornton Wilder","reason":"Emily’s return to an ordinary day calls attention to the love in small things.","vices":[]},{"slug":"owl-at-home","title":"Owl at Home","author":"Arnold Lobel","reason":"Owl opens his door to Winter on a stormy night because he pities anyone left out in the cold.","vices":[]},{"slug":"paradise-lost","title":"Paradise Lost","author":"John Milton","reason":"In Book III the Son freely offers his own life so that man may find grace.","vices":[]},{"slug":"patriarcha","title":"Patriarcha","author":"Robert Filmer","reason":"He sums up every duty of a king as a universal fatherly care to preserve, feed, clothe, instruct and defend his people.","vices":[]},{"slug":"peter-pan","title":"Peter Pan (Peter and Wendy)","author":"J. 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Doe","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Brennan dwells on the lifelong cost to children who had no say in how they came to Texas.","vices":[]},{"slug":"poems-of-emily-dickinson","title":"Poems: First, Second and Third Series","author":"Emily Dickinson","reason":"If I can stop one heart from breaking measures a life by easing one person's pain or helping one fainting robin.","vices":[]},{"slug":"pollyanna","title":"Pollyanna","author":"Eleanor H. Porter","reason":"She carries jelly to Mrs. Snow, befriends the lonely Mr. Pendleton and begs a home for Jimmy Bean.","vices":[]},{"slug":"einstein-relativity","title":"Relativity: The Special and General Theory","author":"Albert Einstein","reason":"He repeats himself and uses everyday examples so that readers without mathematics can follow, hoping to give them a few happy hours of thought.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tawney-religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism","title":"Religion and the Rise of Capitalism","author":"R. H. Tawney","reason":"He records how older teaching treated relief of the poor as a Christian duty rather than a reward for good conduct.","vices":[]},{"slug":"rerum-novarum","title":"Rerum Novarum","author":"Pope Leo XIII","reason":"The encyclical ends by calling charity the queen of virtues and the chief source of the remedies it proposes.","vices":[]},{"slug":"robinson-v-california","title":"Robinson v. 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of 403 swears an amnesty for past wrongs rather than taking revenge after the rule of the Thirty.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-bible","title":"The Bible","author":"Anonymous","reason":"1 Corinthians 13 is the classic description of charity.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-black-arrow","title":"The Black Arrow","author":"Robert Louis Stevenson","reason":"Dick spares Sir Daniel on his wedding morning and tells him to seek God's forgiveness, since Dick's own is freely given.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-boxcar-children","title":"The Boxcar Children","author":"Gertrude Chandler Warner","reason":"Dr. Moore takes all four children into his own house when Violet falls ill with a fever.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-bronze-bow","title":"The Bronze Bow","author":"Elizabeth George Speare","reason":"Daniel, whose father was crucified by Romans, finally invites the soldier Marcus into his home after Leah is healed.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-brothers-karamazov","title":"The Brothers Karamazov","author":"Fyodor 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lights to those about them and do their duty to their fellow-men.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-comedy-of-errors","title":"The Comedy of Errors","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"The Abbess gives sanctuary to the frightened travelers and offers to nurse the supposed madman herself.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-cricket-in-times-square","title":"The Cricket in Times Square","author":"George Selden","reason":"Tucker hands over his treasured life savings to pay for the two-dollar bill Chester ate.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-death-of-ivan-ilyich","title":"The Death of Ivan Ilyich","author":"Leo Tolstoy","reason":"Gerasim’s simple care for the dying Ivan contrasts with his family’s evasions.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-divine-comedy","title":"The Divine Comedy","author":"Dante Alighieri","reason":"The poem ends in the love that moves the sun and the other stars.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-door-in-the-wall","title":"The Door in the Wall","author":"Marguerite de Angeli","reason":"Brother Luke takes in a sick boy whom his own servants have abandoned in the plague.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-faerie-queene","title":"The Faerie Queene, Book I","author":"Edmund Spenser","reason":"Charissa and the seven beadsmen in Canto X teach the knight works of mercy to the poor, the prisoner, the sick and the dead.","vices":[]},{"slug":"harper-the-fate-of-rome","title":"The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire","author":"Kyle Harper","reason":"Harper discusses the Christian care for the sick during the Plague of Cyprian, as urged in Cyprian's sermons.","vices":[]},{"slug":"keynes-the-general-theory","title":"The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money","author":"John Maynard Keynes","reason":"The book's whole aim, stated from chapter 1, is to explain and remedy the involuntary unemployment that left millions idle in the Depression.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-giver","title":"The Giver","author":"Lois Lowry","reason":"Jonas flees with Gabriel the night he learns the baby will be released, risking his own life to save one the Community has written off.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kingsley-the-heroes","title":"The Heroes; or, Greek Fairy Tales for My Children","author":"Charles Kingsley","reason":"Jason carries a helpless old woman across the flooded Anauros at the cost of his sandal, not knowing she is the goddess Hera.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-hiding-place","title":"The Hiding Place","author":"Corrie ten Boom","reason":"The ten Booms open the Beje to Jews turned away elsewhere, and Casper accepts arrest rather than close his door to God's ancient people.","vices":[]},{"slug":"fielding-tom-jones","title":"The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling","author":"Henry Fielding","reason":"Tom sells his horse and Bible to help Black George's starving family and later rescues Mrs Miller's relations in London.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-hobbit","title":"The Hobbit","author":"J. R. R. Tolkien","reason":"Bilbo gives up the Arkenstone to Bard and then returns to share his friends' fate, seeking peace over profit.","vices":[]},{"slug":"homeric-hymns","title":"The Homeric Hymns","author":"Anonymous (Homeric)","reason":"Demeter, though grieving, takes the infant Demophoon to her breast and nurses him in the house of Celeus.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-hound-of-the-baskervilles","title":"The Hound of the Baskervilles","author":"Arthur Conan Doyle","reason":"Mrs. Barrymore risks her place to feed her escaped brother because, she says, he is still the boy she nursed.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-house-at-pooh-corner","title":"The House at Pooh Corner","author":"A. A. Milne","reason":"Piglet agrees that his own house is just the house for Owl, and Pooh immediately takes the homeless Piglet in to live with him.","vices":["indifference"]},{"slug":"the-hundred-dresses","title":"The Hundred Dresses","author":"Eleanor Estes","reason":"Wanda answers months of mockery by asking that her drawings be given to Peggy and Maddie, the two girls who teased her most.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-idiot","title":"The Idiot","author":"Fyodor Dostoevsky","reason":"Myshkin answers Burdovsky's false claim and insults by offering him money and friendship.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-innocence-of-father-brown","title":"The Innocence of Father Brown","author":"G. K. Chesterton","reason":"Speaking to Flambeau in the tree in The Flying Stars, Brown asks him to give back the diamonds for his own soul's sake, and wins a friend instead of a conviction.","vices":[]},{"slug":"journal-of-john-woolman","title":"The Journal of John Woolman","author":"John Woolman","reason":"On the voyage he chooses the steerage and spends his days among the sailors, grieving over their hardships and speaking with them one by one.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-last-of-the-mohicans","title":"The Last of the Mohicans","author":"James Fenimore Cooper","reason":"At Glenn's Falls Cora urges Hawkeye and the Mohicans to escape for help rather than die defending the captives.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bastiat-the-law","title":"The Law","author":"Frédéric Bastiat","reason":"His reply to Lamartine defends fraternity as a free act of love that law would corrupt by compelling it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sterne-tristram-shandy","title":"The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman","author":"Laurence Sterne","reason":"Toby and Trim nurse the dying Lieutenant Le Fever at the inn and take responsibility for his orphaned son.","vices":[]},{"slug":"boswell-life-of-johnson","title":"The Life of Samuel Johnson","author":"James Boswell","reason":"He gives a home in his London house to the blind Anna Williams, the practitioner Robert Levett and other poor dependents.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-lion-the-witch-and-the-wardrobe","title":"The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Aslan gives up his own life at the Stone Table so that Edmund, who betrayed him, may go free.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-little-prince","title":"The Little Prince","author":"Antoine de Saint-Exupéry","reason":"The prince goes back to his rose, choosing to bear the cost of returning because he is responsible for her.","vices":[]},{"slug":"walton-lives","title":"The Lives of Richard Hooker, George Herbert and Robert Sanderson","author":"Izaak Walton","reason":"Herbert helps a poor man reload his fallen horse, and Sanderson pleads with a landlord for a tenant ruined by a flood.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-lord-of-the-rings","title":"The Lord of the Rings","author":"J. R. R. 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H. Lawrence","reason":"Louisa nurses Mrs Durant in her last illness and cares for Alfred in his grief.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-railway-children","title":"The Railway Children","author":"E. Nesbit","reason":"Mother takes in the sick Russian exile and the children help find his family.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-red-badge-of-courage","title":"The Red Badge of Courage","author":"Stephen Crane","reason":"The tattered soldier, badly wounded himself, worries about Henry's supposed wound and about Jim Conklin, and Henry's desertion of him becomes the sin he cannot forget.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-rule-of-st-benedict","title":"The Rule of St Benedict","author":"Benedict of Nursia","reason":"Benedict commands that guests be received as Christ and the sick cared for before all.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-scarlet-pimpernel","title":"The Scarlet Pimpernel","author":"Baroness Orczy","reason":"The League risks death on French soil to rescue the de Tournays and other strangers who can do nothing for them in return.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-screwtape-letters","title":"The Screwtape Letters","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"The young woman's household, full of ordinary Christian love, so enrages Screwtape that he turns into a centipede in Letter XXII.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-sketch-book","title":"The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.","author":"Washington Irving","reason":"Squire Bracebridge opens his hall to tenants and villagers at Christmas, and Crayon praises the season for kindling charity in the heart.","vices":[]},{"slug":"story-of-a-soul","title":"The Story of a Soul","author":"Therese of Lisieux","reason":"She prays for the condemned murderer Pranzini and discovers in Chapter XI that her vocation is love.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-story-of-my-life","title":"The Story of My Life","author":"Helen Keller","reason":"Anne Sullivan spells into Helen's hand for weeks, out of love, before her pupil understands a single word.","vices":[]},{"slug":"camus-the-stranger","title":"The Stranger","author":"Albert Camus","reason":"The chaplain keeps returning to the condemned man's cell and offers to pray for him even after being refused and attacked.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-tale-of-peter-rabbit","title":"The Tale of Peter Rabbit","author":"Beatrix Potter","reason":"Mrs. Rabbit nurses the returning Peter with chamomile tea rather than shaming him.","vices":["indifference"]},{"slug":"the-tempest","title":"The Tempest","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Prospero forgives Alonso, Sebastian and even Antonio when he holds them all helpless in Act 5.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall","title":"The Tenant of Wildfell Hall","author":"Anne Brontë","reason":"Helen returns to nurse the husband who betrayed her through his last illness and prays for him to the end.","vices":["hatred"]},{"slug":"the-thirty-nine-steps","title":"The Thirty-Nine Steps","author":"John Buchan","reason":"Turnbull nurses the fevered stranger for ten days and has to be pressed to accept any payment.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-velveteen-rabbit","title":"The Velveteen Rabbit","author":"Margery Williams","reason":"Long, patient love—not factory perfection—makes the rabbit Real.","vices":["indifference"]},{"slug":"virginia-declaration-of-rights","title":"The Virginia Declaration of Rights","author":"George Mason","reason":"Section XVI closes by declaring it the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love and charity toward one another.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-war-of-the-worlds","title":"The War of the Worlds","author":"H. G. Wells","reason":"The brother defends Mrs. Elphinstone and her sister-in-law from robbers and brings them safely to the coast.","vices":[]},{"slug":"eliot-the-waste-land","title":"The Waste Land","author":"T. S. Eliot","reason":"The thunder's first word, Datta, asks what we have given and points to the daring of self-surrender as the only true existence.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-wealth-of-nations","title":"The Wealth of Nations","author":"Adam Smith","reason":"Book I, ch. viii insists that those who feed, clothe and lodge the nation deserve to be tolerably fed, clothed and lodged themselves.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-witch-of-blackbird-pond","title":"The Witch of Blackbird Pond","author":"Elizabeth George Speare","reason":"Kit spends her stolen hours at Hannah's cottage teaching Prudence Cruff to read when everyone else thinks the child cannot learn.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-wonderful-wizard-of-oz","title":"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz","author":"L. Frank Baum","reason":"The Tin Woodman saves the Queen of the Field Mice from a wildcat, and he weeps when he accidentally steps on a beetle.","vices":[]},{"slug":"this-side-of-paradise","title":"This Side of Paradise","author":"F. Scott Fitzgerald","reason":"Monsignor Darcy gives Amory years of patient affection and counsel, writing to him as a son.","vices":[]},{"slug":"through-gates-of-splendor","title":"Through Gates of Splendor","author":"Elisabeth Elliot","reason":"The missionaries risk their lives to bring friendship and the gospel to a people others feared and avoided.","vices":[]},{"slug":"through-the-looking-glass","title":"Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There","author":"Lewis Carroll","reason":"Alice waits at the foot of the hill to wave her handkerchief to the White Knight so he will be encouraged as he rides away.","vices":[]},{"slug":"till-we-have-faces","title":"Till We Have Faces","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Psyche goes among the plague-stricken people of Glome to touch and bless them though she may catch the fever.","vices":[]},{"slug":"to-kill-a-mockingbird","title":"To Kill a Mockingbird","author":"Harper Lee","reason":"Boo Radley leaves gifts for the children, mends Jem's trousers, and comes out of his house to save them from Bob Ewell.","vices":[]},{"slug":"woolf-to-the-lighthouse","title":"To the Lighthouse","author":"Virginia Woolf","reason":"Mrs Ramsay knits a stocking for the lighthouse keeper's sick boy and plans to take it to him with other gifts.","vices":[]},{"slug":"dartmouth-college-v-woodward","title":"Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Marshall honours Wheelock's charity school and the voluntary gifts behind it, describing such institutions as filling a place government would otherwise leave vacant.","vices":[]},{"slug":"twenty-thousand-leagues-under-the-sea","title":"Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea","author":"Jules Verne","reason":"Nemo dives against a shark to save a poor pearl fisher off Ceylon and leaves him a bag of pearls.","vices":[]},{"slug":"twenty-years-at-hull-house","title":"Twenty Years at Hull-House","author":"Jane Addams","reason":"Addams leaves a comfortable life to live on Halsted Street among the poor immigrants of Chicago's Nineteenth Ward.","vices":[]},{"slug":"unbroken","title":"Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption","author":"Laura Hillenbrand","reason":"In 1950 he goes to Sugamo Prison to forgive and embrace the guards who had abused him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"uncle-toms-cabin","title":"Uncle Tom's Cabin","author":"Harriet Beecher Stowe","reason":"Eva's love for Topsy and Tom's forgiveness of Sambo and Quimbo turn hard hearts to repentance.","vices":[]},{"slug":"chekhov-uncle-vanya","title":"Uncle Vanya","author":"Anton Chekhov","reason":"Marina comforts the sleepless professor in Act II, wrapping his legs in a shawl and promising to pray for him, after he has kept the whole house awake.","vices":[]},{"slug":"understood-betsy","title":"Understood Betsy","author":"Dorothy Canfield Fisher","reason":"The girls sew clothes for 'Lias and leave them on his doorstep without signing their names.","vices":[]},{"slug":"utopia","title":"Utopia","author":"Thomas More","reason":"Every city keeps four great hospitals where the sick receive the first and best of the market.","vices":[]},{"slug":"villette","title":"Villette","author":"Charlotte Brontë","reason":"M. Paul secretly supports the household of Madame Walravens and Père Silas for the sake of his dead fiancée.","vices":[]},{"slug":"beckett-waiting-for-godot","title":"Waiting for Godot","author":"Samuel Beckett","reason":"After long hesitation the friends lift the fallen, blind Pozzo and his servant from the ground in Act II.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tolstoy-war-and-peace","title":"War and Peace","author":"Leo Tolstoy","reason":"Natásha persuades her parents to unload their possessions from the carts so that wounded soldiers can be carried out of Moscow.","vices":[]},{"slug":"washington-v-glucksberg","title":"Washington v. Glucksberg","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"O'Connor and Breyer give sustained attention to the suffering of dying patients and to the importance of relieving their pain.","vices":[]},{"slug":"white-fang","title":"White Fang","author":"Jack London","reason":"Weedon Scott pays to save a dog everyone calls hopeless and wins him by months of patience instead of the club.","vices":["wrath"]},{"slug":"wonderful-adventures-of-mrs-seacole","title":"Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands","author":"Mary Seacole","reason":"On the field of the Tchernaya she dresses the wounds of Russian soldiers as carefully as those of the allies.","vices":[]},{"slug":"youngberg-v-romeo","title":"Youngberg v. Romeo","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Romeo's mother persisted in objecting to her son's injuries and finally went to court on behalf of a man who could not speak for himself.","vices":[]}],"quotes":[{"id":"a-christmas-carol-q6","citation":"\"Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business\" — Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, Stave I (1843 first edition)."},{"id":"a-little-princess-q4","citation":"\"\"She is hungrier than I am,\" she said to herself. \"She's starving.\"\" — Frances Hodgson Burnett, A Little Princess, Chapter 13, One of the Populace (Project Gutenberg #146)."},{"id":"a-little-princess-q5","citation":"\"to be able to learn things quickly isn't everything. To be kind is worth a great deal to other people.\" — Frances Hodgson Burnett, A Little Princess, Chapter 15, The Magic (Project Gutenberg #146)."},{"id":"a-tale-of-two-cities-q3","citation":"\"a man who would give his life, to keep a life you love beside you\" — Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, Book II, Chapter 13 (Project Gutenberg #98 text)."},{"id":"a-tale-of-two-cities-q7","citation":"\"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.\" — Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, Book III, Chapter 15 (Project Gutenberg #98 text)."},{"id":"a-wonder-book-q6","citation":"\"Providence put me here, I hope, among other reasons, in order that I may make you what amends I can for the inhospitality of my neighbors.\" — Nathaniel Hawthorne, A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys, The Miraculous Pitcher (Project Gutenberg eBook #32242)."},{"id":"adventures-of-huckleberry-finn-q7","citation":"\"Human beings _can_ be awful cruel to one another.\" — Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapter XXXIII (Project Gutenberg #76 text)."},{"id":"all-quiet-on-the-western-front-q6","citation":"\"Comrade, I did not want to kill you.\" — Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front, Chapter IX, trans. A. W. Wheen."},{"id":"anne-of-green-gables-q5","citation":"\"Well now, I’d rather have you than a dozen boys, Anne\" — L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, Chapter XXXVI (1908 text)."},{"id":"as-you-like-it-q3","citation":"\"He that doth the ravens feed, Yea, providently caters for the sparrow, Be comfort to my age.\" — William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 3 (Project Gutenberg #1523)."},{"id":"autobiography-of-andrew-carnegie-q2","citation":"\"the cloud had a silver lining, as it gave me the feeling that I was doing something for my world--our family.\" — Andrew Carnegie, Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, Chapter III (Project Gutenberg #17976 (Constable, 1920))."},{"id":"autobiography-of-andrew-carnegie-q4","citation":"\"Colonel James Anderson--I bless his name as I write--announced that he would open his library of four hundred volumes to boys\" — Andrew Carnegie, Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, Chapter IV (Project Gutenberg #17976 (Constable, 1920))."},{"id":"autobiography-of-andrew-carnegie-q7","citation":"\"I resolved to stop accumulating and begin the infinitely more serious and difficult task of wise distribution.\" — Andrew Carnegie, Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, Chapter XIX (Project Gutenberg #17976 (Constable, 1920))."},{"id":"city-of-god-q1","citation":"\"Accordingly, two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self\" — Augustine of Hippo, City of God, Book XIV, Chapter 28, trans. Marcus Dods (1871)."},{"id":"confessions-q6","citation":"\"Too late loved I Thee, O Thou Beauty of ancient days, yet ever new! too late I loved Thee\" — Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, Book X.27, trans. E. B. Pusey (1838)."},{"id":"death-comes-for-the-archbishop-q2","citation":"\"Where there is great love there are always miracles\" — Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop, Book II, The Lonely Road to Mora (1927 text, public-domain source)."},{"id":"bede-ecclesiastical-history-q2","citation":"\"“Right,” said he, “for they have an angelic face, and it is meet that such should be co-heirs with the Angels in heaven.\" — Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Book II, Chapter I, trans. A. M. Sellar."},{"id":"bede-ecclesiastical-history-q4","citation":"\"it was the highest commendation of his doctrine with all men, that he taught nothing that he did not practise in his life among his brethren\" — Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Book III, Chapter V, trans. A. M. Sellar."},{"id":"emma-q5","citation":"\"She is poor; she has sunk from the comforts she was born to; and, if she live to old age, must probably sink more. Her situation should secure your compassion. It was badly done, indeed!\" — Jane Austen, Emma, Vol. III, Ch. VII (Project Gutenberg #158)."},{"id":"andersen-fairy-tales-q6","citation":"\"Roses bloom and roses decay, But we the Christ-child shall see one day.\" — Hans Christian Andersen, Fairy Tales (Selection), The Snow Queen, Seventh Story, trans. W. A. Craigie."},{"id":"grace-abounding-q7","citation":"\"the parting with my wife and poor children, hath often been to me in this place, as the pulling the flesh from the bones\" — John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, §327 (Project Gutenberg #654 (Religious Tract Society, 1905))."},{"id":"hans-brinker-q5","citation":"\"you have called me your friend. Take this strap--quick!\" — Mary Mapes Dodge, Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates, Chapter 44, The Race (Project Gutenberg #764)."},{"id":"procopius-history-of-the-wars-persian-war-q7","citation":"\"those of the population who had formerly been members of the factions laid aside their mutual enmity and in common they attended to the burial rites of the dead\" — Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars, Books I-II (The Persian War), Book II, ch. 23, trans. H. B. Dewing."},{"id":"grimms-fairy-tales-q7","citation":"\"I have eaten for you, and I have drunk for you, I will also give you the ship; and all because you were kind to me at the first.\" — Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household Stories (Grimm's Fairy Tales), The Golden Goose, trans. Lucy Crane."},{"id":"i-will-fight-no-more-forever-q4","citation":"\"I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead.\" — Chief Joseph, I Will Fight No More Forever, Harper's Weekly text, sentences 11-12 (Harper's Weekly, 17 November 1877)."},{"id":"incidents-in-the-life-of-a-slave-girl-q6","citation":"\"when I speak of Mrs. Bruce as my friend, the word is sacred.\" — Harriet A. Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Chapter XLI, Free at Last (Project Gutenberg #11030 (1861 text))."},{"id":"ivanhoe-q7","citation":"\"tending the sick, feeding the hungry, and relieving the distressed\" — Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, Chapter XLIV (Project Gutenberg #82)."},{"id":"ivanhoe-q8","citation":"\"May He, who made both Jew and Christian, shower down on you his choicest blessings!\" — Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, Chapter XLIV (Project Gutenberg #82)."},{"id":"kidnapped-q6","citation":"\"For just precisely what I thought I liked about ye, was that ye never quarrelled:--and now I like ye better\" — Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, Chapter XXIV (1886 text)."},{"id":"le-morte-darthur-q3","citation":"\"never to do outrageousity nor murder, and always to flee treason; also, by no means to be cruel, but to give mercy unto him that asketh mercy\" — Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book III, Ch. XV (Project Gutenberg #1251 (A. W. Pollard's edition of Caxton's text))."},{"id":"life-of-st-martin-q1","citation":"\"Taking, therefore, his sword with which he was girt, he divided his cloak into two equal parts, and gave one part to the poor man, while he again clothed himself with the remainder\" — Sulpitius Severus; Alexander Roberts, Life of St. Martin, Life of St. Martin, Ch. 3, trans. Alexander Roberts (1894)."},{"id":"tintern-abbey-q2","citation":"\"that best portion of a good man’s life; His little, nameless, unremembered acts Of kindness and of love.\" — William Wordsworth, Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, Verse paragraph 2 (Lyrical Ballads, 1798 text)."},{"id":"little-lord-fauntleroy-q3","citation":"\"But only be good, dear, only be brave, only be kind and true always, and then you will never hurt any one, so long as you live, and you may help many, and the big world may be better because my little child was born.\" — Frances Hodgson Burnett, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Chapter VII (Project Gutenberg text)."},{"id":"othello-q7","citation":"\"Nobody; I myself. Farewell. Commend me to my kind lord. O, farewell!\" — William Shakespeare, Othello, Act 5, Scene 2 (Project Gutenberg #1531)."},{"id":"tear-down-this-wall-q2","citation":"\"Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, every man is a German, separated from his fellow men. Every man is a Berliner, forced to look upon a scar.\" — Ronald Reagan, Tear Down This Wall (Brandenburg Gate Address), Paragraph 4 (Public Papers of the Presidents (1987))."},{"id":"tear-down-this-wall-q6","citation":"\"In a word, I would submit that what keeps you in Berlin is love--love both profound and abiding.\" — Ronald Reagan, Tear Down This Wall (Brandenburg Gate Address), Paragraph 22 (Public Papers of the Presidents (1987))."},{"id":"bulfinch-age-of-fable-q5","citation":"\"since here we have passed our lives in love and concord, we wish that one and the same hour may take us both from life, that I may not live to see her grave, nor be laid in my own by her.\" — Thomas Bulfinch, The Age of Fable, Chapter VI, Baucis and Philemon (Project Gutenberg #4925)."},{"id":"the-black-arrow-q3","citation":"\"Alas, poor soul, and we should rather pity him!\" — Robert Louis Stevenson, The Black Arrow, Book I, Chapter VII (Project Gutenberg #848)."},{"id":"the-black-arrow-q6","citation":"\"a life is a life, old shrew, and it is more than ships or liquor.\" — Robert Louis Stevenson, The Black Arrow, Book V, Chapter IV (Project Gutenberg #848)."},{"id":"the-black-arrow-q8","citation":"\"Ye took the better part and pardoned; I took the worse, and there lies the clay of mine enemy.\" — Robert Louis Stevenson, The Black Arrow, Book V, Chapter VII (Project Gutenberg #848)."},{"id":"the-brothers-karamazov-q2","citation":"\"What is hell?” I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love\" — Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, Book VI, Chapter 3, Of Hell and Hell Fire, trans. Constance Garnett (1912)."},{"id":"the-canterbury-tales-q6","citation":"\"But Christe’s lore, and his apostles’ twelve, He taught, and first he follow’d it himselve\" — Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, the Parson (Purves edition, Project Gutenberg #2383 (spelling partly modernized))."},{"id":"faraday-chemical-history-of-a-candle-q7","citation":"\"that you may, like it, shine as lights to those about you; that, in all your actions, you may justify the beauty of the taper by making your deeds honourable and effectual in the discharge of your duty to your fellow-men.\" — Michael Faraday, The Chemical History of a Candle, Lecture VI (Project Gutenberg text (1908 Chatto and Windus impression, ed. William Crookes))."},{"id":"journal-of-john-woolman-q2","citation":"\"hath placed a Principle in the human Mind, which incites to exercise Goodness towards every living Creature\" — John Woolman, The Journal of John Woolman, Journal, Chapter I (Project Gutenberg #37311 (Everyman's Library, reprinting the London edition of 1775))."},{"id":"journal-of-john-woolman-q5","citation":"\"Love was the first Motion, and thence a Concern arose to spend some Time with the _Indians_, that I might feel and understand their Life, and the Spirit they live in\" — John Woolman, The Journal of John Woolman, Journal, Chapter VIII (Project Gutenberg #37311 (Everyman's Library, reprinting the London edition of 1775))."},{"id":"the-last-of-the-mohicans-q5","citation":"\"Tell them, that the Being we all worship, under different names, will be mindful of their charity; and that the time shall not be distant when we may assemble around His throne without distinction of sex, or rank, or color.\" — James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans, Chapter XXXIII (Project Gutenberg #940)."},{"id":"life-of-st-teresa-of-jesus-q8","citation":"\"The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God.\" — Teresa of Avila, The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, Chapter XXIX, § 17, trans. David Lewis."},{"id":"walton-lives-q6","citation":"\"the thought of what he had done would prove music to him at midnight\" — Izaak Walton, The Lives of Richard Hooker, George Herbert and Robert Sanderson, Life of Herbert (Project Gutenberg #13139 (Cassell's National Library, 1898))."},{"id":"the-merchant-of-venice-q6","citation":"\"The quality of mercy is not strain’d, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath.\" — William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1 (Project Gutenberg #1515, modern spelling)."},{"id":"the-merchant-of-venice-q8","citation":"\"How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.\" — William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act 5, Scene 1 (Project Gutenberg #1515, modern spelling)."},{"id":"the-murder-on-the-links-q7","citation":"\"your love for each other has been tested in the fire and not found wanting.\" — Agatha Christie, The Murder on the Links, Chapter 28, Journey's End (Project Gutenberg #58866)."},{"id":"the-mysterious-affair-at-styles-q7","citation":"\"The happiness of one man and one woman is the greatest thing in all the world.\" — Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Chapter XIII (Project Gutenberg #863)."},{"id":"the-phantom-of-the-opera-q7","citation":"\"Then Christine kissed me, for the first time, herself, here, on the forehead\" — Gaston Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera, Chapter XXVI, trans. Alexander Teixeira de Mattos."},{"id":"practice-of-the-presence-of-god-q2","citation":"\"he was pleased when he could take up a straw from the ground for the love of GOD, seeking Him only, and nothing else, not even His gifts.\" — Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, Second Conversation, trans. Anonymous (Revell edition)."},{"id":"practice-of-the-presence-of-god-q3","citation":"\"we ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of GOD, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.\" — Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, Fourth Conversation, trans. Anonymous (Revell edition)."},{"id":"the-prince-and-the-pauper-q6","citation":"\"The world is made wrong; kings should go to school to their own laws, at times, and so learn mercy.\" — Mark Twain, The Prince and the Pauper, Chapter XXVII (Project Gutenberg #1837)."},{"id":"the-railway-children-q2","citation":"\"Dears, when you say your prayers, I think you might ask God to show His pity upon all prisoners and captives.\" — E. Nesbit, The Railway Children, Chapter V, Prisoners and captives (Project Gutenberg #1874)."},{"id":"the-sketch-book-q6","citation":"\"It is, indeed, the season of regenerated feeling--the season for kindling not merely the fire of hospitality in the hall, but the genial flame of charity in the heart.\" — Washington Irving, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., Christmas (Project Gutenberg #2048 (revised edition))."},{"id":"story-of-a-soul-q7","citation":"\"O Jesus, my Love, at last I have found my vocation. My vocation is love!\" — Therese of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul, Chapter XI, trans. Thomas N. Taylor."},{"id":"the-story-of-king-arthur-and-his-knights-q6","citation":"\"So be it. For since I have taken thee for my wife, so must I show thee respect in all matters; wherefore thou shalt have thy will in this and in all other things\" — Howard Pyle, The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, Book II, Part III, Chapter Third (1903 text)."},{"id":"the-story-of-my-life-q4","citation":"\"You cannot touch love either; but you feel the sweetness that it pours into everything.\" — Helen Keller, The Story of My Life, Part I, Chapter VI (Project Gutenberg #2397)."},{"id":"volsunga-saga-q4","citation":"\"Be kindly to friend and kin, and reward not their trespasses against thee; bear and forbear, and win for thee thereby long enduring praise of men.\" — Anonymous (Old Norse), The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga), Chapter XXI, trans. Eiríkr Magnússon and William Morris."},{"id":"the-tempest-q5","citation":"\"the rarer action is In virtue than in vengeance\" — William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 5, Scene 1 (Project Gutenberg #1540)."},{"id":"the-thirty-nine-steps-q5","citation":"\"He was a true friend in need, that old roadman.\" — John Buchan, The Thirty-Nine Steps, Chapter VII (Project Gutenberg #558)."},{"id":"lane-thousand-and-one-nights-q2","citation":"\"either I shall die, and be a ransom for one of the daughters of the Muslims, or I shall live, and be the cause of their deliverance from him.\" — Anonymous; translated by Edward William Lane, The Thousand and One Nights (Lane's translation, Volume I), Introduction, trans. Edward William Lane."},{"id":"lane-thousand-and-one-nights-q6","citation":"\"Consider, then, O 'Efreet, the pardon of the envied to the envier, and his kindness to him, notwithstanding the injuries he had done him.\" — Anonymous; translated by Edward William Lane, The Thousand and One Nights (Lane's translation, Volume I), Chapter III, Story of the Envier and the Envied, trans. Edward William Lane."},{"id":"the-wise-woman-q8","citation":"\"If I had not forgiven you, I would never have taken the trouble to punish you.\" — George MacDonald, The Wise Woman (A Double Story), Chapter XIII (Project Gutenberg #5676 (A Double Story))."},{"id":"twenty-thousand-leagues-under-the-sea-q4","citation":"\"That Indian, sir, is an inhabitant of an oppressed country; and I am still, and shall be, to my last breath, one of them!\" — Jules Verne, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Part II, Chapter III, A Pearl of Ten Millions, trans. Anonymous 19th-century translation."},{"id":"twenty-years-at-hull-house-q2","citation":"\"people might be equal in things that mattered much more than clothes, the affairs of education and religion\" — Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull-House, Chapter I, Earliest Impressions (Macmillan, 1910 (Project Gutenberg #1325))."},{"id":"twenty-years-at-hull-house-q6","citation":"\"if it were a womanly task to go about in tenement houses in order to nurse the sick, it might be quite as womanly to go through the same district in order to prevent the breeding of so-called \"filth diseases.\"\" — Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull-House, Chapter XIII, Public Activities and Investigations (Macmillan, 1910 (Project Gutenberg #1325))."},{"id":"uncle-toms-cabin-q4","citation":"\"I can love you; I do, and I’ll try to help you to grow up a good Christian girl.\" — Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Chapter XXVII (Project Gutenberg #203)."},{"id":"uncle-toms-cabin-q6","citation":"\"there ain’t no more ye can do! I forgive ye, with all my soul!\" — Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Chapter XL (Project Gutenberg #203)."},{"id":"chekhov-uncle-vanya-q6","citation":"\"we shall patiently bear the trials that fate imposes on us; we shall work for others without rest, both now and when we are old\" — Anton Chekhov, Uncle Vanya, Act IV, trans. Marian Fell."},{"id":"understood-betsy-q6","citation":"\"You didn’t do it to help ’Lias. You did it to have him grateful to you.\" — Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Understood Betsy, Chapter VIII, Betsy Starts a Sewing Society (Project Gutenberg #5347)."},{"id":"up-from-slavery-q5","citation":"\"those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.\" — Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, Chapter IV (Project Gutenberg #2376)."},{"id":"up-from-slavery-q6","citation":"\"great men cultivate love, and that only little men cherish a spirit of hatred.\" — Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, Chapter XI (Project Gutenberg #2376)."},{"id":"up-from-slavery-q7","citation":"\"I would permit no man, no matter what his colour might be, to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.\" — Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, Chapter XI (Project Gutenberg #2376)."},{"id":"utopia-q5","citation":"\"But they take more care of their sick than of any others; these are lodged and provided for in public hospitals.\" — Thomas More, Utopia, Book II, Of Their Traffic, trans. Gilbert Burnet."},{"id":"wonderful-adventures-of-mrs-seacole-q4","citation":"\"Willingly, had they accepted me, I would have worked for the wounded, in return for bread and water.\" — Mary Seacole, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, Chapter IX (Project Gutenberg #23031 (1857 text))."},{"id":"wonderful-adventures-of-mrs-seacole-q5","citation":"\"And the grateful words and smile which rewarded me for binding up a wound or giving cooling drink was a pleasure worth risking life for at any time.\" — Mary Seacole, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, Chapter XVI (Project Gutenberg #23031 (1857 text))."},{"id":"wonderful-adventures-of-mrs-seacole-q6","citation":"\"Many others, on that day, gave me thanks in words the meaning of which was lost upon me, and all of them in that one common language of the whole world--smiles.\" — Mary Seacole, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, Chapter XVI (Project Gutenberg #23031 (1857 text))."}]},{"slug":"piety","name":"Piety","aka":"pietas","kind":"classical","summary":"Pietas: dutiful reverence toward God, parents, and country, rendering honor to those to whom we owe our being and nurture.","vices":[{"slug":"impiety","name":"Impiety","description":"Contempt for God, parents, or homeland."},{"slug":"irreverence","name":"Irreverence","description":"Treating holy or honored things lightly."}],"definitions":[{"source":"Cicero","ref":"De Inventione II.66; De Re Publica VI.16","text":"Piety is the virtue that admonishes us to do our duty to our country, our parents, and others bound to us by blood; justice and piety toward parents and country are the way to heaven."},{"source":"Virgil","ref":"Aeneid","text":"Aeneas is called pius: he carries his father Anchises from burning Troy, leads his son by the hand, and bears his household gods to a new land."},{"source":"Aquinas","ref":"Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 101; q. 121","text":"Piety, a part of justice, renders duty and worship to parents and country; as a gift of the Holy Spirit it shows filial reverence toward God as Father."},{"source":"Scripture","ref":"Exodus 20:12 (KJV)","quote":"Honour thy father and thy mother","work":"the-bible"},{"source":"Scripture","ref":"James 1:27 (KJV)","quote":"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction","work":"the-bible"}],"questions":["What do we owe to those who gave us life and nurture, and can we ever repay it?","Why is Aeneas called pious? Is his piety admirable even when it costs him?","How do love of God, family, and country fit together?","Where in your reading does piety come into conflict with another duty?"],"url":"/virtues/piety/","works":[{"slug":"a-model-of-christian-charity","title":"A Model of Christian Charity","author":"John Winthrop","reason":"The company's whole enterprise is framed as a covenant and commission from God whose articles must be kept, ending with Moses's charge to choose life by cleaving to Him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"joyce-portrait-of-the-artist","title":"A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man","author":"James Joyce","reason":"After the retreat Stephen confesses in the Capuchin chapel and orders each day of Chapter IV around prayer and the sacraments.","vices":[]},{"slug":"berkeley-principles-of-human-knowledge","title":"A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge","author":"George Berkeley","reason":"Berkeley ends the treatise in section 156 by declaring that its whole design is to bring readers to a sense of God's presence and their duty.","vices":[]},{"slug":"al-razi-treatise-on-smallpox-and-measles","title":"A Treatise on the Smallpox and Measles","author":"Abu Bakr al-Razi (Rhazes)","reason":"He undertakes the work by God's permission and ends with praise to Him who gave understanding.","vices":[]},{"slug":"vindication-of-the-rights-of-woman","title":"A Vindication of the Rights of Woman","author":"Mary Wollstonecraft","reason":"The whole argument rests on the claim that God gave women reason and immortal souls to grow in virtue toward him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"abington-school-district-v-schempp","title":"Abington School District v. Schempp","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Clark calls the place of religion in American society an exalted one, entrusted to the home, the church and the individual heart.","vices":[]},{"slug":"adam-of-the-road","title":"Adam of the Road","author":"Elizabeth Janet Gray","reason":"Adam remains loyal to his father after Roger gambles away Bayard, and chooses to follow Roger's trade at the end.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ptolemy-almagest","title":"Almagest","author":"Claudius Ptolemy","reason":"His preface presents astronomy as contemplation of divine and unchanging things that makes its students love their beauty.","vices":[]},{"slug":"black-ships-before-troy","title":"Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Iliad","author":"Rosemary Sutcliff","reason":"Priam risks his life crossing to the Greek camp by night so that his son's body can receive proper burial.","vices":[]},{"slug":"herrin-byzantium","title":"Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire","author":"Judith Herrin","reason":"The chapters on icons and Mount Athos show Byzantine Christians shaping art, worship and whole communities around devotion.","vices":[]},{"slug":"caedmons-hymn","title":"Cædmon's Hymn","author":"Cædmon","reason":"His first song and every later one is praise of God, and Bede says he could compose nothing light or idle.","vices":[]},{"slug":"commentaries-on-the-laws-of-england","title":"Commentaries on the Laws of England","author":"William Blackstone","reason":"Introduction §2 roots every human law in the law of nature dictated by God and in revealed Scripture.","vices":[]},{"slug":"dante-de-monarchia","title":"De Monarchia (with R. W. Church's essay on Dante)","author":"Dante Alighieri; R. W. Church","reason":"Dante closes by asking Caesar to revere Peter as a first-born son reveres his father, even after defending the emperor's independent authority.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ghazali-deliverance-from-error","title":"Deliverance from Error (The Confessions of al-Ghazali)","author":"Abu Hamid al-Ghazali","reason":"In Damascus he spends his days in prayer and solitude in the minaret of the great mosque, seeking to purify his heart.","vices":[]},{"slug":"epictetus-discourses-and-encheiridion","title":"Discourses (selection) and Encheiridion","author":"Epictetus","reason":"The Encheiridion ends with Cleanthes' prayer to be led by Zeus and Destiny, following willingly.","vices":[]},{"slug":"machiavelli-discourses-on-livy","title":"Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius","author":"Niccolò Machiavelli","reason":"Book I, ch. XI–XII, holds that keeping the rites of religion uncorrupted is the first care of a state that would not decay.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bede-ecclesiastical-history","title":"Ecclesiastical History of the English People","author":"Bede","reason":"Caedmon turns every passage of Scripture he is taught into songs of praise and makes a peaceful end among his brethren.","vices":[]},{"slug":"engel-v-vitale","title":"Engel v. Vitale","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Both opinions honour prayer: Black calls it a solemn avowal of divine faith, and Stewart defends children's wish to join in it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"rush-essays-on-education-in-a-republic","title":"Essays on Education in a Republic","author":"Benjamin Rush","reason":"Rush makes the religion of the New Testament the foundation of republican education and defends daily Bible reading in schools.","vices":[]},{"slug":"fairy-and-folk-tales-of-the-irish-peasantry","title":"Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry","author":"W. B. Yeats (editor)","reason":"Jack Dogherty in The Soul Cages releases the drowned souls kept by the merrow so they may go to their rest.","vices":[]},{"slug":"washington-farewell-address-and-selected-letters","title":"Farewell Address and Selected Letters","author":"George Washington","reason":"Washington calls religion and morality indispensable supports of political prosperity.","vices":[]},{"slug":"goethe-faust-part-one","title":"Faust, Part One","author":"Johann Wolfgang von Goethe","reason":"Gretchen brings flowers and prayer to the Mater Dolorosa and at the end commits herself to God rather than flee with Faust.","vices":[]},{"slug":"galileo-selected-writings","title":"Galileo: The Starry Messenger, Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina, and Two New Sciences (First Day)","author":"Galileo Galilei","reason":"He frames the Letter as service to the Church and declares that his book may be torn and burnt if it contains anything not pious and Catholic.","vices":[]},{"slug":"pasteur-and-lister-germ-theory-papers","title":"Germ Theory Papers (Pasteur and Lister)","author":"Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister","reason":"Pasteur dedicates his studies to the memory of his father, calling them the fruit of his counsel and example.","vices":[]},{"slug":"give-me-liberty-or-give-me-death","title":"Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death","author":"Patrick Henry","reason":"He counts silence as disloyalty to the Majesty of Heaven and appeals to the God of hosts and a just God who presides over nations.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gods-grandeur","title":"God's Grandeur","author":"Gerard Manley Hopkins","reason":"The sonnet's opening claim that the world is charged with God's grandeur calls the reader to reverent attention to the Creator in ordinary things like foil and oil.","vices":[]},{"slug":"heidi","title":"Heidi","author":"Johanna Spyri","reason":"Prayer and trust in God shape Heidi’s courage and the uncle’s thaw.","vices":[]},{"slug":"henry-iv-part-1","title":"Henry IV, Part 1","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Rebuked by his father in Act 3, Scene 2, Hal asks pardon and vows to prove at Shrewsbury that he is the king's true son.","vices":[]},{"slug":"henry-v","title":"Henry V","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"He prays before battle and orders psalms after it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"grimms-fairy-tales","title":"Household Stories (Grimm's Fairy Tales)","author":"Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm","reason":"Aschenputtel visits her mother's grave every day and stays pious and good as her mother asked.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kennedy-inaugural-address","title":"Inaugural Address","author":"John F. Kennedy","reason":"He grounds the rights of man in the hand of God and closes by asking His blessing and His help.","vices":[]},{"slug":"calvin-institutes","title":"Institutes of the Christian Religion","author":"John Calvin","reason":"Calvin defines the goal of all his teaching as true godliness and opens with the claim that wisdom begins in knowing God.","vices":[]},{"slug":"island-of-the-blue-dolphins","title":"Island of the Blue Dolphins","author":"Scott O'Dell","reason":"Karana leaps from the ship and swims back to the island rather than leave her little brother Ramo alone.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ivanhoe","title":"Ivanhoe","author":"Walter Scott","reason":"Rebecca prays and sings the hymn of the Exodus while awaiting judgment, and refuses to abandon the faith of her fathers.","vices":[]},{"slug":"king-lear","title":"King Lear","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Cordelia and Edgar remain faithful to fathers who wronged them.","vices":["impiety"]},{"slug":"plato-laws","title":"Laws","author":"Plato","reason":"Book X defends the existence and providence of the gods and teaches that they cannot be bribed by offerings.","vices":[]},{"slug":"le-morte-darthur","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur","author":"Thomas Malory","reason":"Galahad asks God to let him die once he has seen the mysteries of the Grail at Sarras.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kuyper-lectures-on-calvinism","title":"Lectures on Calvinism","author":"Abraham Kuyper","reason":"Kuyper describes religion as existing for God's sake and places the confession of God's sovereignty first in every area of life.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lex-rex","title":"Lex, Rex","author":"Samuel Rutherford","reason":"Question XLII places every Christian king under Christ, and the whole argument is tested first against Scripture.","vices":[]},{"slug":"little-bear","title":"Little Bear","author":"Else Holmelund Minarik","reason":"Little Bear trusts and returns to Mother Bear in every story, even ending his moon game by claiming her as his own mother.","vices":[]},{"slug":"little-house-in-the-big-woods","title":"Little House in the Big Woods","author":"Laura Ingalls Wilder","reason":"The family sets Sunday apart from work and play for Bible stories and quiet, and Pa answers Laura's complaint with the story of how Grandpa's family kept the Sabbath.","vices":[]},{"slug":"vasari-lives-of-the-artists","title":"Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects (Volume 1)","author":"Giorgio Vasari","reason":"Vasari credits Giotto's revival of painting to the gift of God, and the lives record works made for churches from Assisi to Saint Peter's.","vices":[]},{"slug":"magna-carta","title":"Magna Carta","author":"King John and the barons of England","reason":"John makes his grant first to God and begins by confirming the freedom of the English church in clause 1.","vices":[]},{"slug":"usama-ibn-munqidh-memoirs","title":"Memoirs of Usama ibn Munqidh","author":"Usama ibn Munqidh","reason":"He ends his memoir by asking pardon if he should waste the little left of his life on anything but obedience to God.","vices":[]},{"slug":"plato-meno","title":"Meno","author":"Plato","reason":"The dialogue closes by ascribing the virtue of good statesmen to a gift of the gods rather than human contrivance.","vices":[]},{"slug":"meyer-v-nebraska","title":"Meyer v. Nebraska","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The case arose from a congregation's effort to teach its children Bible stories in the language of their parents and church.","vices":[]},{"slug":"moby-dick","title":"Moby-Dick","author":"Herman Melville","reason":"Father Mapple's sermon calls his hearers to obey God and to preach truth to the face of falsehood.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kepler-new-astronomy-and-harmony-of-the-world","title":"New Astronomy and The Harmony of the World","author":"Johannes Kepler","reason":"He closes Book V of the Harmony of the World with a prayer of thanks to the Creator whose order he believed he had uncovered.","vices":[]},{"slug":"whewell-novum-organon-renovatum","title":"Novum Organon Renovatum","author":"William Whewell","reason":"The last chapter of Book III follows the idea of causation to a Supreme Cause, recognized as maker and governor of the world.","vices":[]},{"slug":"o-captain-my-captain","title":"O Captain! My Captain!","author":"Walt Whitman","reason":"The sailor honours his captain as dear father and stays beside his body when everyone else is celebrating.","vices":[]},{"slug":"newton-opticks","title":"Opticks","author":"Isaac Newton","reason":"Queries 28 and 31 present every true step in natural philosophy as bringing the inquirer nearer to the first cause and to the worship of 'our true Author and Benefactor'.","vices":[]},{"slug":"d-day-order-of-the-day","title":"Order of the Day, 6 June 1944","author":"Dwight D. Eisenhower","reason":"The order closes by asking all to beseech the blessing of Almighty God on the undertaking.","vices":[]},{"slug":"patriarcha","title":"Patriarcha","author":"Robert Filmer","reason":"Filmer grounds obedience to rulers in the commandment to honour one's father and in God's grant of dominion to Adam.","vices":[]},{"slug":"pierce-v-society-of-sisters","title":"Pierce v. Society of Sisters","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The opinion honors the duty owed by those who nurture a child, the natural bond of family that classical tradition counted under piety.","vices":[]},{"slug":"psalm-23","title":"Psalm 23","author":"Attributed to David","reason":"The whole psalm is spoken in reverent dependence, ending with the desire to dwell in God's house.","vices":[]},{"slug":"reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france","title":"Reflections on the Revolution in France","author":"Edmund Burke","reason":"He defends reverence for ancestors and for the established Church as the ground of a commonwealth that remembers it acts in trust from God.","vices":[]},{"slug":"rerum-novarum","title":"Rerum Novarum","author":"Pope Leo XIII","reason":"Sunday rest is defended as owed to God, a right the worker cannot surrender even if he wished.","vices":[]},{"slug":"reynolds-v-united-states","title":"Reynolds v. United States","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Reynolds stood trial twice rather than renounce what he believed to be a duty enjoined on him by God.","vices":[]},{"slug":"richard-iii","title":"Richard III","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Richmond commends himself to God as his captain before sleeping, in contrast to Richard's counterfeit devotion between two bishops.","vices":[]},{"slug":"robinson-crusoe","title":"Robinson Crusoe","author":"Daniel Defoe","reason":"Deliverances drive him toward prayer and thanksgiving.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sam-the-minuteman","title":"Sam the Minuteman","author":"Nathaniel Benchley","reason":"Sam obeys his father's call in the night and stands with him among the minutemen of their town.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lincoln-second-inaugural-address","title":"Second Inaugural Address","author":"Abraham Lincoln","reason":"The whole argument rests on submission to God's judgments, which Lincoln calls true and righteous altogether in the words of Psalm 19.","vices":[]},{"slug":"silas-marner","title":"Silas Marner","author":"George Eliot","reason":"Eppie honors the father who raised her and vows to cleave to him as long as he lives.","vices":[]},{"slug":"elizabeth-speech-at-tilbury","title":"Speech to the Troops at Tilbury","author":"Elizabeth I","reason":"She places her strength under God and frames the war as defense of my God, my kingdom, and my people.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tales-from-shakespeare","title":"Tales from Shakespeare","author":"Charles and Mary Lamb","reason":"Cordelia returns from France to nurse her mad father and pays his physicians with her own gold and jewels.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tanglewood-tales","title":"Tanglewood Tales","author":"Nathaniel Hawthorne","reason":"Cadmus stays beside his grieving mother Telephassa until she dies on the road and buries her with his own hands.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-adventures-of-pinocchio","title":"The Adventures of Pinocchio","author":"Carlo Collodi","reason":"After rescuing Geppetto from the Shark, Pinocchio draws a hundred buckets of water every morning to buy milk for his weak father.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-aeneid","title":"The Aeneid","author":"Virgil","reason":"Aeneas, called pius, carries his father from Troy and bears his household gods toward the founding of Rome.","vices":["impiety"]},{"slug":"anna-komnene-alexiad","title":"The Alexiad","author":"Anna Komnene","reason":"Anna writes the whole history to honor her father, and nurses him with her own hands in his last illness.","vices":[]},{"slug":"argonautica","title":"The Argonautica","author":"Apollonius of Rhodes","reason":"The Argonauts found altars and rites along their route, and Jason sacrifices to Hecate exactly as Medea instructs before his ordeal.","vices":[]},{"slug":"autobiography-of-benvenuto-cellini","title":"The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini","author":"Benvenuto Cellini","reason":"When the mould of the Perseus is filled, he falls on his knees and gives thanks to God before eating or resting.","vices":[]},{"slug":"book-of-enoch","title":"The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch)","author":"Anonymous","reason":"Enoch, waking from his dream of destruction in Chapter LXXXIII, rises to pray that a remnant may be left on the earth.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-burgess-bird-book-for-children","title":"The Burgess Bird Book for Children","author":"Thornton W. Burgess","reason":"Delight in creatures points toward gratitude for the made world.","vices":[]},{"slug":"burke-paine-debate","title":"The Burke-Paine Debate on the French Revolution","author":"Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine","reason":"Burke treats inherited institutions and the established church as a trust owed to ancestors and descendants alike.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-canterbury-tales","title":"The Canterbury Tales","author":"Geoffrey Chaucer","reason":"The Parson teaches Christ's lore and follows it himself first, a model of devout service.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-courage-of-sarah-noble","title":"The Courage of Sarah Noble","author":"Alice Dalgliesh","reason":"She reads the story of Samuel alone at the camp and prays each night in Tall John's house for both families.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-eagle-of-the-ninth","title":"The Eagle of the Ninth","author":"Rosemary Sutcliff","reason":"Marcus risks his life beyond the Wall to recover the eagle his father died beside and to learn the truth about his father's legion.","vices":[]},{"slug":"epic-of-gilgamesh","title":"The Epic of Gilgamesh","author":"Anonymous (Babylonian; standard version attributed to Sin-leqi-unninni)","reason":"Ninsun purifies herself and offers incense to Shamash, praying for her son's safety before the journey to the Cedar Forest.","vices":[]},{"slug":"runciman-the-fall-of-constantinople-1453","title":"The Fall of Constantinople, 1453","author":"Steven Runciman","reason":"On the evening before the final attack, Greeks and Latins, unionists and their opponents, join in the last liturgy in Hagia Sophia.","vices":[]},{"slug":"fall-of-constantinople-1453-eyewitness-accounts","title":"The Fall of Constantinople, 1453: Eyewitness Accounts","author":"Nicolo Barbaro, George Sphrantzes, Doukas, and others","reason":"On the last night Greeks and Latins together filled Hagia Sophia for the liturgy and prayer, as the witnesses report.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gettysburg-address","title":"The Gettysburg Address","author":"Abraham Lincoln","reason":"Lincoln treats the soldiers' graves as ground already hallowed and resolves that the nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom.","vices":["impiety"]},{"slug":"livy-history-of-rome-books-i-v","title":"The History of Rome, Books I-V","author":"Livy (Titus Livius)","reason":"Camillus in Book V argues that Rome cannot be moved to Veii because its gods, rites and auspices belong to its own ground.","vices":[]},{"slug":"homeric-hymns","title":"The Homeric Hymns","author":"Anonymous (Homeric)","reason":"Demeter commands the people of Eleusis to build her temple, and the hymn praises those who keep her rites with awe.","vices":["irreverence"]},{"slug":"wickham-the-inheritance-of-rome","title":"The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000","author":"Chris Wickham","reason":"Charlemagne and his advisers pursue a program of religious and moral reform across the Frankish realm.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-last-of-the-mohicans","title":"The Last of the Mohicans","author":"James Fenimore Cooper","reason":"David Gamut sings his psalms in the cave, in captivity and at the sick woman's bedside, trusting in God amid every danger.","vices":[]},{"slug":"apollodorus-library","title":"The Library (Bibliotheca)","author":"Apollodorus (attributed)","reason":"The Library's many stories of those punished for slighting Dionysus or Hera show the honor owed to the gods in Greek belief.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-little-house","title":"The Little House","author":"Virginia Lee Burton","reason":"The builder's great-great-granddaughter honours her ancestor by rescuing the house he built and keeping his rule that it never be sold.","vices":[]},{"slug":"walton-lives","title":"The Lives of Richard Hooker, George Herbert and Robert Sanderson","author":"Izaak Walton","reason":"Herbert reads public prayers twice daily at Bemerton, and his parishioners pause their ploughs at his bell.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mayflower-compact","title":"The Mayflower Compact","author":"The Mayflower Pilgrims","reason":"The agreement opens in the name of God and is made in the presence of God for his glory and the advancement of the Christian faith.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-natural-history-of-selborne","title":"The Natural History of Selborne","author":"Gilbert White","reason":"He reads the creatures of Selborne as works of Providence and applies Scripture to them with reverence and humor.","vices":[]},{"slug":"popol-vuh","title":"The Popol Vuh (Lewis Spence's account)","author":"Anonymous (K'iche' Maya); Lewis Spence","reason":"The wooden people are destroyed because they do not think on Hurakan, while the first maize people pray to the Creator for the sun.","vices":["irreverence"]},{"slug":"cicero-republic-and-laws","title":"The Republic and The Laws","author":"Marcus Tullius Cicero","reason":"The second book of the Laws begins the whole code with the duty of approaching the gods in purity and keeping the ancestral rites.","vices":[]},{"slug":"grotius-rights-of-war-and-peace","title":"The Rights of War and Peace (Book I)","author":"Hugo Grotius","reason":"Chapter II tests the lawfulness of war against the whole of Scripture and the early Church before reaching a conclusion.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-sign-of-the-beaver","title":"The Sign of the Beaver","author":"Elizabeth George Speare","reason":"Matt declines Saknis's offer to join the beaver people because he will not abandon his father's charge and his family's coming.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-sketch-book","title":"The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.","author":"Washington Irving","reason":"In The Widow and Her Son, the old mother keeps coming to the village church to worship even in the depth of her grief.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-song-of-hiawatha","title":"The Song of Hiawatha","author":"Henry Wadsworth Longfellow","reason":"Hiawatha fasts seven days and prays to the Master of Life not for himself but for the good of his people.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-story-of-my-boyhood-and-youth","title":"The Story of My Boyhood and Youth","author":"John Muir","reason":"He learns from Griswold's lesson under the locust tree to see the Creator's single design in the pea vine and the tree.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-swiss-family-robinson","title":"The Swiss Family Robinson","author":"Johann David Wyss","reason":"The father begins and ends each venture with prayer and keeps the Sabbath as a day of rest and teaching even in the first weeks.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-theban-plays","title":"The Theban Plays","author":"Sophocles","reason":"Antigone buries her brother in obedience to the unwritten laws of heaven, at the cost of her life.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ibn-battuta-travels","title":"The Travels of Ibn Battuta","author":"Ibn Battuta","reason":"He sets out to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca and seeks out the shrines and holy men of every city on his way.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-travels-of-marco-polo","title":"The Travels of Marco Polo","author":"Marco Polo (with Rustichello da Pisa)","reason":"The book ends by giving thanks to God for the travellers' safe return so that others might learn what the world contains.","vices":[]},{"slug":"euripides-trojan-women-and-other-plays","title":"The Trojan Women and Other Plays","author":"Euripides","reason":"Hecuba buries Astyanax with what rites she can, using Hector's shield as his coffin, before the women are taken away.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-tyger","title":"The Tyger","author":"William Blake","reason":"Every question turns toward the immortal hand that made both the Tyger and the Lamb.","vices":[]},{"slug":"huizinga-the-waning-of-the-middle-ages","title":"The Waning of the Middle Ages","author":"Johan Huizinga","reason":"The Devotio Moderna and mystics such as Denis the Carthusian cultivate an inward devotion that Huizinga sets against the elaborate ceremony of the court.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-wind-in-the-willows","title":"The Wind in the Willows","author":"Kenneth Grahame","reason":"Awe before the river’s mystery treats creation with reverence.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hesiod-theogony-and-works-and-days","title":"Theogony and Works and Days","author":"Hesiod","reason":"Works and Days tells men to sacrifice to the gods with clean hands, and blames the silver race for refusing honour to the immortals.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tolstoy-war-and-peace","title":"War and Peace","author":"Leo Tolstoy","reason":"Princess Mary bears her father's harshness at Bald Hills through prayer and continues to love and serve him until his death.","vices":[]},{"slug":"wisconsin-v-yoder","title":"Wisconsin v. Yoder","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Amish fathers accepted criminal fines rather than send their children into an education they believed would draw them from their faith and church.","vices":[]}],"quotes":[{"id":"a-christmas-carol-q8","citation":"\"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year\" — Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, Stave IV (1843 first edition)."},{"id":"caedmons-hymn-q1","citation":"\"Now shall we praise the Prince of heaven, The might of the Maker and his manifold thought\" — Cædmon, Cædmon's Hymn, Lines 1-2, trans. Cosette Faust and Stith Thompson (1918)."},{"id":"bede-ecclesiastical-history-q7","citation":"\"I wholly applied myself to the study of Scripture; and amidst the observance of monastic rule, and the daily charge of singing in the church, I always took delight in learning, or teaching, or writing.\" — Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Book V, Chapter XXIV, trans. A. M. Sellar."},{"id":"bede-ecclesiastical-history-q8","citation":"\"And I beseech Thee, good Jesus, that to whom Thou hast graciously granted sweetly to drink in the words of Thy knowledge, Thou wilt also vouchsafe in Thy loving-kindness that he may one day come to Thee, the Fountain of all wisdom, and appear for ever before Thy face.\" — Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Book V, Chapter XXIV (closing prayer), trans. A. M. Sellar."},{"id":"hans-brinker-q7","citation":"\"It calls for wisdom, too, and a reverence for God’s work.\" — Mary Mapes Dodge, Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates, Chapter 47, Broad Sunshine (Project Gutenberg #764)."},{"id":"henry-v-q11","citation":"\"Praised be God, and not our strength, for it\" — William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act 4, Scene 7 (Project Gutenberg #1521, modern spelling)."},{"id":"grimms-fairy-tales-q3","citation":"\"Dear child, be pious and good, and God will always take care of you, and I will look down upon you from heaven, and will be with you.\" — Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household Stories (Grimm's Fairy Tales), Aschenputtel, trans. Lucy Crane."},{"id":"calvin-institutes-q4","citation":"\"We are not our own; therefore, neither is our own reason or will to rule our acts and counsels. We are not our own; therefore, let us not make it our end to seek what may be agreeable to our carnal nature. We are not our own; therefore, as far as possible, let us forget ourselves and the things that are ours. On the other hand, we are God's; let us, therefore, live and die to him (Rom. 14:8).\" — John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III, ch. 7, sec. 1, trans. Henry Beveridge."},{"id":"ivanhoe-q5","citation":"\"When Israel, of the Lord beloved, Out of the land of bondage came, Her father’s God before her moved, An awful guide, in smoke and flame.\" — Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, Chapter XXXIX (Project Gutenberg #82)."},{"id":"jane-eyre-q7","citation":"\"Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour\" — Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter XXVII (Project Gutenberg #1260)."},{"id":"le-morte-darthur-q5","citation":"\"Now, blessed Lord, would I not longer live, if it might please thee, Lord.\" — Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XVII, Ch. XXII (Project Gutenberg #1252 (A. W. Pollard's edition of Caxton's text))."},{"id":"usama-ibn-munqidh-memoirs-q8","citation":"\"How mysterious are the deeds of the Almighty, who afflicts with disease and gives the cure!\" — Usama ibn Munqidh, Memoirs of Usama ibn Munqidh, Section II, ch. 2 (Noteworthy Cures), trans. Philip K. Hitti."},{"id":"plato-meno-q8","citation":"\"Then, Meno, the conclusion is that virtue comes to the virtuous by the gift of God.\" — Plato, Meno, 100b, trans. Benjamin Jowett (1871)."},{"id":"o-captain-my-captain-q3","citation":"\"Here Captain! dear father! This arm beneath your head! It is some dream that on the deck, You’ve fallen cold and dead.\" — Walt Whitman, O Captain! My Captain!, Stanza 2, lines 13-16 (Leaves of Grass, deathbed edition (1891-92))."},{"id":"newton-opticks-q6","citation":"\"And though every true Step made in this Philosophy brings us not immediately to the Knowledge of the first Cause, yet it brings us nearer to it, and on that account is to be highly valued.\" — Isaac Newton, Opticks, Book III, Query 28 (Project Gutenberg text of the 4th edition (London, 1730))."},{"id":"d-day-order-of-the-day-q6","citation":"\"And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.\" — Dwight D. Eisenhower, Order of the Day, 6 June 1944, Paragraph 5 (National Archives transcription (1944 order))."},{"id":"autobiography-of-benvenuto-cellini-q7","citation":"\"seeing my work finished, I fell upon my knees, and with all my heart gave thanks to God.\" — Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, Book II, Chapter LXXVII, trans. John Addington Symonds."},{"id":"burke-paine-debate-q2","citation":"\"it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.\" — Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine, The Burke-Paine Debate on the French Revolution, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), on the social contract and the Church establishment (The Works of Edmund Burke, vol. 3 (Nimmo), Project Gutenberg #15679; library text of reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france)."},{"id":"the-canterbury-tales-q6","citation":"\"But Christe’s lore, and his apostles’ twelve, He taught, and first he follow’d it himselve\" — Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, the Parson (Purves edition, Project Gutenberg #2383 (spelling partly modernized))."},{"id":"the-faerie-queene-q2","citation":"\"The deare remembrance of his dying Lord, For whose sweete sake that glorious badge he wore, And dead as living ever him ador'd\" — Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book I, Book I, Canto I, stanza 2 (Project Gutenberg #15272 (Wauchope, 1903))."},{"id":"journal-of-john-woolman-q1","citation":"\"I have often felt a Motion of Love to leave some Hints in Writing of my Experience of the Goodness of God\" — John Woolman, The Journal of John Woolman, Journal, Chapter I (Project Gutenberg #37311 (Everyman's Library, reprinting the London edition of 1775))."},{"id":"life-of-st-teresa-of-jesus-q4","citation":"\"It was a representation of Christ most grievously wounded; and so devotional, that the very sight of it, when I saw it, moved me--so well did it show forth that which He suffered for us.\" — Teresa of Avila, The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, Chapter IX, § 1, trans. David Lewis."},{"id":"walton-lives-q5","citation":"\"they would let their plough rest when Mr. Herbert's Saint's-bell rung to prayers\" — Izaak Walton, The Lives of Richard Hooker, George Herbert and Robert Sanderson, Life of Herbert (Project Gutenberg #13139 (Cassell's National Library, 1898))."},{"id":"the-merchant-of-venice-q7","citation":"\"It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God’s When mercy seasons justice.\" — William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1 (Project Gutenberg #1515, modern spelling)."},{"id":"rowlandson-narrative-of-the-captivity-q3","citation":"\"my Bible; which was my guide by day, and my pillow by night.\" — Mary Rowlandson, The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, The Thirteenth Remove (Project Gutenberg #851)."},{"id":"practice-of-the-presence-of-god-q1","citation":"\"in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess GOD in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the blessed sacrament.\" — Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, Fourth Conversation (editor's account), trans. Anonymous (Revell edition)."},{"id":"practice-of-the-presence-of-god-q5","citation":"\"we may make an oratory of our heart wherein to retire from time to time to converse with Him in meekness, humility and love.\" — Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, Seventh Letter, trans. Anonymous (Revell edition)."},{"id":"the-railway-children-q2","citation":"\"Dears, when you say your prayers, I think you might ask God to show His pity upon all prisoners and captives.\" — E. Nesbit, The Railway Children, Chapter V, Prisoners and captives (Project Gutenberg #1874)."},{"id":"story-of-a-soul-q6","citation":"\"With me prayer is an uplifting of the heart; a glance towards heaven; a cry of gratitude and love, uttered equally in sorrow and in joy.\" — Therese of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul, Chapter X, trans. Thomas N. Taylor."},{"id":"the-swiss-family-robinson-q3","citation":"\"We are only too ready, amid the cares and pleasures of this life, to forget the God to whom we owe all things\" — Johann David Wyss, The Swiss Family Robinson, Chapter II, trans. W. H. G. Kingston (1879)."},{"id":"the-swiss-family-robinson-q6","citation":"\"The whole earth is the Lord's, and where, as in his sight, you lead good and useful lives, there is your home\" — Johann David Wyss, The Swiss Family Robinson, Chapter XVIII, trans. W. H. G. Kingston (1879)."},{"id":"the-theban-plays-q2","citation":"\"The immutable unwritten laws of Heaven. They were not born today nor yesterday; They die not; and none knoweth whence they sprang\" — Sophocles, The Theban Plays, Antigone, trans. F. Storr (1912)."},{"id":"theodore-roosevelt-an-autobiography-q1","citation":"\"My father, Theodore Roosevelt, was the best man I ever knew.\" — Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography, Chapter I, Boyhood and Youth (Project Gutenberg #3335 (1920 Scribner edition of the 1913 text))."}]},{"slug":"honor","name":"Honor","kind":"classical","summary":"Living worthily of esteem: integrity, keeping one’s word, and a right regard for a good name, given and received for true excellence.","vices":[{"slug":"dishonor","name":"Dishonor","description":"Breaking faith or acting basely."},{"slug":"vainglory","name":"Vainglory","description":"Seeking praise for its own sake or for what is not praiseworthy."}],"definitions":[{"source":"Aristotle","ref":"Nicomachean Ethics IV.3; I.5","text":"Honor is the prize of virtue, but it depends more on those who give it than on him who receives it; good men seek it from the wise and on the ground of their virtue."},{"source":"Cicero","ref":"Tusculan Disputations III.3; De Officiis II.43","text":"True glory is the firm consent of good men praising true excellence; the shortest road to it is to be what you wish to be thought."},{"source":"Aquinas","ref":"Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 103, 131-132","text":"Honor is due to excellence, and to God above all; the vice of vainglory seeks praise for things not worthy of it or without referring it to God."},{"source":"Scripture","ref":"Proverbs 22:1 (KJV)","quote":"A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches","work":"the-bible"}],"questions":["Is honor something you have or something others give you?","When does the love of honor become vainglory?","Which character in your reading kept his word at a cost?","How does Christian humility change the ancient idea of honor?"],"url":"/virtues/honor/","works":[{"slug":"adam-of-the-road","title":"Adam of the Road","author":"Elizabeth Janet Gray","reason":"Adam leaves the company of strolling players when they steal food, though he has nowhere else to go.","vices":[]},{"slug":"challenger-disaster-address","title":"Address to the Nation on the Challenger Disaster","author":"Ronald Reagan","reason":"He names each of the seven and ranks their complete dedication with that of Drake, who lived and died at sea.","vices":[]},{"slug":"apologia-pro-vita-sua","title":"Apologia Pro Vita Sua","author":"John Henry Newman","reason":"He answers Kingsley's charge of dishonesty by laying open the whole history of his opinions for public judgement.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bleak-house","title":"Bleak House","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"Sir Leicester, struck down by a stroke, declares before his household that his wife has his full forgiveness and that his regard for her is unchanged.","vices":[]},{"slug":"botchan","title":"Botchan","author":"Natsume Sōseki","reason":"He insists on repaying Porcupine the one and a half sen for a glass of ice water so as to owe nothing to a man he distrusts.","vices":[]},{"slug":"chiarella-v-united-states","title":"Chiarella v. United States","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Burger's dissent stresses that information entrusted in confidence should not be turned to private profit.","vices":[]},{"slug":"citizenship-in-a-republic","title":"Citizenship in a Republic (\"The Man in the Arena\")","author":"Theodore Roosevelt","reason":"He defines character as force and courage joined to good faith and sense of honor, and denies any separate morality for public life.","vices":["dishonor"]},{"slug":"mill-considerations-on-representative-government","title":"Considerations on Representative Government","author":"John Stuart Mill","reason":"Chapter X asks that the vote be cast openly as a public trust, under the eye and criticism of fellow citizens.","vices":[]},{"slug":"cuchulain-of-muirthemne","title":"Cuchulain of Muirthemne","author":"Lady Gregory","reason":"Cuchulain alone keeps his word in the beheading test of the Championship of Ulster, kneeling for the stranger's blow.","vices":["dishonor"]},{"slug":"cyrano-de-bergerac","title":"Cyrano de Bergerac","author":"Edmond Rostand","reason":"Cyrano refuses de Guiche's patronage rather than flatter a powerful man for advancement.","vices":[]},{"slug":"don-quixote","title":"Don Quixote","author":"Miguel de Cervantes","reason":"Don Quixote tries to live by the chivalric code of honor in an unchivalric age.","vices":[]},{"slug":"goethe-faust-part-one","title":"Faust, Part One","author":"Johann Wolfgang von Goethe","reason":"Valentine fights to defend his sister's good name against her seducer, though it costs him his life.","vices":[]},{"slug":"five-children-and-it","title":"Five Children and It","author":"E. Nesbit","reason":"Anthea gives the Psammead her solemn promise never to ask for another wish, and the children keep it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"fletcher-v-peck","title":"Fletcher v. Peck","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Marshall holds Georgia to its executed grant, treating a state's conveyance as a promise that binds it like any other party.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hamiltons-reports-and-opinion-on-the-bank","title":"Hamilton's Reports and Opinion on the Bank","author":"Alexander Hamilton","reason":"The First Report treats the Revolutionary debt as a pledge of national faith made with special solemnity, to be redeemed for the country's reputation.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hans-brinker","title":"Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates","author":"Mary Mapes Dodge","reason":"Hans returns Peter's lost purse of sixty guilders and refuses a reward.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hard-times","title":"Hard Times","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"Stephen Blackpool keeps his promise not to join the union and refuses to inform on his fellow workers, though both refusals cost him his place.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hayne-speech-on-foots-resolution","title":"Hayne's Reply to Webster (Speech on Foot's Resolution)","author":"Robert Y. Hayne","reason":"He defends South Carolina's record in the Revolution and the War of 1812 against the charge that its doctrines were disloyal.","vices":[]},{"slug":"house-divided-speech","title":"House Divided Speech","author":"Abraham Lincoln","reason":"He disclaims any wish to misrepresent Douglas or question his motives while still opposing him firmly.","vices":[]},{"slug":"in-flanders-fields","title":"In Flanders Fields","author":"John McCrae","reason":"To break faith with the dead would be a betrayal of the trust they placed in their comrades.","vices":[]},{"slug":"jane-eyre","title":"Jane Eyre","author":"Charlotte Brontë","reason":"Jane insists to Rochester that she is his equal in soul and refuses to be dressed up or kept as an ornament.","vices":[]},{"slug":"julius-caesar","title":"Julius Caesar","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Brutus acts from love of Rome rather than envy, and Antony calls him the noblest Roman of them all.","vices":[]},{"slug":"le-morte-darthur","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur","author":"Thomas Malory","reason":"The knights renew each Pentecost their oath to give mercy, flee treason and never fight in a wrongful quarrel.","vices":[]},{"slug":"little-britches","title":"Little Britches","author":"Ralph Moody","reason":"After lying about the trapped pheasant, Ralph confesses to the sheriff and promises Father never to lie again.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lord-jim","title":"Lord Jim","author":"Joseph Conrad","reason":"Jim spends his life seeking to redeem his lost honor after abandoning the Patna.","vices":["cowardice"]},{"slug":"love-and-freindship","title":"Love and Freindship and Other Early Works","author":"Jane Austen","reason":"By mocking Edward's refusal to oblige his father and the heroines' theft from Macdonald, the story sets out by contrast the duties of a dutiful child and grateful guest.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mike-mulligan-and-his-steam-shovel","title":"Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel","author":"Virginia Lee Burton","reason":"Mike stakes his pay on a promise to Henry B. Swap and keeps it before the last light fades.","vices":[]},{"slug":"brecht-mother-courage-and-her-children","title":"Mother Courage and Her Children","author":"Bertolt Brecht","reason":"Swiss Cheese guards the regimental cash box with his life because he feels responsible for it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"new-york-times-v-sullivan","title":"New York Times Co. v. Sullivan","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Sullivan's suit rested on the ancient conviction that a public servant's good name deserves protection from falsehood.","vices":[]},{"slug":"no-treason","title":"No Treason","author":"Lysander Spooner","reason":"Spooner defines treason as breach of faith and praises those who give open warning before becoming enemies, as he says the patriots of 1776 did.","vices":[]},{"slug":"norman-v-baltimore-and-ohio-railroad","title":"Norman v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co. (Gold Clause Cases)","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"McReynolds insists that a government's solemn promises bind it and that public honesty is part of justice.","vices":[]},{"slug":"notes-from-underground","title":"Notes from Underground","author":"Fyodor Dostoevsky","reason":"Liza preserves her dignity by leaving the five-rouble note on the table rather than accept payment for her love.","vices":[]},{"slug":"oliver-twist","title":"Oliver Twist","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"Oliver refuses to steal for Fagin and runs from the scene of the first theft rather than join in.","vices":[]},{"slug":"othello","title":"Othello","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Emilia defies Iago in the last scene and tells the truth about the handkerchief, though it costs her life.","vices":[]},{"slug":"pericles-funeral-oration","title":"Pericles' Funeral Oration","author":"Pericles","reason":"He tells the aged parents that only the love of honour never grows old and that their sons' fame will cheer them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kant-perpetual-peace","title":"Perpetual Peace","author":"Immanuel Kant","reason":"The sixth preliminary article forbids assassins, poisoners and treachery in war so that trust remains possible when peace returns.","vices":[]},{"slug":"prince-caspian","title":"Prince Caspian","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Reepicheep asks to have his tail back for the sake of a mouse's honor, and his followers offer to cut off their own tails rather than keep what their chief has lost.","vices":[]},{"slug":"reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france","title":"Reflections on the Revolution in France","author":"Edmund Burke","reason":"The lament for Marie Antoinette praises the generous loyalty and sense of honour that once made obedience free and power gentle.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sanshiro","title":"Sanshirō","author":"Natsume Sōseki","reason":"Sanshirō takes care to repay Mineko's loan in person, settling his debt even when it means their parting.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sec-v-capital-gains-research-bureau","title":"SEC v. Capital Gains Research Bureau, Inc.","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The opinion draws on the investment counselors' own professional canons, which held that an adviser should avoid any act that subjects his impartiality to challenge.","vices":[]},{"slug":"webster-second-reply-to-hayne","title":"Second Reply to Hayne","author":"Daniel Webster","reason":"He answers attacks on New England by pointing to Massachusetts' sacrifices at Concord, Lexington, and Bunker Hill rather than by abusing South Carolina.","vices":[]},{"slug":"shearson-american-express-v-mcmahon","title":"Shearson/American Express Inc. v. McMahon","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court holds the parties to the arbitration bargain they made, treating a signed promise as binding.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight","title":"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight","author":"Anonymous","reason":"Gawain keeps his word and seeks the Green Chapel to receive the return blow.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tales-from-shakespeare","title":"Tales from Shakespeare","author":"Charles and Mary Lamb","reason":"Cordelia refuses to flatter Lear for a share of his kingdom and tells him only that she loves him as a daughter should.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-agricola-and-the-germania","title":"The Agricola and the Germania","author":"Tacitus","reason":"Tacitus praises his father-in-law Agricola for integrity and moderation under Domitian.","vices":[]},{"slug":"fall-of-constantinople-1453-eyewitness-accounts","title":"The Fall of Constantinople, 1453: Eyewitness Accounts","author":"Nicolo Barbaro, George Sphrantzes, Doukas, and others","reason":"Sphrantzes served the emperor faithfully to the end and wrote his memory into his chronicle after captivity.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-fall-of-the-roman-republic","title":"The Fall of the Roman Republic: Six Lives","author":"Plutarch","reason":"Plutarch’s Lives of Cato the Younger, Cicero, and Brutus show men acting on principle as the Republic falls.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-great-gatsby","title":"The Great Gatsby","author":"F. Scott Fitzgerald","reason":"Nick ends his romance with Jordan face to face, telling her he is too old to lie to himself and call it honour.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tacitus-the-histories","title":"The Histories","author":"Tacitus","reason":"Otho chooses to die at Brixellum rather than send his army into another battle, and Tacitus says his death earned him a noble name.","vices":[]},{"slug":"polybius-histories-book-vi","title":"The Histories, Book VI","author":"Polybius","reason":"The Senate sends back in chains the envoy who tried to slip out of his oath to Hannibal by a trick (ch. 58).","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-jungle-book","title":"The Jungle Book","author":"Rudyard Kipling","reason":"Mowgli keeps his word to the Pack by bringing Shere Khan's hide to the Council Rock.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-last-battle","title":"The Last Battle","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"After killing two Calormenes in anger, Tirian and Jewel refuse to hide and give themselves up to be judged.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-mabinogion","title":"The Mabinogion","author":"Anonymous (Middle Welsh)","reason":"Pwyll lies beside Arawn's wife every night of his year in Annwvyn without touching her, keeping faith with a friend who will never see what he does.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-moonstone","title":"The Moonstone","author":"Wilkie Collins","reason":"Rachel keeps silent about what she saw, accepting suspicion herself rather than expose the man she loves.","vices":["dishonor"]},{"slug":"ramayana","title":"The Ramayana","author":"Valmiki","reason":"Rama leaves for the forest on the morning of his consecration rather than let his father's promise to Kaikeyi be broken.","vices":["dishonor"]},{"slug":"the-scarlet-pimpernel","title":"The Scarlet Pimpernel","author":"Baroness Orczy","reason":"Having pledged to Marguerite at Richmond that Armand shall be safe, Percy keeps his word and brings her brother aboard the Day Dream.","vices":[]},{"slug":"st-crispins-day-speech","title":"The St Crispin's Day Speech","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Henry confesses that if it be a sin to covet honour he is the most offending soul alive, and makes honour the prize of the day.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-story-of-king-arthur-and-his-knights","title":"The Story of King Arthur and His Knights","author":"Howard Pyle","reason":"Arthur insists on fighting by his own strength and keeps Excalibur only for serious battle in defense of his people.","vices":[]},{"slug":"volsunga-saga","title":"The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga)","author":"Anonymous (Old Norse)","reason":"Sigurd, dying, insists that he always held fast to his oath with Gunnar and never wronged him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"camus-the-stranger","title":"The Stranger","author":"Albert Camus","reason":"Meursault refuses to tell the magistrate or the jury that he feels remorse or belief he does not have, even when a lie might save his life.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-sword-in-the-stone","title":"The Sword in the Stone","author":"T. H. White","reason":"Kay, after first claiming to have drawn the sword, tells his father the truth that the Wart pulled it out.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-three-musketeers","title":"The Three Musketeers","author":"Alexandre Dumas","reason":"D'Artagnan spares Lord de Winter's life after disarming him, and the Englishman becomes an ally.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-travels-of-marco-polo","title":"The Travels of Marco Polo","author":"Marco Polo (with Rustichello da Pisa)","reason":"The three Polos guard the princess Cocachin on the long voyage as if she were their own daughter until they deliver her safely in Persia.","vices":[]},{"slug":"huizinga-the-waning-of-the-middle-ages","title":"The Waning of the Middle Ages","author":"Johan Huizinga","reason":"The knights of the Golden Fleece bind themselves by elaborate vows and statutes to an ideal of loyalty and noble conduct, as Huizinga recounts in the chivalry chapters.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-woman-in-white","title":"The Woman in White","author":"Wilkie Collins","reason":"Laura keeps her promise to her dying father and marries Sir Percival, telling him honestly beforehand that she loves another.","vices":[]},{"slug":"treasure-island","title":"Treasure Island","author":"Robert Louis Stevenson","reason":"Jim Hawkins keeps his word to Silver even when he could escape.","vices":[]},{"slug":"dartmouth-college-v-woodward","title":"Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The opinion treats the obligations of the 1769 charter as surviving the Revolution, so that the new state keeps the promises made in the Crown's name.","vices":[]},{"slug":"united-states-v-ohagan","title":"United States v. O'Hagan","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The theory rests on fidelity: a lawyer's loyalty to his firm and its client is the duty O'Hagan was found to have betrayed.","vices":[]},{"slug":"we-shall-fight-on-the-beaches","title":"We Shall Fight on the Beaches","author":"Winston Churchill","reason":"He gives public credit to the Navy, merchant seamen, rearguard, and RAF pilots who made the rescue possible.","vices":[]},{"slug":"west-virginia-v-barnette","title":"West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Frankfurter held to his considered view of the judicial role at the cost of being on the losing side of a celebrated decision.","vices":[]},{"slug":"worcester-v-georgia","title":"Worcester v. Georgia","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The opinion treats repeated treaty pledges as binding obligations of the nation's faith rather than temporary expedients.","vices":[]}],"quotes":[{"id":"cyrano-de-bergerac-q2","citation":"\"Truth, Independence, are my fluttering plumes.\" — Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 1, Scene 4, trans. Gladys Thomas and Mary F. Guillemard."},{"id":"hans-brinker-q2","citation":"\"I am no beggar, mynheer\" — Mary Mapes Dodge, Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates, Chapter 7, Hans Has His Way (Project Gutenberg #764)."},{"id":"jane-eyre-q5","citation":"\"Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!\" — Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter XXIII (Project Gutenberg #1260)."},{"id":"le-morte-darthur-q3","citation":"\"never to do outrageousity nor murder, and always to flee treason; also, by no means to be cruel, but to give mercy unto him that asketh mercy\" — Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book III, Ch. XV (Project Gutenberg #1251 (A. W. Pollard's edition of Caxton's text))."},{"id":"plutarch-lives-q4","citation":"\"I would,\" said he, \"much rather be asked, why I have not one, than why I have one\" — Plutarch, Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, Life of Marcus Cato, trans. John Dryden et al., rev. A. H. Clough (1864)."},{"id":"pericles-funeral-oration-q8","citation":"\"For it is only the love of honour that never grows old; and honour it is, not gain, as some would have it, that rejoices the heart of age and helplessness.\" — Pericles, Pericles' Funeral Oration, Book II.44, trans. Richard Crawley (1874)."},{"id":"webster-second-reply-to-hayne-q3","citation":"\"Mr. President, I shall enter on no encomium upon Massachusetts; she needs none. There she is. Behold her, and judge for yourselves.\" — Daniel Webster, Second Reply to Hayne, Defence of New England, tribute to Massachusetts (The Great Speeches and Orations of Daniel Webster, ed. Whipple (1879))."},{"id":"sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight-q1","citation":"\"For I know well that ye are Sir Gawain, whom all the world worships, wheresoever ye may ride\" — Anonymous, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The first temptation."},{"id":"faraday-chemical-history-of-a-candle-q7","citation":"\"that you may, like it, shine as lights to those about you; that, in all your actions, you may justify the beauty of the taper by making your deeds honourable and effectual in the discharge of your duty to your fellow-men.\" — Michael Faraday, The Chemical History of a Candle, Lecture VI (Project Gutenberg text (1908 Chatto and Windus impression, ed. William Crookes))."},{"id":"the-conquest-of-gaul-q3","citation":"\"Leap, fellow soldiers, unless you wish to betray your eagle to the enemy. I, for my part, will perform my duty to the commonwealth and my general\" — Julius Caesar, The Conquest of Gaul, Book IV.25, trans. W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn (1869)."},{"id":"the-jungle-book-q4","citation":"\"Look well, O Wolves. Have I kept my word?\" — Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, Tiger! Tiger! (Project Gutenberg #236)."},{"id":"the-story-of-king-arthur-and-his-knights-q3","citation":"\"I believe that a knight should fight by means of his own strength, and not by means of magic\" — Howard Pyle, The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, Book I, Part II, Chapter Third (1903 text)."},{"id":"the-wise-woman-q6","citation":"\"Whoever does what she is bound to do, be she the dirtiest little girl in the street, is a princess, worshipful, honorable.\" — George MacDonald, The Wise Woman (A Double Story), Chapter XII (Project Gutenberg #5676 (A Double Story))."},{"id":"theodore-roosevelt-an-autobiography-q8","citation":"\"The only safe rule is to promise little, and faithfully to keep every promise; to \"speak softly and carry a big stick.\"\" — Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography, Chapter XIV, The Monroe Doctrine and the Panama Canal (Project Gutenberg #3335 (1920 Scribner edition of the 1913 text))."}]},{"slug":"industry","name":"Industry","aka":"diligence","kind":"classical","summary":"Diligence: steady, willing work at one’s calling, done well and offered to God.","vices":[{"slug":"sloth","name":"Sloth","description":"Sorrow at spiritual good and neglect of duty; laziness."},{"slug":"idleness","name":"Idleness","description":"Wasting time and gifts."}],"definitions":[{"source":"Aristotle","ref":"Nicomachean Ethics I.7; II.1","text":"The good for man is found in his proper activity done excellently; virtues of character come by practice, as builders become builders by building."},{"source":"Benedict","ref":"Rule of St. Benedict, ch. 48","text":"Idleness is the enemy of the soul; the brothers are to be occupied at fixed times in manual labor and at fixed times in sacred reading."},{"source":"Aquinas","ref":"Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 35","text":"Acedia (sloth) is sorrow about spiritual good; it is opposed to the joy of charity and gives rise to idleness and restlessness of mind."},{"source":"Scripture","ref":"Proverbs 6:6 (KJV)","quote":"Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise","work":"the-bible"},{"source":"Scripture","ref":"Colossians 3:23 (KJV)","quote":"whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord","work":"the-bible"}],"questions":["Why does Benedict call idleness the enemy of the soul?","How is diligence different from restless busyness?","Which character in your reading built something by patient work?","How can schoolwork be done heartily, as to the Lord?"],"url":"/virtues/industry/","works":[{"slug":"a-defence-of-the-constitutions","title":"A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America","author":"John Adams","reason":"Written in the intervals of diplomatic work, the first volume gathers the histories of more than forty republics.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mill-system-of-logic-book-iii","title":"A System of Logic, Book III: Of Induction","author":"John Stuart Mill","reason":"Mill revised the work through eight editions over three decades, adding examples and replies to critics.","vices":[]},{"slug":"al-razi-treatise-on-smallpox-and-measles","title":"A Treatise on the Smallpox and Measles","author":"Abu Bakr al-Razi (Rhazes)","reason":"He questions readers of Syriac and Greek and searches Galen book by book before writing his own account of the cause.","vices":[]},{"slug":"vindication-of-the-rights-of-woman","title":"A Vindication of the Rights of Woman","author":"Mary Wollstonecraft","reason":"Chapter 9 proposes that women study medicine, practise midwifery and manage farms and shops.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ptolemy-almagest","title":"Almagest","author":"Claudius Ptolemy","reason":"Ptolemy assembles and dates observations across nearly nine centuries and turns them into tables usable for any date.","vices":[]},{"slug":"amos-fortune-free-man","title":"Amos Fortune, Free Man","author":"Elizabeth Yates","reason":"Amos masters tanning at Woburn and fills the iron kettle in Jaffrey with years of honest earnings.","vices":[]},{"slug":"whitehead-introduction-to-mathematics","title":"An Introduction to Mathematics","author":"Alfred North Whitehead","reason":"The chapters build number, geometry and the calculus step by step, each extension earned by careful reasoning.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bernard-introduction-to-experimental-medicine","title":"An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine","author":"Claude Bernard","reason":"He describes the science of life as reached only through long labour in the laboratory, and narrates years of experiment on the liver.","vices":[]},{"slug":"animal-farm","title":"Animal Farm","author":"George Orwell","reason":"Boxer rises early and labours longest on the harvest and the windmill, answering every setback by resolving to work harder.","vices":[]},{"slug":"anne-of-green-gables","title":"Anne of Green Gables","author":"L. M. Montgomery","reason":"Anne studies to tie Gilbert for first place, wins the Avery scholarship and takes up teaching to support Green Gables.","vices":[]},{"slug":"around-the-world-in-eighty-days","title":"Around the World in Eighty Days","author":"Jules Verne","reason":"Planning and steady movement win against wasted time.","vices":["sloth"]},{"slug":"atlanta-exposition-address","title":"Atlanta Exposition Address","author":"Booker T. Washington","reason":"Washington urges his people to dignify and glorify common labor and to put brains and skill into the common occupations of life.","vices":["sloth"]},{"slug":"franklin-autobiography-and-poor-richard","title":"Autobiography and Poor Richard's Almanack","author":"Benjamin Franklin","reason":"Franklin’s list of thirteen virtues includes industry and frugality, and Poor Richard’s maxims praise diligence.","vices":["idleness"]},{"slug":"autobiography-of-andrew-carnegie","title":"Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie","author":"Andrew Carnegie","reason":"As a messenger boy he memorizes the firms along Pittsburgh's streets and learns to read telegraph messages by sound.","vices":[]},{"slug":"caedmons-hymn","title":"Cædmon's Hymn","author":"Cædmon","reason":"After his dream he ponders each passage he is taught and works the whole biblical story, from Genesis to the Judgment, into verse.","vices":[]},{"slug":"caps-for-sale","title":"Caps for Sale","author":"Esphyr Slobodkina","reason":"The peddler walks the streets each day with his heavy tower of caps, and as soon as he gets them back he heads straight back to town to sell them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"captains-courageous","title":"Captains Courageous","author":"Rudyard Kipling","reason":"Harvey learns to bait, haul, clean and salt fish and stand his watch, earning ten and a half dollars a month.","vices":[]},{"slug":"carry-on-mr-bowditch","title":"Carry On, Mr. Bowditch","author":"Jean Lee Latham","reason":"Nat spends every spare hour of his indenture on the almanac, Latin and Newton, and later checks Moore's tables figure by figure.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sallust-catiline-and-jugurtha","title":"Catiline's War and The Jugurthine War","author":"Sallust (Gaius Sallustius Crispus)","reason":"Metellus restores the slack army in Africa by daily marching, fortified camps and strict discipline before he risks battle.","vices":[]},{"slug":"charles-river-bridge-v-warren-bridge","title":"Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The proprietors built and maintained the first bridge across the Charles, and the Warren Bridge builders undertook theirs on the promise of recovering their costs from tolls.","vices":[]},{"slug":"psellos-chronographia","title":"Chronographia","author":"Michael Psellos","reason":"Basil II spends his reign on campaign and in administration, refusing luxury and leaving a full treasury.","vices":[]},{"slug":"citizenship-in-a-republic","title":"Citizenship in a Republic (\"The Man in the Arena\")","author":"Theodore Roosevelt","reason":"He insists that the average man must earn his own livelihood and that leisure must never mean idleness.","vices":["sloth","idleness"]},{"slug":"mill-considerations-on-representative-government","title":"Considerations on Representative Government","author":"John Stuart Mill","reason":"Chapter III praises the active, self-helping character that strives to improve its circumstances over the passive one that accepts them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"david-copperfield","title":"David Copperfield","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"David rises by hard work as a reporter and writer after his early hardships.","vices":[]},{"slug":"death-comes-for-the-archbishop","title":"Death Comes for the Archbishop","author":"Willa Cather","reason":"Bishop Latour and Father Vaillant build a diocese across the desert Southwest over a lifetime.","vices":[]},{"slug":"diamond-v-chakrabarty","title":"Diamond v. Chakrabarty","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court treats the patent law as a reward for the inventive labor that produced an organism no one had made before.","vices":[]},{"slug":"frost-early-poems","title":"Early Poems: A Boy's Will, North of Boston, Mountain Interval","author":"Robert Frost","reason":"Mowing and The Tuft of Flowers find dignity and companionship in the solitary work of scything hay.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bede-ecclesiastical-history","title":"Ecclesiastical History of the English People","author":"Bede","reason":"Bede describes a life spent in study, teaching and writing amid the daily round of monastic worship.","vices":[]},{"slug":"elegy-written-in-a-country-churchyard","title":"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard","author":"Thomas Gray","reason":"Gray honours the villagers' harvests, furrows and sturdy strokes of the axe as useful toil not to be mocked.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lavoisier-elements-of-chemistry","title":"Elements of Chemistry","author":"Antoine Lavoisier","reason":"He keeps mercury heated in a closed vessel of air for twelve days and accounts for every change in weight and volume.","vices":[]},{"slug":"euclid-elements-book-i","title":"Elements, Book I","author":"Euclid","reason":"Casey's exercises after Propositions 1, 5 and 47 ask the pupil to work out new proofs for himself once he has mastered the book.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ernst-and-ernst-v-hochfelder","title":"Ernst & Ernst v. Hochfelder","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The case turns on what diligent auditing requires, and Blackmun's dissent treats careful inquiry by accountants as a duty owed to the public.","vices":[]},{"slug":"rush-essays-on-education-in-a-republic","title":"Essays on Education in a Republic","author":"Benjamin Rush","reason":"He would turn school amusements into gardening, farming and the mechanical arts so that play prepares children for useful work.","vices":[]},{"slug":"emerson-essays","title":"Essays: First Series (Self-Reliance and Other Essays)","author":"Ralph Waldo Emerson","reason":"Self-Reliance teaches that no kernel of nourishing corn comes except through toil on the plot of ground given to each person.","vices":[]},{"slug":"dewey-experience-and-education","title":"Experience and Education","author":"John Dewey","reason":"Chapter 7 calls for steady, progressive organization of subject matter rather than activity for its own sake.","vices":[]},{"slug":"faraday-experimental-researches-in-electricity","title":"Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1","author":"Michael Faraday","reason":"Faraday ran thousands of trials over seven years, recording each in numbered paragraphs.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mendel-experiments-in-plant-hybridisation","title":"Experiments in Plant Hybridisation (in Bateson's Mendel's Principles of Heredity)","author":"Gregor Mendel; William Bateson","reason":"Mendel grew and counted thousands of pea plants over eight years before reporting a result, as his introductory remarks note.","vices":[]},{"slug":"far-from-the-madding-crowd","title":"Far from the Madding Crowd","author":"Thomas Hardy","reason":"Gabriel thatches the ricks alone through the night of the storm while the other men lie drunk.","vices":[]},{"slug":"farmer-boy","title":"Farmer Boy","author":"Laura Ingalls Wilder","reason":"Almanzo rises before dawn all year to milk, feed stock, plant, hoe and haul wood, and takes pride in doing a man's share.","vices":[]},{"slug":"fdr-first-inaugural-address","title":"First Inaugural Address (\"The only thing we have to fear\")","author":"Franklin D. Roosevelt","reason":"He places happiness in the joy of achievement and creative work, and names putting people to work as the greatest primary task.","vices":[]},{"slug":"galileo-selected-writings","title":"Galileo: The Starry Messenger, Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina, and Two New Sciences (First Day)","author":"Galileo Galilei","reason":"Galileo observed Jupiter night after night for two months, recording each configuration before drawing his conclusion about its moons.","vices":[]},{"slug":"rabelais-gargantua-and-pantagruel","title":"Gargantua and Pantagruel","author":"François Rabelais","reason":"Under Ponocrates, Gargantua spends every hour from early morning to night in reading, observation, exercise and conversation.","vices":[]},{"slug":"pasteur-and-lister-germ-theory-papers","title":"Germ Theory Papers (Pasteur and Lister)","author":"Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister","reason":"Pasteur grows the anthrax organism through twelve successive cultures before claiming proof that it causes the disease.","vices":[]},{"slug":"great-expectations","title":"Great Expectations","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"After losing his fortune Pip works for years as a clerk and then partner in Herbert's firm and pays his way.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hamiltons-reports-and-opinion-on-the-bank","title":"Hamilton's Reports and Opinion on the Bank","author":"Alexander Hamilton","reason":"The Report on Manufactures praises the multiplying of enterprises so that every kind of talent and labour in the nation can find productive work.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hans-brinker","title":"Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates","author":"Mary Mapes Dodge","reason":"Hans carves, studies, rides the towing horses and finds work to support his family, and later studies hard to become a surgeon.","vices":[]},{"slug":"homer-price","title":"Homer Price","author":"Robert McCloskey","reason":"Homer builds his own radios, helps at the tourist camp and assembles Uncle Ulysses's doughnut machine while his uncle is at the barbershop.","vices":[]},{"slug":"grimms-fairy-tales","title":"Household Stories (Grimm's Fairy Tales)","author":"Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm","reason":"The diligent daughter in Mother Hulda shakes the feather bed so the snow flies and is rewarded with a shower of gold.","vices":[]},{"slug":"island-of-the-blue-dolphins","title":"Island of the Blue Dolphins","author":"Scott O'Dell","reason":"Karana stores food, builds a whale-rib fence and makes weapons, canoe repairs and clothing with her own hands to survive.","vices":[]},{"slug":"jude-the-obscure","title":"Jude the Obscure","author":"Thomas Hardy","reason":"Jude teaches himself Latin and Greek over years while baking and cutting stone, reading even as he drives the bread cart.","vices":[]},{"slug":"just-so-stories","title":"Just So Stories","author":"Rudyard Kipling","reason":"The Djinn makes the Camel work to make up the three days he spent saying Humph while the other animals worked double.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kalevala","title":"Kalevala","author":"Elias Lönnrot (compiler)","reason":"Ilmarinen works his forge for days, breaking every flawed creation, until the Sampo rises from the fire.","vices":[]},{"slug":"keep-the-lights-burning-abbie","title":"Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie","author":"Peter and Connie Roop","reason":"She fills the lamps, trims the wicks and scrapes the frozen windows again and again while also doing the housework for her family.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kuyper-lectures-on-calvinism","title":"Lectures on Calvinism","author":"Abraham Kuyper","reason":"Lecture IV honours the Dutch love of learning, from Leiden's scholars onward, as faithful work in a world that belongs to God.","vices":[]},{"slug":"life-on-the-mississippi","title":"Life on the Mississippi","author":"Mark Twain","reason":"The cub memorizes twelve hundred miles of river, upstream and down, by day and night, until he can steer a boat through any crossing.","vices":[]},{"slug":"little-britches","title":"Little Britches","author":"Ralph Moody","reason":"Ralph herds cows for Mrs. Corcoran, hays, threshes beans and trains Sky High, earning wages to help the family.","vices":[]},{"slug":"little-house-in-the-big-woods","title":"Little House in the Big Woods","author":"Laura Ingalls Wilder","reason":"Ma keeps to her round of washing, ironing, mending, churning, cleaning and baking through the whole winter, and the girls help her churn.","vices":[]},{"slug":"little-house-on-the-prairie","title":"Little House on the Prairie","author":"Laura Ingalls Wilder","reason":"Pa builds the cabin, door, chimney, roof and floor by hand from creek-bottom timber, working from dawn until dark.","vices":[]},{"slug":"little-women","title":"Little Women","author":"Louisa May Alcott","reason":"The March girls work at home and for wages, learning from their mother’s counsel.","vices":["idleness"]},{"slug":"vasari-lives-of-the-artists","title":"Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects (Volume 1)","author":"Giorgio Vasari","reason":"The boy Giotto draws on stones, ground and sand while keeping his father's sheep, before anyone has taught him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"make-way-for-ducklings","title":"Make Way for Ducklings","author":"Robert McCloskey","reason":"She drills the ducklings in swimming, diving, marching in line and coming when called before leading them into the city.","vices":[]},{"slug":"middlemarch","title":"Middlemarch","author":"George Eliot","reason":"Fred Vincy gives up his hopes of an inheritance and learns land management under Caleb Garth.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mike-mulligan-and-his-steam-shovel","title":"Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel","author":"Virginia Lee Burton","reason":"Mike and Mary Anne dig without stopping from sunrise to sunset to finish the Popperville cellar in a single day.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mr-poppers-penguins","title":"Mr. Popper's Penguins","author":"Richard and Florence 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W. F. 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H. 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Scott Fitzgerald","reason":"The boyhood schedule Henry Gatz shows Nick records young Jimmy's plan of exercise, study and self-improvement.","vices":[]},{"slug":"huxley-wilberforce-debate","title":"The Huxley-Wilberforce Debate","author":"Thomas Henry Huxley and Samuel Wilberforce","reason":"Wilberforce prepared a long, detailed review of the Origin for the Quarterly Review, engaging Darwin's evidence chapter by chapter.","vices":[]},{"slug":"justinian-institutes","title":"The Institutes of Justinian","author":"Justinian I (Tribonian and commissioners)","reason":"The proem describes the compilers completing the Digest and Institutes like sailors crossing mid-ocean, a labour Justinian says he had once despaired of.","vices":[]},{"slug":"boswell-life-of-johnson","title":"The Life of Samuel Johnson","author":"James Boswell","reason":"Johnson compiles the Dictionary over years of poverty with a handful of copyists and no patron's help.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-little-prince","title":"The Little Prince","author":"Antoine de Saint-Exupéry","reason":"The prince faithfully pulls up baobab shoots and rakes his volcanoes every morning so that his planet will not be destroyed.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-metamorphosis","title":"The Metamorphosis","author":"Franz Kafka","reason":"Gregor has worked for years at a job he dislikes to pay his parents' debt and hopes to send Grete to the conservatory.","vices":[]},{"slug":"archimedes-the-method","title":"The Method (Geometrical Solutions Derived from Mechanics)","author":"Archimedes","reason":"Heiberg's painstaking reading of the faded writing beneath the prayer book recovered the whole treatise for later readers.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-moffats","title":"The Moffats","author":"Eleanor Estes","reason":"Mama supports the family by sewing for customers at home, and Joey fetches the coal and does the heavy work of the house.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ibn-khaldun-muqaddimah","title":"The Muqaddimah","author":"Ibn Khaldun","reason":"Chapter 5 argues that gain is the value of human labour and that crafts flourish where work is rewarded.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-natural-history-of-selborne","title":"The Natural History of Selborne","author":"Gilbert White","reason":"He kept dated records of weather and creatures at Selborne for over forty years.","vices":[]},{"slug":"camus-the-plague","title":"The Plague","author":"Albert Camus","reason":"Grand keeps the statistics of the epidemic night after night with the same conscientiousness he gives to his clerical work.","vices":[]},{"slug":"practice-of-the-presence-of-god","title":"The Practice of the Presence of God","author":"Brother Lawrence","reason":"He works fifteen years in the friary kitchen, doing each task in its season with prayer and composure.","vices":[]},{"slug":"weber-the-protestant-ethic-and-the-spirit-of-capitalism","title":"The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism","author":"Max Weber","reason":"Baxter, as Weber presents him, teaches that diligent labor in a lawful calling is a duty owed to God and that wasted time is a grave fault.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-real-mother-goose","title":"The Real Mother Goose","author":"Blanche Fisher Wright (illustrator); traditional rhymes","reason":"Many rhymes quietly honor daily tasks—baking, shepherding, fetching water—as the stuff of childhood play.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-rule-of-st-benedict","title":"The Rule of St Benedict","author":"Benedict of Nursia","reason":"Benedict orders the day around prayer, manual labor, and sacred reading, calling idleness the enemy of the soul.","vices":["idleness"]},{"slug":"boyle-the-sceptical-chymist","title":"The Sceptical Chymist","author":"Robert Boyle","reason":"The argument rests on years of furnace work, including plants Boyle raised in water and weighed before distilling them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-sketch-book","title":"The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.","author":"Washington Irving","reason":"Rip will help any neighbor but neglects his own farm, and his twenty-year sleep turns that idleness into a fable.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-song-of-hiawatha","title":"The Song of Hiawatha","author":"Henry Wadsworth Longfellow","reason":"He builds the canoe, invents picture-writing and teaches the art of healing for the use of all.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-story-of-my-boyhood-and-youth","title":"The Story of My Boyhood and Youth","author":"John Muir","reason":"Muir rises at one in the morning all winter to teach himself mathematics and build clocks and a sawmill in the cellar.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-story-of-my-life","title":"The Story of My Life","author":"Helen Keller","reason":"Helen practises her first sounds again and again until she can speak to her little sister when she comes home in 1890.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kuhn-the-structure-of-scientific-revolutions","title":"The Structure of Scientific Revolutions","author":"Thomas S. Kuhn","reason":"The argument rests on detailed historical cases, from Priestley's gases to Roentgen's screens, rather than on abstract principle alone.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-swiss-family-robinson","title":"The Swiss Family Robinson","author":"Johann David Wyss","reason":"The family turns a wreck and a wilderness into a farm, a tree house and a cliff dwelling by years of steady, planned labor.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-tempest","title":"The Tempest","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Ferdinand carries thousands of logs without complaint for Miranda's sake.","vices":[]},{"slug":"veblen-theory-of-the-leisure-class","title":"The Theory of the Leisure Class","author":"Thorstein Veblen","reason":"Veblen's instinct of workmanship, which values useful effort and dislikes waste, is the standard against which he measures conspicuous leisure.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-trumpet-of-the-swan","title":"The Trumpet of the Swan","author":"E. B. White","reason":"Louis works as camp bugler, on the Boston Swan Boats and in a Philadelphia nightclub until he has earned enough to pay for the stolen trumpet.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-wealth-of-nations","title":"The Wealth of Nations","author":"Adam Smith","reason":"The pin factory and the account of parsimony in Book II make diligent, well-directed labour and saving the sources of national wealth.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-wise-woman","title":"The Wise Woman (A Double Story)","author":"George MacDonald","reason":"Driven at first by hunger, Rosamond dusts, sweeps, waters the heather bed and washes herself before the food appears.","vices":[]},{"slug":"theodore-roosevelt-an-autobiography","title":"Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography","author":"Theodore Roosevelt","reason":"As police commissioner he walks the city at midnight with Jacob Riis to see for himself whether patrolmen are on their posts.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hesiod-theogony-and-works-and-days","title":"Theogony and Works and Days","author":"Hesiod","reason":"Hesiod urges Perses to fill his barns by working in the right season instead of loitering at the court-house.","vices":["sloth"]},{"slug":"woolf-to-the-lighthouse","title":"To the Lighthouse","author":"Virginia Woolf","reason":"Lily Briscoe returns after ten years to finish the painting she began, despite Tansley's sneer that women cannot paint.","vices":[]},{"slug":"huygens-treatise-on-light","title":"Treatise on Light","author":"Christiaan Huygens","reason":"He measures the refractions of Iceland crystal with great exactness and tests his hypothesis on many differently cut sections before explaining them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"twenty-years-at-hull-house","title":"Twenty Years at Hull-House","author":"Jane Addams","reason":"She takes the job of garbage inspector, rising at six to follow the wagons through the ward's alleys.","vices":[]},{"slug":"two-lives-of-charlemagne","title":"Two Lives of Charlemagne","author":"Einhard and Notker the Stammerer","reason":"Einhard records Charlemagne’s efforts to learn to read and write late in life and his promotion of schools.","vices":[]},{"slug":"chekhov-uncle-vanya","title":"Uncle Vanya","author":"Anton Chekhov","reason":"Vanya and Sonia return to the estate's accounts the moment the visitors leave.","vices":[]},{"slug":"understood-betsy","title":"Understood Betsy","author":"Dorothy Canfield Fisher","reason":"Stranded at the fair, Betsy washes dishes and sells doughnuts until she has earned the train fare home.","vices":[]},{"slug":"up-from-slavery","title":"Up from Slavery","author":"Booker T. 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Paul's absence Lucy works her little day-school into a prospering pensionnat.","vices":[]},{"slug":"walden","title":"Walden","author":"Henry David Thoreau","reason":"He hews his own timbers, digs his cellar, and hoes two and a half acres of beans, recording every hour and penny of his labor in \"Economy\" and \"The Bean-Field.\"","vices":[]},{"slug":"kennedy-when-baghdad-ruled-the-muslim-world","title":"When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World: The Rise and Fall of Islam's Greatest Dynasty","author":"Hugh Kennedy","reason":"The chapters on palaces and court culture describe the vast labour of building, scholarship and translation that made Baghdad a centre of the world.","vices":[]},{"slug":"where-the-red-fern-grows","title":"Where the Red Fern Grows","author":"Wilson Rawls","reason":"Billy works for two years selling bait, berries and vegetables to save the money for his pups.","vices":[]},{"slug":"wickard-v-filburn","title":"Wickard v. Filburn","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Filburn's mixed farm of dairy, poultry and wheat, feeding his animals and family from his own fields, is the self-reliant labour at the centre of the case.","vices":[]},{"slug":"wisconsin-v-yoder","title":"Wisconsin v. Yoder","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court credited the Amish system of learning by doing, in which adolescents master farming and household skills for adult life.","vices":[]},{"slug":"wonderful-adventures-of-mrs-seacole","title":"Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands","author":"Mary Seacole","reason":"She builds and runs the British Hotel at Spring Hill despite floods, rats and thieves, cooking and nursing from dawn.","vices":[]}],"quotes":[{"id":"anne-of-green-gables-q7","citation":"\"The joy of sincere work and worthy aspiration and congenial friendship were to be hers; nothing could rob her of her birthright of fancy or her ideal world of dreams. And there was always the bend in the road\" — L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, Chapter XXXVIII (1908 text)."},{"id":"franklin-autobiography-and-poor-richard-q1","citation":"\"early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise\" — Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography and Poor Richard's Almanack, The Way to Wealth (Public-domain Poor Richard text)."},{"id":"autobiography-of-andrew-carnegie-q1","citation":"\"I have made millions since, but none of those millions gave me such happiness as my first week's earnings.\" — Andrew Carnegie, Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, Chapter III (Project Gutenberg #17976 (Constable, 1920))."},{"id":"autobiography-of-andrew-carnegie-q2","citation":"\"the cloud had a silver lining, as it gave me the feeling that I was doing something for my world--our family.\" — Andrew Carnegie, Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, Chapter III (Project Gutenberg #17976 (Constable, 1920))."},{"id":"caedmons-hymn-q7","citation":"\"just as a clean beast chews on a cud, transformed it into the sweetest of poetry\" — Cædmon, Cædmon's Hymn, Bede's account, paragraph 4, trans. Cosette Faust and Stith Thompson (1918)."},{"id":"bede-ecclesiastical-history-q7","citation":"\"I wholly applied myself to the study of Scripture; and amidst the observance of monastic rule, and the daily charge of singing in the church, I always took delight in learning, or teaching, or writing.\" — Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Book V, Chapter XXIV, trans. A. M. Sellar."},{"id":"grimms-fairy-tales-q6","citation":"\"That is the reward for your service,\" — Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household Stories (Grimm's Fairy Tales), Mother Hulda, trans. Lucy Crane."},{"id":"just-so-stories-q4","citation":"\"That’s your very own humph that you’ve brought upon your very own self by not working.\" — Rudyard Kipling, Just So Stories, How the Camel Got His Hump (Project Gutenberg #2781)."},{"id":"just-so-stories-q5","citation":"\"But uglier yet is the hump we get From having too little to do.\" — Rudyard Kipling, Just So Stories, How the Camel Got His Hump, closing verses (Project Gutenberg #2781)."},{"id":"life-of-st-martin-q4","citation":"\"O Lord, if I am still necessary to your people, I do not shrink from toil: your will be done\" — Sulpitius Severus; Alexander Roberts, Life of St. Martin, Letter 3, Martin's death, trans. Alexander Roberts (1894)."},{"id":"vasari-lives-of-the-artists-q5","citation":"\"portraying a sheep from nature on a flat and polished slab, with a stone slightly pointed\" — Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects (Volume 1), Life of Giotto, trans. Gaston du C. de Vere."},{"id":"plutarch-lives-q10","citation":"\"his inarticulate and stammering pronunciation he overcame and rendered more distinct by speaking with pebbles in his mouth\" — Plutarch, Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, Life of Demosthenes, trans. John Dryden et al., rev. A. H. Clough (1864)."},{"id":"pericles-funeral-oration-q3","citation":"\"wealth we employ more for use than for show, and place the real disgrace of poverty not in owning to the fact but in declining the struggle against it.\" — Pericles, Pericles' Funeral Oration, Book II.40, trans. Richard Crawley (1874)."},{"id":"tawney-religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism-q5","citation":"\"The calling is not a condition in which the individual is born, but a strenuous and exacting enterprise, to be undertaken, indeed, under the guidance of Providence, but to be chosen by each man for himself, with a deep sense of his solemn responsibilities.\" — R. H. Tawney, Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, Ch. IV, The Puritan Movement, sec. 3, The Triumph of the Economic Virtues (Project Gutenberg #71223 (Harcourt, Brace, 1926))."},{"id":"the-anatomy-of-melancholy-q14","citation":"\"observe this short precept, give not way to solitariness and idleness. Be not solitary, be not idle\" — Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, Part. 3, Sect. 4, Memb. 2, Subs. 6 (Cure of Despair), closing words (Project Gutenberg #10800 (modernized text checked against 1638))."},{"id":"the-arabian-nights-q6","citation":"\"I have only reached this happy state after having for years suffered every possible kind of toil and danger.\" — Andrew Lang (ed.), The Arabian Nights Entertainments, The Seven Voyages of Sindbad the Sailor (introduction), trans. Andrew Lang (ed.), from Galland's French (1898)."},{"id":"the-art-of-war-machiavelli-q9","citation":"\"Nature breedeth few stronge menne, the industrie and the exercise maketh manie\" — Niccolo Machiavelli, The Art of War, Book VII (General rules of war), trans. Peter Whitehorne (1560)."},{"id":"faraday-chemical-history-of-a-candle-q4","citation":"\"whenever a result happens, especially if it be new, you should say, “What is the cause? Why does it occur?” and you will in the course of time find out the reason.\" — Michael Faraday, The Chemical History of a Candle, Lecture I (Project Gutenberg text (1908 Chatto and Windus impression, ed. William Crookes))."},{"id":"boswell-life-of-johnson-q1","citation":"\"Is not a Patron, my Lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help?\" — James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, 1754 (Aetat. 45): letter to Lord Chesterfield, February 1755 (Project Gutenberg #1564 (Osgood abridgment, 1917))."},{"id":"the-nicomachean-ethics-q1","citation":"\"for as it is not one swallow or one fine day that makes a spring, so it is not one day or a short time that makes a man blessed and happy\" — Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics, Book I, Chapter VII, trans. D. P. Chase."},{"id":"the-persian-expedition-q4","citation":"\"As soon as he was fully awake, the first clear thought which came into his head was, Why am I lying here\" — Xenophon, The Persian Expedition, Book III, Chapter I, trans. H. G. Dakyns (1890s)."},{"id":"practice-of-the-presence-of-god-q3","citation":"\"we ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of GOD, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.\" — Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, Fourth Conversation, trans. Anonymous (Revell edition)."},{"id":"the-princess-and-curdie-q7","citation":"\"It is greed and laziness and selfishness, not hunger or weariness or cold, that take the dignity out of a man, and make him look mean.\" — George MacDonald, The Princess and Curdie, Chapter 8, Curdie's Mission (Project Gutenberg #709)."},{"id":"the-story-of-king-arthur-and-his-knights-q7","citation":"\"for it needs not that a man shall wear armor for to be a true knight, but only that he shall do his best endeavor with all patience and humility as it hath been ordained for him to do\" — Howard Pyle, The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, Book II, Part III, Chapter Third (1903 text)."},{"id":"the-story-of-my-boyhood-and-youth-q5","citation":"\"I can hardly think of any other event in my life, any discovery I ever made that gave birth to joy so transportingly glorious as the possession of these five frosty hours.\" — John Muir, The Story of My Boyhood and Youth, Chapter VII (Project Gutenberg #18359)."},{"id":"the-story-of-my-life-q5","citation":"\"Every struggle is a victory.\" — Helen Keller, The Story of My Life, Part I, Chapter XX (Project Gutenberg #2397)."},{"id":"the-swiss-family-robinson-q7","citation":"\"how blessed are the results of patient continuance in well-doing, what benefits arise from the thoughtful application of knowledge and science, and how good and pleasant a thing it is when brethren dwell together in unity, under the eye of parental love\" — Johann David Wyss, The Swiss Family Robinson, Chapter XVIII, trans. W. H. G. Kingston (1879)."},{"id":"the-wise-woman-q2","citation":"\"But there is very little indeed to be done when we will not do that which we have to do.\" — George MacDonald, The Wise Woman (A Double Story), Chapter IV (Project Gutenberg #5676 (A Double Story))."},{"id":"the-wise-woman-q5","citation":"\"There is but one true way, however, of getting out of any position we may be in, and that is, to do the work of it so well that we grow fit for a better\" — George MacDonald, The Wise Woman (A Double Story), Chapter X (Project Gutenberg #5676 (A Double Story))."},{"id":"twenty-years-at-hull-house-q4","citation":"\"It is easy to become the dupe of a deferred purpose, of the promise the future can never keep\" — Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull-House, Chapter IV, The Snare of Preparation (Macmillan, 1910 (Project Gutenberg #1325))."},{"id":"twenty-years-at-hull-house-q6","citation":"\"if it were a womanly task to go about in tenement houses in order to nurse the sick, it might be quite as womanly to go through the same district in order to prevent the breeding of so-called \"filth diseases.\"\" — Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull-House, Chapter XIII, Public Activities and Investigations (Macmillan, 1910 (Project Gutenberg #1325))."},{"id":"up-from-slavery-q3","citation":"\"success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.\" — Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, Chapter II (Project Gutenberg #2376)."},{"id":"up-from-slavery-q4","citation":"\"The sweeping of that room was my college examination\" — Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, Chapter III (Project Gutenberg #2376)."},{"id":"up-from-slavery-q8","citation":"\"No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.\" — Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, Chapter XIV (the Atlanta Exposition Address) (Project Gutenberg #2376)."}]},{"slug":"humility","name":"Humility","kind":"classical","summary":"Knowing oneself truly before God: not thinking of oneself more highly than one ought, and receiving every good as a gift.","vices":[{"slug":"pride","name":"Pride","description":"Inordinate love of one’s own excellence, the root of the other sins."},{"slug":"false-humility","name":"False humility","description":"Belittling oneself for show or to escape duty."}],"definitions":[{"source":"Augustine","ref":"Letter 118.22","text":"Asked what is first in religion, Augustine answers: humility; and second, humility; and third, humility."},{"source":"Benedict","ref":"Rule of St. Benedict, ch. 7","text":"Benedict describes humility as a ladder of twelve steps, beginning with the fear of God and ending in a love that casts out fear."},{"source":"Aquinas","ref":"Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 161","text":"Humility restrains the mind from tending to high things immoderately, and rests on knowledge of one’s own deficiency; it is compatible with magnanimity, since each regards a different thing."},{"source":"Scripture","ref":"James 4:6 (KJV)","quote":"God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble","work":"the-bible"},{"source":"Scripture","ref":"Philippians 2:3 (KJV)","quote":"in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves","work":"the-bible"}],"questions":["Why did Christian writers call pride the root of other sins?","Can a humble person know that he has real gifts?","Which character in your reading falls through pride, and which rises through humility?","How is humility different from low self-esteem?"],"url":"/virtues/humility/","works":[{"slug":"a-bear-called-paddington","title":"A Bear Called Paddington","author":"Michael Bond","reason":"After the bath floods the house in Chapter 2, Paddington is sorry and anxious to put things right rather than making excuses.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-defence-of-the-constitutions","title":"A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America","author":"John Adams","reason":"The Defence assumes that no class of men, however able or well-born, can be trusted with unchecked authority.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-letter-concerning-toleration","title":"A Letter Concerning Toleration","author":"John Locke","reason":"Locke observes that every one is orthodox to himself, a reason for restraint in imposing one's own judgment on others.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-little-princess","title":"A Little Princess","author":"Frances Hodgson Burnett","reason":"When rich she tells Ermengarde that being clever matters less than being kind.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hardy-a-mathematicians-apology","title":"A Mathematician's Apology","author":"G. H. Hardy","reason":"In section 29 Hardy ranks his own achievement honestly below the greatest mathematicians and credits Littlewood and Ramanujan for his best work.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-model-of-christian-charity","title":"A Model of Christian Charity","author":"John Winthrop","reason":"Winthrop holds that no man is made richer or more honorable for his own sake and names Micah's walk humbly with our God as the way to avoid shipwreck.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"mill-system-of-logic-book-iii","title":"A System of Logic, Book III: Of Induction","author":"John Stuart Mill","reason":"He closes Chapter III by admitting that whoever can explain why one instance sometimes suffices has solved a problem the wisest of the ancients did not.","vices":[]},{"slug":"rawls-a-theory-of-justice","title":"A Theory of Justice","author":"John Rawls","reason":"The veil of ignorance asks each reasoner to set aside knowledge of his own advantages when judging what is fair to all.","vices":[]},{"slug":"berkeley-principles-of-human-knowledge","title":"A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge","author":"George Berkeley","reason":"The Preface asks readers to suspend judgment until they have read the whole, and the Introduction blames philosophers' own habits, not the limits of nature, for their confusion.","vices":[]},{"slug":"al-razi-treatise-on-smallpox-and-measles","title":"A Treatise on the Smallpox and Measles","author":"Abu Bakr al-Razi (Rhazes)","reason":"Al-Razi defends Galen's reputation against careless critics before stating what Galen left undone.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-wrinkle-in-time","title":"A Wrinkle in Time","author":"Madeleine L'Engle","reason":"Charles Wallace's confidence in his own mind lets IT capture him, while the weakest of the children is the one who rescues him, as the title of Chapter 12 declares.","vices":[]},{"slug":"addington-v-texas","title":"Addington v. Texas","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The opinion candidly admits the limits of psychiatric knowledge and of judges' understanding of how jurors apply standards of proof.","vices":[]},{"slug":"adventures-of-huckleberry-finn","title":"Adventures of Huckleberry Finn","author":"Mark Twain","reason":"After Jim rebukes his trick in the fog, Huck goes and apologizes to him and never plays him such a trick again.","vices":[]},{"slug":"feyerabend-against-method","title":"Against Method","author":"Paul Feyerabend","reason":"His central claim is that no method and no expert tradition is beyond question, so that even established science must remain open to challenge.","vices":[]},{"slug":"amos-fortune-free-man","title":"Amos Fortune, Free Man","author":"Elizabeth Yates","reason":"Angry at Violet for hiding the money, Amos climbs Monadnock to wait on God and comes down ready to forgive her.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bernard-introduction-to-experimental-medicine","title":"An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine","author":"Claude Bernard","reason":"Bernard concludes from the quarrels of physicians that both rival theories are probably insufficient and that science should make its students modest.","vices":[]},{"slug":"anne-of-green-gables","title":"Anne of Green Gables","author":"L. M. Montgomery","reason":"Anne apologizes to Mrs. Lynde, confesses her faults to Marilla and finally ends her proud grudge against Gilbert.","vices":[]},{"slug":"as-you-like-it","title":"As You Like It","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Orlando, met with courtesy after drawing his sword at the Duke's feast, puts it away and asks pardon.","vices":[]},{"slug":"association-for-molecular-pathology-v-myriad-genetics","title":"Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc.","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Scalia declines to affirm scientific details he cannot confirm from his own knowledge, endorsing only what the expert briefs establish.","vices":[]},{"slug":"atlanta-exposition-address","title":"Atlanta Exposition Address","author":"Booker T. Washington","reason":"He asks the audience not to expect overmuch from the exhibit and counts progress from a few quilts, pumpkins, and chickens.","vices":[]},{"slug":"baker-v-carr","title":"Baker v. Carr","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Frankfurter's dissent acknowledges that there is not a judicial remedy for every political mischief and that the Court's power has limits.","vices":[]},{"slug":"barron-v-baltimore","title":"Barron v. Baltimore","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court says plainly that it cannot apply the amendments where their framers did not, limiting its own power in a case it could have decided otherwise.","vices":[]},{"slug":"basic-inc-v-levinson","title":"Basic Inc. v. Levinson","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"White acknowledges that judges without economic expertise should hesitate before resting legal rules on new economic theory.","vices":[]},{"slug":"because-i-could-not-stop-for-death","title":"Because I could not stop for Death","author":"Emily Dickinson","reason":"The speaker puts away both her labor and her leisure without protest when Death kindly stops for her.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bleak-house","title":"Bleak House","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"Esther accepts her scarred face without bitterness and continues to put Ada and others first.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bliss-and-other-stories","title":"Bliss and Other Stories","author":"Katherine Mansfield","reason":"Revelations turns on Monica Tyrell's self-absorption being broken by the news of a hairdresser's dead child, a lesson in seeing others' sorrow.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"buck-v-bell","title":"Buck v. Bell","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The confident scientific claims accepted by the legislature and the Court proved false, a warning against certainty in judging the worth of other people.","vices":[]},{"slug":"caedmons-hymn","title":"Cædmon's Hymn","author":"Cædmon","reason":"Cædmon leaves the feast rather than pretend to a skill he lacks, and his gift is credited to God rather than to himself.","vices":[]},{"slug":"captains-courageous","title":"Captains Courageous","author":"Rudyard Kipling","reason":"Harvey returns to Disko after being knocked down and apologizes for calling him a thief.","vices":[]},{"slug":"charlottes-web","title":"Charlotte's Web","author":"E. B. White","reason":"Wilbur, praised in the web as terrific and radiant, stays simple and grateful, and Charlotte chooses HUMBLE as the word for the fair.","vices":[]},{"slug":"christ-legends","title":"Christ Legends","author":"Selma Lagerlöf","reason":"The wise men find the Star again only after they repent of scorning the poor Child in the cave.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"psellos-chronographia","title":"Chronographia","author":"Michael Psellos","reason":"Isaac I Komnenos, gravely ill, lays down the crown and enters a monastery.","vices":[]},{"slug":"confessions","title":"Confessions","author":"Augustine of Hippo","reason":"Augustine confesses his sins and God’s mercy, giving all praise to God.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"cranford","title":"Cranford","author":"Elizabeth Gaskell","reason":"Miss Matty sets up a little tea business in her parlour without complaint and refuses to take the grocer's trade.","vices":[]},{"slug":"crime-and-punishment","title":"Crime and Punishment","author":"Fyodor Dostoevsky","reason":"Raskolnikov’s theory of the extraordinary man gives way to repentance through Sonya.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"kant-critique-of-practical-reason","title":"Critique of Practical Reason","author":"Immanuel Kant","reason":"In Chapter III the moral law strikes down self-conceit, and Kant says his spirit bows before an upright person of humble station.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ghazali-deliverance-from-error","title":"Deliverance from Error (The Confessions of al-Ghazali)","author":"Abu Hamid al-Ghazali","reason":"Examining his celebrated lectures, Ghazali admits they were driven by a desire for honor and reputation rather than devotion to God.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ansary-destiny-disrupted","title":"Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes","author":"Tamim Ansary","reason":"In his introduction Ansary describes realizing how little the world-history materials he worked on said about the Muslim story.","vices":[]},{"slug":"diamond-v-chakrabarty","title":"Diamond v. Chakrabarty","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Both opinions acknowledge that the Court lacks the competence to judge the risks of genetic research and that Congress must weigh them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"epictetus-discourses-and-encheiridion","title":"Discourses (selection) and Encheiridion","author":"Epictetus","reason":"Epictetus says philosophy begins with awareness of one's own weakness and tells the improving student to accept being thought foolish.","vices":[]},{"slug":"district-of-columbia-v-heller","title":"District of Columbia v. Heller","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Justice Stevens argued that respect for the settled views of earlier Justices should restrain the Court from a sudden change in the law.","vices":[]},{"slug":"early-franciscan-sources","title":"Early Franciscan Sources","author":"Francis of Assisi; Thomas of Celano; Bonaventure; Brother Ugolino; others","reason":"Francis embraces poverty and calls creation his brothers and sisters.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bede-ecclesiastical-history","title":"Ecclesiastical History of the English People","author":"Bede","reason":"Aidan travels on foot rather than horseback so that he can stop and speak with rich and poor alike.","vices":[]},{"slug":"elegy-written-in-a-country-churchyard","title":"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard","author":"Thomas Gray","reason":"The poem tells the Proud that heraldry, power and wealth meet the same inevitable hour as the poor.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lavoisier-elements-of-chemistry","title":"Elements of Chemistry","author":"Antoine Lavoisier","reason":"He admits that the name azote seems extraordinary and that the nature of the noxious part of the air is still little known.","vices":[]},{"slug":"euclid-elements-book-i","title":"Elements, Book I","author":"Euclid","reason":"Euclid asks the reader to grant the drawing of a line in Postulate i, admitting, as Casey notes, that no drawn line is truly geometrical.","vices":[]},{"slug":"emma","title":"Emma","author":"Jane Austen","reason":"Emma weeps all the way home from Box Hill and calls on Miss Bates the next morning to make amends.","vices":[]},{"slug":"faraday-experimental-researches-in-electricity","title":"Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1","author":"Michael Faraday","reason":"In paragraph 869 he declines to claim knowledge of atoms that his experiments could not support.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mendel-experiments-in-plant-hybridisation","title":"Experiments in Plant Hybridisation (in Bateson's Mendel's Principles of Heredity)","author":"Gregor Mendel; William Bateson","reason":"Mendel leaves to 'the friendly decision of the reader' whether his plan of experiment was the best suited to its end.","vices":[]},{"slug":"fahrenheit-451","title":"Fahrenheit 451","author":"Ray Bradbury","reason":"Faber confesses to Montag that he saw the burnings coming and kept silent out of cowardice, and then risks his safety to help.","vices":[]},{"slug":"fairy-and-folk-tales-of-the-irish-peasantry","title":"Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry","author":"W. B. Yeats (editor)","reason":"Lusmore, shunned for his deformity, adds modestly to the fairies' song and is rewarded, while the grasping Jack Madden is punished.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"andersen-fairy-tales","title":"Fairy Tales (Selection)","author":"Hans Christian Andersen","reason":"When the swan is praised as the most beautiful of birds, he hides his head under his wing, happy and not at all proud.","vices":[]},{"slug":"far-from-the-madding-crowd","title":"Far from the Madding Crowd","author":"Thomas Hardy","reason":"Bathsheba, after her suffering, goes herself to Gabriel's cottage to ask why he is leaving and admits her need of him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"luckiest-man-speech","title":"Farewell to Baseball (\"The Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth\")","author":"Lou Gehrig","reason":"Gehrig says nothing of his own records and counts it an honour to have played beside his teammates.","vices":[]},{"slug":"goethe-faust-part-one","title":"Faust, Part One","author":"Johann Wolfgang von Goethe","reason":"In the dungeon Gretchen accepts judgment for her crime instead of escaping it by Mephistopheles' help.","vices":[]},{"slug":"jefferson-first-inaugural-address","title":"First Inaugural Address (Jefferson)","author":"Thomas Jefferson","reason":"Jefferson opens by declaring the task above his talents and later asks indulgence for errors he expects to make through defect of judgment.","vices":[]},{"slug":"frankenstein","title":"Frankenstein","author":"Mary Shelley","reason":"Victor’s ambition to create life ends in ruin, and he warns Walton against the same pride.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"freedom-and-the-law","title":"Freedom and the Law","author":"Bruno Leoni","reason":"His comparison of legislation with central planning rests on the limits of any lawmaker's knowledge of the lives of millions.","vices":[]},{"slug":"frog-and-toad-are-friends","title":"Frog and Toad Are Friends","author":"Arnold Lobel","reason":"After shouting at his helpers, Toad finds his own button on the floor at home and sets about making amends.","vices":[]},{"slug":"galileo-selected-writings","title":"Galileo: The Starry Messenger, Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina, and Two New Sciences (First Day)","author":"Galileo Galilei","reason":"In the First Day Salviati offers his theory of fire and vacua as a passing thought, still immature, and invites his friends to judge it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"pasteur-and-lister-germ-theory-papers","title":"Germ Theory Papers (Pasteur and Lister)","author":"Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister","reason":"Pasteur closes his 1880 paper by admitting that medicine and veterinary practice are foreign to him and asking for judgment and criticism.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gibbons-v-ogden","title":"Gibbons v. Ogden","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The opinion begins by honouring the New York judges and legislators who had upheld the monopoly, treating their views as entitled to great respect.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gonzales-v-raich","title":"Gonzales v. Raich","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The majority acknowledges the patients' strong arguments yet declines to decide medical questions it leaves to Congress, agencies and voters.","vices":[]},{"slug":"grace-abounding","title":"Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners","author":"John Bunyan","reason":"He calls himself a poor painted hypocrite for his early pride in godliness and learns from poor women at a Bedford door.","vices":[]},{"slug":"grasshopper-on-the-road","title":"Grasshopper on the Road","author":"Arnold Lobel","reason":"When the dragonflies pity him for being slow, Grasshopper does not boast back but simply says how much he sees along the way.","vices":[]},{"slug":"great-expectations","title":"Great Expectations","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"Pip comes to recognize his ingratitude, holds the convict's hand as he dies and asks Joe and Biddy to forgive him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"griswold-v-connecticut","title":"Griswold v. Connecticut","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Black and Stewart vote to uphold a law they personally consider offensive and silly, subordinating their own views to their understanding of the judicial office.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hard-times","title":"Hard Times","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"Gradgrind, broken by Louisa's confession, admits his system has failed and bends his remaining years to faith, hope and charity rather than Facts.","vices":[]},{"slug":"helvering-v-davis","title":"Helvering v. Davis","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court declares that the wisdom of the benefit scheme is not its question and limits itself to the question of power.","vices":[]},{"slug":"henry-v","title":"Henry V","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"After Agincourt Henry forbids boasting and gives the victory to God with Non nobis.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hepburn-v-griswold","title":"Hepburn v. Griswold","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Chase acknowledges that judgments formed amid the tumult of war, his own among them, deserved reconsideration in calmer times.","vices":[]},{"slug":"i-will-fight-no-more-forever","title":"I Will Fight No More Forever","author":"Chief Joseph","reason":"He confesses plainly that he is tired and his heart sick and sad, without boast or reproach.","vices":[]},{"slug":"if-kipling","title":"If—","author":"Rudyard Kipling","reason":"The poem forbids looking too good or talking too wise and requires keeping the common touch while walking with Kings.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"peirce-illustrations-of-the-logic-of-science","title":"Illustrations of the Logic of Science","author":"Charles Sanders Peirce","reason":"The method of science, as Peirce describes it in The Fixation of Belief, requires letting reality correct one's opinions rather than clinging to them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"calvin-institutes","title":"Institutes of the Christian Religion","author":"John Calvin","reason":"In Book IV, chapter 17 he confesses that he rather feels than understands how Christ feeds believers in the Supper.","vices":[]},{"slug":"jane-eyre","title":"Jane Eyre","author":"Charlotte Brontë","reason":"Rochester at Ferndean acknowledges God's judgment on his pride and thanks God for Jane's return.","vices":[]},{"slug":"johnny-tremain","title":"Johnny Tremain","author":"Esther Forbes","reason":"After his crippled hand ends his trade, Johnny slowly learns to accept help from Rab and to stop scorning others.","vices":[]},{"slug":"journey-of-the-magi","title":"Journey of the Magi","author":"T. S. Eliot","reason":"The old Magus admits he cannot fully interpret what he saw and sets down his question honestly instead of claiming understanding.","vices":[]},{"slug":"journey-to-the-west-a-mission-to-heaven","title":"Journey to the West (A Mission to Heaven)","author":"Wu Cheng'en","reason":"The Monkey who called himself Equal of Heaven discovers he has never left Buddha's palm and must later serve a weak monk as his disciple.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"just-so-stories","title":"Just So Stories","author":"Rudyard Kipling","reason":"Suleiman-bin-Daoud falls on his face and admits he gave his great dinner only to show off.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kidnapped","title":"Kidnapped","author":"Robert Louis Stevenson","reason":"Both David and Alan must swallow pride to end their quarrel, and Alan apologizes first.","vices":[]},{"slug":"le-morte-darthur","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur","author":"Thomas Malory","reason":"Gareth serves a year in Arthur's kitchen as Beaumains and bears the damsel Linet's insults without complaint before revealing his birth.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kuyper-lectures-on-calvinism","title":"Lectures on Calvinism","author":"Abraham Kuyper","reason":"He ends the series by insisting that the renewal of life is the prerogative of God, not the achievement of scholars or statesmen.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bulfinch-legends-of-charlemagne","title":"Legends of Charlemagne","author":"Thomas Bulfinch","reason":"Rinaldo, once the proudest of the paladins, hides his name and works for a penny a day carrying stone for the church at Cologne.","vices":[]},{"slug":"les-miserables","title":"Les Misérables","author":"Victor Hugo","reason":"Valjean withdraws from Cosette's married life rather than let his past shadow her happiness.","vices":[]},{"slug":"life-of-st-martin","title":"Life of St. Martin","author":"Sulpitius Severus; Alexander Roberts","reason":"As bishop Martin lives simply in a monastery and accepts toil for his people.","vices":[]},{"slug":"life-on-the-mississippi","title":"Life on the Mississippi","author":"Mark Twain","reason":"Twain records how Bixby's test at the crossing sent him into a panic before the whole crew, and he tells it against himself.","vices":[]},{"slug":"little-lord-fauntleroy","title":"Little Lord Fauntleroy","author":"Frances Hodgson Burnett","reason":"When told he may lose the title, Cedric's only worry is whether he can still be his grandfather's boy.","vices":[]},{"slug":"vasari-lives-of-the-artists","title":"Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects (Volume 1)","author":"Giorgio Vasari","reason":"Asked for a sample for the pope, Giotto sends only a freehand circle and lets the work speak for itself.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lochner-v-new-york","title":"Lochner v. New York","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Holmes writes that his own agreement or disagreement with an economic theory has nothing to do with the right of a majority to embody its opinions in law.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lowe-v-sec","title":"Lowe v. SEC","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"White cautions judges against redrafting a statute to suit their own views, arguing that deference to Congress sometimes requires facing the constitutional issue squarely.","vices":[]},{"slug":"marbury-v-madison","title":"Marbury v. Madison","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court refuses to exercise a power Congress had offered it because the Constitution did not grant that power.","vices":[]},{"slug":"meditations","title":"Meditations","author":"Marcus Aurelius","reason":"The emperor reminds himself that fame is brief and that he is a small part of the whole.","vices":[]},{"slug":"plato-meno","title":"Meno","author":"Plato","reason":"Socrates admits he has never met anyone who knew what virtue is and is unsure of parts of his own recollection story.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mere-christianity","title":"Mere Christianity","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Lewis's chapter on the great sin in Book III teaches that the humble person is not preoccupied with himself and does not compete for the place above others.","vices":[]},{"slug":"middlemarch","title":"Middlemarch","author":"George Eliot","reason":"Harriet Bulstrode, learning her husband's disgrace, puts on a plain dress and goes to sit beside him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"miranda-v-arizona","title":"Miranda v. Arizona","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Warren acknowledges that the Constitution does not require any specific code and invites legislatures to devise their own safeguards.","vices":[]},{"slug":"much-ado-about-nothing","title":"Much Ado About Nothing","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Beatrice and Benedick each lay down their pride after hearing friends describe their scorn, and admit they were wrong about marriage.","vices":[]},{"slug":"munn-v-illinois","title":"Munn v. 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Doe","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Burger declines to substitute his own view of good policy for the judgment of the Texas Legislature, even while saying he would have chosen differently.","vices":[]},{"slug":"poems-of-emily-dickinson","title":"Poems: First, Second and Third Series","author":"Emily Dickinson","reason":"The speaker of I'm nobody! Who are you? prefers to be nobody rather than tell her name all day, like a frog, to an admiring bog.","vices":[]},{"slug":"aristotle-poetics","title":"Poetics","author":"Aristotle","reason":"Homer is praised in Chapter XXIV for speaking as little as possible in his own person and letting his characters act.","vices":[]},{"slug":"orwell-politics-and-the-english-language","title":"Politics and the English Language","author":"George Orwell","reason":"Orwell admits that his own essay almost certainly commits the faults he is attacking.","vices":[]},{"slug":"pollock-v-farmers-loan-and-trust","title":"Pollock v. 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Ernst & Young","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Stevens defers to decades of settled interpretation by other judges and the SEC rather than reopening the question himself.","vices":[]},{"slug":"roe-v-wade","title":"Roe v. Wade","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Rehnquist opens his dissent by saying the majority's historical research and legal scholarship command his respect before he states his disagreement.","vices":[]},{"slug":"san-antonio-isd-v-rodriguez","title":"San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Powell acknowledges that judges lack the expertise of legislators and educators in the persistent and difficult questions of school finance.","vices":[]},{"slug":"poincare-science-and-hypothesis","title":"Science and Hypothesis","author":"Henri Poincare","reason":"Chapter X concedes that the real objects of nature remain hidden and that science attains only the relations between them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sec-v-w-j-howey-co","title":"SEC v. W. J. Howey Co.","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Frankfurter defers to the trial judge who heard the evidence rather than substituting his own reading of the facts.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lincoln-second-inaugural-address","title":"Second Inaugural Address","author":"Abraham Lincoln","reason":"Lincoln refuses to claim God as the Union's partisan, admitting that neither side's prayers were answered fully and that the Almighty has His own purposes.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"shearson-american-express-v-mcmahon","title":"Shearson/American Express Inc. v. McMahon","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Stevens would defer to decades of consistent interpretation by other courts rather than substitute the Court's fresh reading.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight","title":"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight","author":"Anonymous","reason":"Gawain confesses his fault over the green girdle and wears it as a sign of humility.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"pirandello-three-plays","title":"Six Characters in Search of an Author and Other Plays","author":"Luigi Pirandello","reason":"Laudisi repeatedly reminds the townspeople that they cannot see into another's life, against their confident prying.","vices":[]},{"slug":"shakespeares-sonnets","title":"Sonnets","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"In Sonnets 78 to 86 the speaker concedes the rival poet's greater eloquence and offers only plain, true praise.","vices":[]},{"slug":"st-patricks-writings","title":"St. Patrick's Writings","author":"Patrick of Ireland; Muirchu; Tirechan","reason":"Patrick opens his Confession calling himself a sinner and the least of the faithful.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-strange-case-of-dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde","title":"Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde","author":"Robert Louis Stevenson","reason":"Jekyll's confession shows a man who chose to hide his faults rather than admit them, and whose pride in his reputation helped create Hyde.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"levi-strauss-structural-anthropology","title":"Structural Anthropology","author":"Claude Lévi-Strauss","reason":"Lévi-Strauss treats the thought of Kwakiutl, Cuna and Zuni healers and storytellers as rigorous logic to be learned from, not as error to be corrected.","vices":[]},{"slug":"surprised-by-joy","title":"Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life","author":"C. 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standard version attributed to Sin-leqi-unninni)","reason":"Failing Utnapishtim's test of sleep and losing the plant of youth to a snake, Gilgamesh returns to Uruk and points not to himself but to the walls he built.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-faerie-queene","title":"The Faerie Queene, Book I","author":"Edmund Spenser","reason":"Redcrosse is humbled in the House of Holiness by Penance and Repentance before he is fit to face the dragon.","vices":[]},{"slug":"camus-the-fall","title":"The Fall","author":"Albert Camus","reason":"Clamence's admission that his Paris benevolence fed his pride shows, by its absence in his earlier life, what humility in good works would require.","vices":[]},{"slug":"harper-the-fate-of-rome","title":"The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire","author":"Kyle Harper","reason":"Harper presents his suggestion about the cause of the Plague of Cyprian as a hypothesis and distinguishes it from the DNA-confirmed cause of the plague of Justinian.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gettysburg-address","title":"The Gettysburg Address","author":"Abraham Lincoln","reason":"He insists that the speakers' poor power can neither add nor detract and predicts the world will little note what they say.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"frazer-the-golden-bough","title":"The Golden Bough (abridged edition)","author":"James George Frazer","reason":"In Farewell to Nemi he grants that science itself may one day be superseded and that his answer has raised more questions than it settled.","vices":[]},{"slug":"solzhenitsyn-the-gulag-archipelago","title":"The Gulag Archipelago","author":"Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn","reason":"In Part IV he admits that, had his life gone differently, he too might have become an interrogator, and refuses to place himself above the guilty.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kingsley-the-heroes","title":"The Heroes; or, Greek Fairy Tales for My Children","author":"Charles Kingsley","reason":"Kingsley closes the book by showing Theseus ruined by pride and praying that God will keep pride from his readers after they do noble deeds.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-histories","title":"The Histories","author":"Herodotus","reason":"Croesus learns from Solon to call no man happy before his end, and Xerxes’ pride is humbled at Salamis.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"livy-history-of-rome-books-i-v","title":"The History of Rome, Books I-V","author":"Livy (Titus Livius)","reason":"Cincinnatus in Book III accepts the dictatorship from his small farm and returns to it after sixteen days.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-hobbit","title":"The Hobbit","author":"J. 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Milne","reason":"Rabbit, who set out to make Tigger small and sorry, is himself lost in the mist and is glad to be found by Tigger.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"the-hundred-dresses","title":"The Hundred Dresses","author":"Eleanor Estes","reason":"Maddie admits to herself that her silent laughter helped drive Wanda away, instead of excusing herself as Peggy does.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-idiot","title":"The Idiot","author":"Fyodor Dostoevsky","reason":"At Nastasya Filippovna's party Myshkin proposes to her while saying that she does him an honor, not he her.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-innocence-of-father-brown","title":"The Innocence of Father Brown","author":"G. K. Chesterton","reason":"Brown tells Wilfred Bohun on the church tower that humility is the mother of giants, and his own refusal to think himself above sin is how he reads every criminal.","vices":[]},{"slug":"journal-of-john-woolman","title":"The Journal of John Woolman","author":"John Woolman","reason":"At Wehaloosing he writes that in his own eyes he appeared inferior to many among the Delaware people he had come to visit.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sterne-tristram-shandy","title":"The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman","author":"Laurence Sterne","reason":"Toby, the least learned man at Shandy Hall, answers Walter's lectures with modesty and a whistled Lillabullero rather than pride.","vices":[]},{"slug":"life-of-st-teresa-of-jesus","title":"The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus","author":"Teresa of Avila","reason":"Teresa submits each vision to her confessors and writes that she may be deceived, recounting her faults more fully than her graces.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-little-prince","title":"The Little Prince","author":"Antoine de Saint-Exupéry","reason":"The prince admits on Earth that he was too young to know how to love his rose and should have judged her by her deeds.","vices":[]},{"slug":"walton-lives","title":"The Lives of Richard Hooker, George Herbert and Robert Sanderson","author":"Izaak Walton","reason":"Herbert lays aside his court ambitions and lies prostrate before the altar at his induction to the small parish of Bemerton.","vices":[]},{"slug":"popper-the-logic-of-scientific-discovery","title":"The Logic of Scientific Discovery","author":"Karl Popper","reason":"Popper holds that even the best-tested theory remains a conjecture, since science rests on no bedrock.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-lord-of-the-rings","title":"The Lord of the Rings","author":"J. 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Lewis Spence","reason":"Vukub-Cakix boasts that his jewelled eyes and teeth make the sun and moon unnecessary, and the twins bring him down.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"practice-of-the-presence-of-god","title":"The Practice of the Presence of God","author":"Brother Lawrence","reason":"He calls himself a great awkward fellow who broke everything and entered religion expecting to be punished for his faults.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-prince-and-the-pauper","title":"The Prince and the Pauper","author":"Mark Twain","reason":"Edward, mocked as Foo-foo the First, learns to bear insult and to honor a ragged soldier as his true friend.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-princess-and-curdie","title":"The Princess and Curdie","author":"George MacDonald","reason":"Curdie confesses to the old princess that he has been doing wrong for many days, not just in shooting her pigeon.","vices":[]},{"slug":"russell-problems-of-philosophy","title":"The Problems of Philosophy","author":"Bertrand Russell","reason":"In Chapter XIV he concedes that philosophy cannot prove the grand claims of metaphysical systems, and in Chapter XV he makes uncertainty part of its value.","vices":[]},{"slug":"prose-edda","title":"The Prose Edda","author":"Snorri Sturluson","reason":"Thor, mightiest of the gods, is beaten in every contest at Utgarda-Loki's hall and must hear that he wrestled Old Age itself.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ramayana","title":"The Ramayana","author":"Valmiki","reason":"Bharat refuses the throne his mother won for him and governs from Nandigram in hermit dress with Rama's sandals on the throne.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"the-real-mother-goose","title":"The Real Mother Goose","author":"Blanche Fisher Wright (illustrator); 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A. Hayek","reason":"Hayek's argument rests on admitting that no planner can know enough to direct the lives and work of millions.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-rule-of-st-benedict","title":"The Rule of St Benedict","author":"Benedict of Nursia","reason":"Chapter 7 sets out the twelve steps of humility.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"the-scarlet-letter","title":"The Scarlet Letter","author":"Nathaniel Hawthorne","reason":"Hester bears her public shame while Dimmesdale’s hidden sin consumes him until confession.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-scarlet-pimpernel","title":"The Scarlet Pimpernel","author":"Baroness Orczy","reason":"Percy accepts being laughed at by all London as a fool so that the work of rescue can go on unsuspected.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"boyle-the-sceptical-chymist","title":"The Sceptical Chymist","author":"Robert Boyle","reason":"Carneades admits at the end that his paradox denying all elements is less probable than the rest of his argument.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-screwtape-letters","title":"The Screwtape Letters","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Screwtape's long effort in Letter XIV to make the patient proud of his own humility shows by inversion that true humility is self-forgetfulness.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-sign-of-the-beaver","title":"The Sign of the Beaver","author":"Elizabeth George Speare","reason":"Matt, who came to teach Attean reading, accepts being taught by him to make a fishhook, set snares and read the clan marks in the forest.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-silver-chair","title":"The Silver Chair","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Jill admits to Aslan that she was showing off at the cliff edge when Eustace fell.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-spirit-of-the-laws","title":"The Spirit of the Laws","author":"Montesquieu","reason":"Book XI begins from the admission that every holder of power is apt to abuse it, so no ruler should be trusted with all of it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"story-of-a-soul","title":"The Story of a Soul","author":"Therese of Lisieux","reason":"Thérèse calls herself a little flower and seeks a way to Heaven fit for those too small to climb the stairs of perfection.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-story-of-king-arthur-and-his-knights","title":"The Story of King Arthur and His Knights","author":"Howard Pyle","reason":"Arthur serves as a gardener's boy at Cameliard, and Gawaine submits his will to the wife he married from duty.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-story-of-my-boyhood-and-youth","title":"The Story of My Boyhood and Youth","author":"John Muir","reason":"Warned by his father against praise, he refuses to read or keep the newspaper notices of his inventions at the State Fair.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kuhn-the-structure-of-scientific-revolutions","title":"The Structure of Scientific Revolutions","author":"Thomas S. Kuhn","reason":"Kuhn's Postscript takes up critics' objections, admits that he used paradigm in too many senses, and clarifies rather than simply defends.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-sword-in-the-stone","title":"The Sword in the Stone","author":"T. H. White","reason":"The Wart accepts that he will be only Kay's squire and runs to fetch Kay a sword without any thought of claiming it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-taming-of-the-shrew","title":"The Taming of the Shrew","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Petruchio insists they go to Baptista's in plain clothes in Act 4, Scene 3, holding that honour shows through the meanest habit.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-tempest","title":"The Tempest","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Prospero breaks his staff, drowns his book and ends by asking the audience to pardon him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-theban-plays","title":"The Theban Plays","author":"Sophocles","reason":"Oedipus’ confident search for the truth ends in the discovery of his own guilt, a lesson against human pride.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"veblen-theory-of-the-leisure-class","title":"The Theory of the Leisure Class","author":"Thorstein Veblen","reason":"By showing how the desire for invidious distinction shapes taste, the book asks readers to examine their own wish to be admired for what they own.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-trojan-war","title":"The Trojan War","author":"Olivia Coolidge","reason":"Priam goes alone by night to the tent of the man who killed his son and begs for Hector's body.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-tyger","title":"The Tyger","author":"William Blake","reason":"The speaker stands before the tiger's fearful symmetry and confesses by his questions that its making is beyond him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"virginia-statute-for-religious-freedom","title":"The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom","author":"Thomas Jefferson","reason":"It reminds legislators and rulers that they are fallible and uninspired men with no rightful dominion over the faith of others.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-voyage-of-the-dawn-treader","title":"The Voyage of the Dawn Treader","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"After Aslan strips away his dragon skin, Eustace admits how unpleasant he had been and begins to work and share with the crew.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-war-of-the-worlds","title":"The War of the Worlds","author":"H. G. Wells","reason":"The epilogue accepts that the earth is no secure abiding place and that humanity was saved by bacteria, not by its own devices.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"the-wise-woman","title":"The Wise Woman (A Double Story)","author":"George MacDonald","reason":"Rosamond admits that the pony hurt her no more than she deserved, because she had taken liberties with him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-witch-of-blackbird-pond","title":"The Witch of Blackbird Pond","author":"Elizabeth George Speare","reason":"Kit, who arrived with seven trunks of silk gowns, learns to card wool, make candles and work beside her cousins as one of the household.","vices":[]},{"slug":"this-side-of-paradise","title":"This Side of Paradise","author":"F. Scott Fitzgerald","reason":"On the walk to Princeton Amory admits that he knows himself but nothing more, setting aside the egotism of his youth.","vices":[]},{"slug":"till-we-have-faces","title":"Till We Have Faces","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Before the judges Orual hears her own complaint for what it is and gives up her case against the gods.","vices":[]},{"slug":"huygens-treatise-on-light","title":"Treatise on Light","author":"Christiaan Huygens","reason":"Huygens publishes the behaviour of light through two crystals while admitting he has found no cause for it, so that others may investigate.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tsc-industries-v-northway","title":"TSC Industries, Inc. v. Northway, Inc.","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The opinion leaves delicate judgments about what a reasonable shareholder would think to the trier of fact rather than to appellate judges.","vices":[]},{"slug":"twenty-years-at-hull-house","title":"Twenty Years at Hull-House","author":"Jane Addams","reason":"At eight she wears her old cloak to Sunday school, at her father's suggestion, so the other girls will not feel badly.","vices":[]},{"slug":"understood-betsy","title":"Understood Betsy","author":"Dorothy Canfield Fisher","reason":"Cousin Ann's question shows the sewing society they wanted thanks, and they give up their plan to be praised.","vices":[]},{"slug":"united-states-v-nixon","title":"United States v. Nixon","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Justice Rehnquist withdrew because of his earlier service in the administration, leaving the decision to colleagues without that connection.","vices":[]},{"slug":"up-from-slavery","title":"Up from Slavery","author":"Booker T. Washington","reason":"He corrects a correspondent who calls him Reverend, and treats janitor's work at Hampton as an honor.","vices":[]},{"slug":"veazie-bank-v-fenno","title":"Veazie Bank v. Fenno","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Chase declines to substitute the Court's judgment of a tax's wisdom for that of elected legislators answerable to the people.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tolstoy-war-and-peace","title":"War and Peace","author":"Leo Tolstoy","reason":"Platón Karatáev accepts captivity and misfortune without complaint, trusting that things happen as God judges.","vices":[]},{"slug":"west-coast-hotel-v-parrish","title":"West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"In overruling Adkins, the Court openly acknowledges that its own earlier judgment had been mistaken.","vices":[]},{"slug":"west-virginia-v-barnette","title":"West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Black, Douglas and Murphy publicly acknowledged that they had erred in joining Gobitis and changed their votes.","vices":[]},{"slug":"schrodinger-what-is-life","title":"What Is Life?","author":"Erwin Schrödinger","reason":"Schrödinger opens by admitting he writes as an outsider to biology and marks his Epilogue as personal belief rather than science.","vices":[]},{"slug":"wickard-v-filburn","title":"Wickard v. Filburn","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"The Court declared that the wisdom, workability or fairness of the wheat plan was for Congress, not judges, to weigh.","vices":[]},{"slug":"winnie-the-pooh","title":"Winnie-the-Pooh","author":"A. A. Milne","reason":"Pooh’s little-brain comedy resists vanity without self-pity.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"youngberg-v-romeo","title":"Youngberg v. Romeo","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Blackmun and the majority decline to settle questions the record did not clearly present, leaving them for a fuller case.","vices":[]},{"slug":"youngstown-sheet-and-tube-v-sawyer","title":"Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Jackson acknowledged that as Attorney General he had advised a President to claim broad powers and allowed that experience to temper his judgment.","vices":[]}],"quotes":[{"id":"a-little-princess-q5","citation":"\"to be able to learn things quickly isn't everything. To be kind is worth a great deal to other people.\" — Frances Hodgson Burnett, A Little Princess, Chapter 15, The Magic (Project Gutenberg #146)."},{"id":"caedmons-hymn-q6","citation":"\"his instruction in poetry was not at all from men, nor through the aid of any man, but it was through divine inspiration and as a gift from God that he received the power of song\" — Cædmon, Cædmon's Hymn, Bede's account, paragraph 1, trans. Cosette Faust and Stith Thompson (1918)."},{"id":"captains-courageous-q2","citation":"\"So I'm here to say I'm sorry\" — Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous, Chapter II (1897 text)."},{"id":"david-copperfield-q5","citation":"\"I am well aware that I am the umblest person going\" — Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, Ch. 16 (1850 first volume edition)."},{"id":"early-franciscan-sources-q1","citation":"\"Praised be my Lord for our sister water, who is very serviceable unto us and humble and precious and clean\" — Francis of Assisi; Thomas of Celano; Bonaventure; Brother Ugolino; others, Early Franciscan Sources, Canticle of the Sun, trans. Louise Seymour Houghton (1919), after the Umbrian Italian tradition."},{"id":"bede-ecclesiastical-history-q4","citation":"\"it was the highest commendation of his doctrine with all men, that he taught nothing that he did not practise in his life among his brethren\" — Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Book III, Chapter V, trans. A. M. Sellar."},{"id":"bede-ecclesiastical-history-q6","citation":"\"“Cædmon, sing me something.” But he answered, “I cannot sing, and for this cause I left the banquet and retired hither, because I could not sing.”\" — Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Book IV, Chapter XXIV, trans. A. M. Sellar."},{"id":"faraday-experimental-researches-in-electricity-q8","citation":"\"for though it is very easy to talk of atoms, it is very difficult to form a clear idea of their nature, especially when compound bodies are under consideration.\" — Michael Faraday, Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1, Seventh Series, paragraph 869 (Project Gutenberg #14986 (2nd ed., 1849))."},{"id":"andersen-fairy-tales-q4","citation":"\"I have seen tears in the Emperor's eyes — that is the real treasure to me.\" — Hans Christian Andersen, Fairy Tales (Selection), The Nightingale, trans. W. A. Craigie."},{"id":"andersen-fairy-tales-q5","citation":"\"he was so happy, and yet not at all proud.\" — Hans Christian Andersen, Fairy Tales (Selection), The Ugly Duckling, trans. W. A. Craigie."},{"id":"grace-abounding-q3","citation":"\"three or four poor women sitting at a door, in the sun, talking about the things of God\" — John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, §37 (Project Gutenberg #654 (Religious Tract Society, 1905))."},{"id":"henry-v-q4","citation":"\"In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man As modest stillness and humility\" — William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act 3, Scene 1 (Project Gutenberg #1521, modern spelling)."},{"id":"henry-v-q11","citation":"\"Praised be God, and not our strength, for it\" — William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act 4, Scene 7 (Project Gutenberg #1521, modern spelling)."},{"id":"i-will-fight-no-more-forever-q5","citation":"\"Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.\" — Chief Joseph, I Will Fight No More Forever, Harper's Weekly text, sentences 13-15 (Harper's Weekly, 17 November 1877)."},{"id":"calvin-institutes-q4","citation":"\"We are not our own; therefore, neither is our own reason or will to rule our acts and counsels. We are not our own; therefore, let us not make it our end to seek what may be agreeable to our carnal nature. We are not our own; therefore, as far as possible, let us forget ourselves and the things that are ours. On the other hand, we are God's; let us, therefore, live and die to him (Rom. 14:8).\" — John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III, ch. 7, sec. 1, trans. Henry Beveridge."},{"id":"calvin-institutes-q7","citation":"\"I will not be ashamed to confess that it is too high a mystery either for my mind to comprehend or my words to express; and to speak more plainly, I rather feel than understand it.\" — John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book IV, ch. 17, sec. 32, trans. Henry Beveridge."},{"id":"kidnapped-q2","citation":"\"Davie, Davie,” I thought, “was ever seen such black ingratitude? Can you forget old favours and old friends at the mere whistle of a name? Fie, fie; think shame\" — Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, Chapter I (1886 text)."},{"id":"kidnapped-q5","citation":"\"We’re neither one of us to mend the other--that’s the truth! We must just bear and forbear, man Alan\" — Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, Chapter XXIV (1886 text)."},{"id":"life-of-st-martin-q4","citation":"\"O Lord, if I am still necessary to your people, I do not shrink from toil: your will be done\" — Sulpitius Severus; Alexander Roberts, Life of St. Martin, Letter 3, Martin's death, trans. Alexander Roberts (1894)."},{"id":"little-lord-fauntleroy-q2","citation":"\"But if I have to be an earl, there's one thing I can do: I can try to be a good one.\" — Frances Hodgson Burnett, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Chapter II (Project Gutenberg text)."},{"id":"vasari-lives-of-the-artists-q6","citation":"\"with a turn of the hand he made a circle, so true in proportion and circumference that to behold it was a marvel.\" — Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects (Volume 1), Life of Giotto, trans. Gaston du C. de Vere."},{"id":"plutarch-lives-q4","citation":"\"I would,\" said he, \"much rather be asked, why I have not one, than why I have one\" — Plutarch, Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, Life of Marcus Cato, trans. John Dryden et al., rev. A. H. Clough (1864)."},{"id":"plato-meno-q8","citation":"\"Then, Meno, the conclusion is that virtue comes to the virtuous by the gift of God.\" — Plato, Meno, 100b, trans. Benjamin Jowett (1871)."},{"id":"much-ado-about-nothing-q3","citation":"\"Contempt, farewell! and maiden pride, adieu! No glory lives behind the back of such.\" — William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 3, Scene 1 (Project Gutenberg #1519)."},{"id":"d-day-order-of-the-day-q6","citation":"\"And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.\" — Dwight D. Eisenhower, Order of the Day, 6 June 1944, Paragraph 5 (National Archives transcription (1944 order))."},{"id":"pensees-q12","citation":"\"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed\" — Blaise Pascal, Pensees, Fragment 347, Section VI, trans. W. F. Trotter (1908)."},{"id":"pensees-q13","citation":"\"Man is neither angel nor brute, and the unfortunate thing is that he who would act the angel acts the brute\" — Blaise Pascal, Pensees, Fragment 358, Section VI, trans. W. F. Trotter (1908)."},{"id":"poems-of-emily-dickinson-q5","citation":"\"I'm nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody, too?\" — Emily Dickinson, Poems: First, Second and Third Series, Second Series, Life I (Project Gutenberg #12242 (1891 text))."},{"id":"tanglewood-tales-q6","citation":"\"he felt himself merely the upper servant of his people, and that it must be his life-long labor to make them better and happier.\" — Nathaniel Hawthorne, Tanglewood Tales, Circe's Palace (Project Gutenberg #976)."},{"id":"autobiography-of-benvenuto-cellini-q2","citation":"\"Only it grieves me when I understand What precious time in vanity I’ve spent\" — Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, Introductory Sonnet, trans. John Addington Symonds."},{"id":"the-canterbury-tales-q3","citation":"\"And though that he was worthy he was wise\" — Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, the Knight (Purves edition, Project Gutenberg #2383 (spelling partly modernized))."},{"id":"faraday-chemical-history-of-a-candle-q3","citation":"\"the greatest mistakes and faults with regard to candles, as in many other things, often bring with them instruction which we should not receive if they had not occurred.\" — Michael Faraday, The Chemical History of a Candle, Lecture I (Project Gutenberg text (1908 Chatto and Windus impression, ed. William Crookes))."},{"id":"the-collar-q6","citation":"\"But as I rav’d and grew more fierce and wilde At every word, Me thoughts I heard one calling, Childe: And I reply’d, My Lord.\" — George Herbert, The Collar, Lines 33-36 (The Temple, 1633 spelling)."},{"id":"the-comedy-of-errors-q8","citation":"\"We came into the world like brother and brother, And now let’s go hand in hand, not one before another.\" — William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors, Act 5, Scene 1 (Project Gutenberg #1504)."},{"id":"the-faerie-queene-q5","citation":"\"Ay me, how many perils doe enfold The righteous man, to make him daily fall, Were not that heavenly grace doth him uphold, And stedfast truth acquite him out of all.\" — Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book I, Book I, Canto VIII, stanza 1 (Project Gutenberg #15272 (Wauchope, 1903))."},{"id":"the-faerie-queene-q7","citation":"\"If any strength we have, it is to ill, But all the good is Gods, both power and eke will.\" — Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book I, Book I, Canto X, stanza 1 (Project Gutenberg #15272 (Wauchope, 1903))."},{"id":"the-great-gatsby-q1","citation":"\"just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.\" — F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Chapter I (Project Gutenberg #64317 (1925 text))."},{"id":"kingsley-the-heroes-q7","citation":"\"But if men grow proud and self-willed, and misuse God’s fair gifts, He lets them go their own ways, and fall pitifully, that the glory may be His alone.\" — Charles Kingsley, The Heroes; or, Greek Fairy Tales for My Children, Theseus, Part IV: How Theseus Fell by His Pride (Project Gutenberg #677 (1889 Macmillan edition))."},{"id":"livy-history-of-rome-books-i-v-q6","citation":"\"It is worth those persons' while to listen, who despise all things human in comparison with riches\" — Livy (Titus Livius), The History of Rome, Books I-V, Book III, ch. 26, trans. D. Spillan (1853)."},{"id":"journal-of-john-woolman-q5","citation":"\"Love was the first Motion, and thence a Concern arose to spend some Time with the _Indians_, that I might feel and understand their Life, and the Spirit they live in\" — John Woolman, The Journal of John Woolman, Journal, Chapter VIII (Project Gutenberg #37311 (Everyman's Library, reprinting the London edition of 1775))."},{"id":"journal-of-john-woolman-q7","citation":"\"O! that all may take Heed and beware of Covetousness! O that all may learn of Christ, who was meek and low of Heart!\" — John Woolman, The Journal of John Woolman, Journal, Chapter X (Project Gutenberg #37311 (Everyman's Library, reprinting the London edition of 1775))."},{"id":"boswell-life-of-johnson-q2","citation":"\"Ignorance, madam, pure ignorance.\" — James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, 1755 (Aetat. 46) (Project Gutenberg #1564 (Osgood abridgment, 1917))."},{"id":"lincoln-douglas-debates-q8","citation":"\"That is the real issue. That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent.\" — Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Seventh Joint Debate, Alton, Lincoln's reply (Political Debates Between Lincoln and Douglas (Columbus: Follett, Foster, 1860), Internet Archive OCR text)."},{"id":"walton-lives-q1","citation":"\"it was the Odes of Horace,--he being then like humble and innocent Abel, tending his small allotment of sheep in a common field\" — Izaak Walton, The Lives of Richard Hooker, George Herbert and Robert Sanderson, Life of Hooker (Project Gutenberg #13139 (Cassell's National Library, 1898))."},{"id":"walton-lives-q6","citation":"\"the thought of what he had done would prove music to him at midnight\" — Izaak Walton, The Lives of Richard Hooker, George Herbert and Robert Sanderson, Life of Herbert (Project Gutenberg #13139 (Cassell's National Library, 1898))."},{"id":"walton-lives-q7","citation":"\"a picture of the many spiritual conflicts that have passed betwixt God and my soul, before I could subject mine to the will of Jesus my Master: in whose service I have now found perfect freedom.\" — Izaak Walton, The Lives of Richard Hooker, George Herbert and Robert Sanderson, Life of Herbert (Project Gutenberg #13139 (Cassell's National Library, 1898))."},{"id":"the-murder-on-the-links-q5","citation":"\"So have all of us, at one time and another\" — Agatha Christie, The Murder on the Links, Chapter 28, Journey's End (Project Gutenberg #58866)."},{"id":"practice-of-the-presence-of-god-q2","citation":"\"he was pleased when he could take up a straw from the ground for the love of GOD, seeking Him only, and nothing else, not even His gifts.\" — Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, Second Conversation, trans. Anonymous (Revell edition)."},{"id":"practice-of-the-presence-of-god-q5","citation":"\"we may make an oratory of our heart wherein to retire from time to time to converse with Him in meekness, humility and love.\" — Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, Seventh Letter, trans. Anonymous (Revell edition)."},{"id":"practice-of-the-presence-of-god-q6","citation":"\"Hold yourself in prayer before GOD, like a dumb or paralytic beggar at a rich man's gate.\" — Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, Eighth Letter, trans. Anonymous (Revell edition)."},{"id":"practice-of-the-presence-of-god-q7","citation":"\"One does not become holy all at once.\" — Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, Ninth Letter, trans. Anonymous (Revell edition)."},{"id":"the-prince-and-the-pauper-q3","citation":"\"And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!\" — Mark Twain, The Prince and the Pauper, Chapter XII (Project Gutenberg #1837)."},{"id":"the-princess-and-curdie-q5","citation":"\"Do better, and grow better, and be better.\" — George MacDonald, The Princess and Curdie, Chapter 3, The Mistress of the Silver Moon (Project Gutenberg #709)."},{"id":"story-of-a-soul-q1","citation":"\"I understood that if all the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would lose its springtide beauty, and the fields would no longer be enamelled with lovely hues.\" — Therese of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul, Chapter I, trans. Thomas N. Taylor."},{"id":"story-of-a-soul-q4","citation":"\"I will seek out a means of getting to Heaven by a little way--very short and very straight, a little way that is wholly new.\" — Therese of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul, Chapter IX, trans. Thomas N. Taylor."},{"id":"the-story-of-king-arthur-and-his-knights-q6","citation":"\"So be it. For since I have taken thee for my wife, so must I show thee respect in all matters; wherefore thou shalt have thy will in this and in all other things\" — Howard Pyle, The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, Book II, Part III, Chapter Third (1903 text)."},{"id":"the-story-of-king-arthur-and-his-knights-q7","citation":"\"for it needs not that a man shall wear armor for to be a true knight, but only that he shall do his best endeavor with all patience and humility as it hath been ordained for him to do\" — Howard Pyle, The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, Book II, Part III, Chapter Third (1903 text)."},{"id":"the-tempest-q7","citation":"\"I’ll be wise hereafter, And seek for grace.\" — William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 5, Scene 1 (Project Gutenberg #1540)."},{"id":"the-theban-plays-q1","citation":"\"Therefore wait to see life’s ending ere thou count one mortal blest; Wait till free from pain and sorrow he has gained his final rest\" — Sophocles, The Theban Plays, Oedipus the King, closing chorus, trans. F. Storr (1912)."},{"id":"the-wise-woman-q4","citation":"\"Until our duty becomes to us common as breathing, we are poor creatures.\" — George MacDonald, The Wise Woman (A Double Story), Chapter VIII (Project Gutenberg #5676 (A Double Story))."},{"id":"twenty-years-at-hull-house-q2","citation":"\"people might be equal in things that mattered much more than clothes, the affairs of education and religion\" — Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull-House, Chapter I, Earliest Impressions (Macmillan, 1910 (Project Gutenberg #1325))."},{"id":"understood-betsy-q6","citation":"\"You didn’t do it to help ’Lias. You did it to have him grateful to you.\" — Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Understood Betsy, Chapter VIII, Betsy Starts a Sewing Society (Project Gutenberg #5347)."},{"id":"up-from-slavery-q4","citation":"\"The sweeping of that room was my college examination\" — Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, Chapter III (Project Gutenberg #2376)."}]},{"slug":"magnanimity","name":"Magnanimity","aka":"greatness of soul","kind":"classical","summary":"Greatness of soul: aiming at great and worthy deeds, bearing good and ill fortune with equal mind, and being generous to rivals and the defeated.","vices":[{"slug":"pusillanimity","name":"Pusillanimity","description":"Smallness of soul: shrinking from the great things one is capable of."},{"slug":"presumption-ambition","name":"Ambition and presumption","description":"Grasping at honors or tasks beyond one’s worth."}],"definitions":[{"source":"Aristotle","ref":"Nicomachean Ethics IV.3","text":"The great-souled man thinks himself worthy of great things, being worthy of them; he is moderate toward good and bad fortune, and is the crown of the virtues."},{"source":"Cicero","ref":"De Officiis I.66-69","text":"A brave and great spirit is shown in disregard of outward things and in undertaking great and difficult tasks for the common good."},{"source":"Aquinas","ref":"Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 129","text":"Magnanimity stretches out the mind to great things, trusting in God’s gifts; joined with humility, it aims high while knowing every good is received."},{"source":"Scripture","ref":"2 Timothy 1:7 (KJV)","quote":"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind","work":"the-bible"}],"questions":["How can magnanimity and humility live in the same person?","Which great work in your reading was undertaken for the common good?","What does it mean to be generous to a defeated opponent?","Is it a fault to aim too low?"],"url":"/virtues/magnanimity/","works":[{"slug":"a-little-princess","title":"A Little Princess","author":"Frances Hodgson Burnett","reason":"She resolves to behave like a princess when she is poorest and answers Miss Minchin without spite.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hardy-a-mathematicians-apology","title":"A Mathematician's Apology","author":"G. H. Hardy","reason":"Hardy defends the noble ambition of leaving behind something of permanent value, which he finds supremely in mathematics.","vices":[]},{"slug":"areopagitica","title":"Areopagitica","author":"John Milton","reason":"He asks Parliament to show the greatness of mind of a government willing to hear criticism and recall its own Order.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bleak-house","title":"Bleak House","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"Jarndyce gives Esther to Woodcourt along with a new Bleak House, releasing her from her promise.","vices":[]},{"slug":"herrin-byzantium","title":"Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire","author":"Judith Herrin","reason":"The chapter on Cyril and Methodios describes the brothers creating an alphabet so that the Slavs could worship and read in their own tongue.","vices":[]},{"slug":"villehardouin-conquest-of-constantinople","title":"Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and the Conquest of Constantinople","author":"Geoffrey de Villehardouin","reason":"The aged, sightless Doge takes the cross and has himself set ashore under the standard of St. Mark to lead the assault.","vices":[]},{"slug":"dante-de-monarchia","title":"De Monarchia (with R. W. Church's essay on Dante)","author":"Dante Alighieri; R. W. Church","reason":"Book II praises Roman heroes such as Cincinnatus and Fabricius who set aside private gain for the common good.","vices":[]},{"slug":"jefferson-first-inaugural-address","title":"First Inaugural Address (Jefferson)","author":"Thomas Jefferson","reason":"After a bitter defeat of his opponents he declares that all are Republicans and all are Federalists and promises to conciliate those who did not vote for him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"rabelais-gargantua-and-pantagruel","title":"Gargantua and Pantagruel","author":"François Rabelais","reason":"In his speech to the vanquished, Gargantua frees the prisoners and treats Picrochole's people with clemency instead of revenge.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gitlow-v-new-york","title":"Gitlow v. New York","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Holmes defends a hearing even for doctrines he plainly regards as redundant discourse, trusting the community to weigh them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hayne-speech-on-foots-resolution","title":"Hayne's Reply to Webster (Speech on Foot's Resolution)","author":"Robert Y. Hayne","reason":"He opens his account of the Revolution by honoring New England's conduct before claiming equal honor for the South, and says he does not question the private character of the Hartford delegates.","vices":[]},{"slug":"henry-iv-part-1","title":"Henry IV, Part 1","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Hal praises the dead Hotspur, covers his face with his own favours, and later frees Douglas for his valour.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kennedy-inaugural-address","title":"Inaugural Address","author":"John F. Kennedy","reason":"Kennedy welcomes the responsibility of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger and would not exchange places with any other generation.","vices":[]},{"slug":"johnny-tremain","title":"Johnny Tremain","author":"Esther Forbes","reason":"Johnny protects Dove instead of taking revenge for the crucible.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lassie-come-home","title":"Lassie Come-Home","author":"Eric Knight","reason":"The Duke declares the returned dog is not his and gives Sam a kennelman's place, so the family keeps both Lassie and its pride.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lepanto","title":"Lepanto","author":"G. K. Chesterton","reason":"The poem's hero seeks a great deed, and its climax is his setting thousands of chained captives free.","vices":[]},{"slug":"plutarch-lives","title":"Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans","author":"Plutarch","reason":"Pericles, Timoleon, and Camillus show greatness of soul toward rivals and the city that wronged them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mans-search-for-meaning","title":"Man's Search for Meaning","author":"Viktor E. Frankl","reason":"He refuses collective blame, recording the decency of an SS camp commander who bought medicines for prisoners and the cruelty of some prisoner foremen.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mcculloch-v-maryland","title":"McCulloch v. Maryland","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Marshall states Maryland's compact theory in its own words and answers it at length rather than dismissing a sovereign state's argument.","vices":[]},{"slug":"middlemarch","title":"Middlemarch","author":"George Eliot","reason":"Farebrother pleads Fred's cause with Mary Garth though he loves her himself.","vices":[]},{"slug":"near-v-minnesota","title":"Near v. Minnesota","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Hughes makes no defense of the paper's contents yet extends to it the same shield the Constitution gives every newspaper that exposes official misconduct.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gilbert-de-magnete","title":"On the Magnet (De Magnete)","author":"William Gilbert","reason":"He sets out his 'New & unheard of doctrine' that the earth is a magnet despite expecting scorn from those sworn to received opinions.","vices":[]},{"slug":"personal-memoirs","title":"Personal Memoirs","author":"Ulysses S. Grant","reason":"Grant records his feelings at Appomattox, declining to rejoice at the downfall of a foe who fought valiantly.","vices":[]},{"slug":"plessy-v-ferguson","title":"Plessy v. Ferguson","author":"Supreme Court of the United States","reason":"Harlan wrote alone against seven colleagues, stating his view at length though no other justice would join him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"shaw-saint-joan","title":"Saint Joan","author":"George Bernard Shaw","reason":"She sets out to crown the Dauphin and free France from Vaucouleurs with nothing but her conviction.","vices":[]},{"slug":"webster-second-reply-to-hayne","title":"Second Reply to Hayne","author":"Daniel Webster","reason":"He recalls the early harmony of Massachusetts and South Carolina and wishes it restored even while refuting Hayne.","vices":[]},{"slug":"elizabeth-speech-at-tilbury","title":"Speech to the Troops at Tilbury","author":"Elizabeth I","reason":"She thinks foul scorn that any prince of Europe should invade her realm and promises to reward every soldier's valour in the field.","vices":[]},{"slug":"compromise-of-1850-speeches","title":"Speeches on the Compromise of 1850","author":"Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster","reason":"Webster spoke as an American rather than as a Massachusetts man, granting Southern grievances at the cost of his standing at home.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lewis-the-abolition-of-man","title":"The Abolition of Man","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Lewis makes the chest, the seat of magnanimity and trained sentiment, the necessary link between reason and appetite in Lecture I.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-age-of-alexander","title":"The Age of Alexander: Nine Greek Lives","author":"Plutarch","reason":"Plutarch shows Alexander’s generosity toward the family of Darius.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-arabian-nights","title":"The Arabian Nights Entertainments","author":"Andrew Lang (ed.)","reason":"Parizade climbs the mountain without looking back at the mocking voices that turned her brothers to stone, and frees them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"harrington-oceana","title":"The Commonwealth of Oceana","author":"James Harrington","reason":"The Lord Archon uses his sole power to found a free commonwealth and then gives that power up, as Lycurgus and Timoleon did.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-eagle-of-the-ninth","title":"The Eagle of the Ninth","author":"Rosemary Sutcliff","reason":"Marcus pleads for the life of the defeated gladiator Esca at the Calleva games and later gives him his freedom.","vices":[]},{"slug":"runciman-the-fall-of-constantinople-1453","title":"The Fall of Constantinople, 1453","author":"Steven Runciman","reason":"Runciman credits Mehmed with restoring the Orthodox patriarchate under Gennadios and rebuilding the city as a capital for all its peoples.","vices":[]},{"slug":"fall-of-constantinople-1453-eyewitness-accounts","title":"The Fall of Constantinople, 1453: Eyewitness Accounts","author":"Nicolo Barbaro, George Sphrantzes, Doukas, and others","reason":"Mehmed II undertook the great design of moving his fleet overland and carried a siege that earlier sultans had abandoned.","vices":[]},{"slug":"gibbon-decline-and-fall-selections","title":"The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Selections)","author":"Edward Gibbon","reason":"Constantine answers the wounded Justiniani that the danger is pressing and his presence necessary, holding to his post when others withdraw (Chapter LXVIII).","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-iliad","title":"The Iliad","author":"Homer","reason":"Achilles returns Hector’s body to Priam in Book XXIV, honoring the grief of an old enemy.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lincoln-douglas-debates","title":"The Lincoln-Douglas Debates","author":"Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas","reason":"Both men kept to the agreed rules of seven long debates before hostile as well as friendly crowds, and each yielded the platform on time for the other's reply.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-mabinogion","title":"The Mabinogion","author":"Anonymous (Middle Welsh)","reason":"Bendigeid Vran lies down across the river so that his whole host can cross over his body.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kaldellis-the-new-roman-empire","title":"The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium","author":"Anthony Kaldellis","reason":"The narrative closes with Constantine XI choosing to die defending Constantinople in 1453 rather than abandon it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"newburgh-address","title":"The Newburgh Address","author":"George Washington","reason":"Holding the loyalty of the army at the war's end, Washington uses it to keep the soldiers obedient to Congress rather than to gain power for himself.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-nicomachean-ethics","title":"The Nicomachean Ethics","author":"Aristotle","reason":"Book IV portrays the great-souled man.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tocqueville-old-regime","title":"The Old Regime and the Revolution","author":"Alexis de Tocqueville","reason":"The appendix praises the estates of Languedoc, whose members undertook great public works for their province by their own effort.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hegel-philosophy-of-history","title":"The Philosophy of History","author":"G. W. F. Hegel","reason":"Hegel's account of world-historical individuals such as Caesar dwells on the greatness of soul and passion required to accomplish great things, while noting what it costs them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"russell-problems-of-philosophy","title":"The Problems of Philosophy","author":"Bertrand Russell","reason":"Chapter XV praises the enlargement of the self that comes from contemplating the universe rather than seeing all things in relation to private interest.","vices":[]},{"slug":"cicero-republic-and-laws","title":"The Republic and The Laws","author":"Marcus Tullius Cicero","reason":"In the Dream Scipio is taught to seek the reward of virtue itself rather than the narrow, short-lived praise of men.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-song-of-hiawatha","title":"The Song of Hiawatha","author":"Henry Wadsworth Longfellow","reason":"He welcomes the Black-Robe and his companions as guests and commands his people to protect them.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-souls-of-black-folk","title":"The Souls of Black Folk","author":"W. E. B. Du Bois","reason":"Du Bois credits Booker T. Washington's real achievements before contesting his program, modeling generous disagreement.","vices":[]},{"slug":"st-crispins-day-speech","title":"The St Crispin's Day Speech","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Henry offers passports and money to any man unwilling to fight rather than compelling an unwilling soldier.","vices":[]},{"slug":"volsunga-saga","title":"The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga)","author":"Anonymous (Old Norse)","reason":"Sigurd tells Regin that a stout heart counts for more than a sharp sword when men meet their foes in fight.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lane-thousand-and-one-nights","title":"The Thousand and One Nights (Lane's translation, Volume I)","author":"Anonymous; translated by Edward William Lane","reason":"The envied man, made king, gives the neighbour who threw him into a well a thousand pieces of gold and reproaches him for nothing.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-three-musketeers","title":"The Three Musketeers","author":"Alexandre Dumas","reason":"D'Artagnan offers the lieutenant's commission to Athos, Porthos and Aramis before accepting it himself.","vices":[]},{"slug":"their-finest-hour","title":"Their Finest Hour","author":"Winston Churchill","reason":"He refuses to settle old scores against the prewar governments he had long opposed and speaks generously of the defeated French.","vices":["vengeance","pusillanimity"]},{"slug":"tennyson-ulysses","title":"Ulysses","author":"Alfred, Lord Tennyson","reason":"He seeks some work of noble note before death, worthy of men that strove with Gods.","vices":[]},{"slug":"up-from-slavery","title":"Up from Slavery","author":"Booker T. Washington","reason":"He resolves in Chapter XI never to let any man, of any color, make him hate.","vices":[]},{"slug":"chernow-washington","title":"Washington: A Life","author":"Ron Chernow","reason":"He resigns his commission at Annapolis in 1783 and later declines a third term as president.","vices":[]},{"slug":"watership-down","title":"Watership Down","author":"Richard Adams","reason":"Hazel offers Woundwort a shared peace between the warrens before the attack, and the final settlement spares Efrafa.","vices":[]}],"quotes":[{"id":"a-little-princess-q3","citation":"\"If I am a princess in rags and tatters, I can be a princess inside. It would be easy to be a princess if I were dressed in cloth of gold, but it is a great deal more of a triumph to be one all the time when no one knows it.\" — Frances Hodgson Burnett, A Little Princess, Chapter 11, Ram Dass (Project Gutenberg #146)."},{"id":"autobiography-of-andrew-carnegie-q7","citation":"\"I resolved to stop accumulating and begin the infinitely more serious and difficult task of wise distribution.\" — Andrew Carnegie, Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, Chapter XIX (Project Gutenberg #17976 (Constable, 1920))."},{"id":"villehardouin-conquest-of-constantinople-q2","citation":"\"he was an old man, and albeit his eyes were unclouded, yet he saw naught, having lost his sight through a wound in the head. He was of a great heart.\" — Geoffrey de Villehardouin, Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and the Conquest of Constantinople, The Doge and a Number of Venetians Take the Cross, trans. Frank T. Marzials."},{"id":"henry-iv-part-1-q7","citation":"\"Ill-weaved ambition, how much art thou shrunk!\" — William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 1, Act 5, Scene 4 (Project Gutenberg #1516, modern spelling)."},{"id":"ivanhoe-q8","citation":"\"May He, who made both Jew and Christian, shower down on you his choicest blessings!\" — Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, Chapter XLIV (Project Gutenberg #82)."},{"id":"personal-memoirs-q12","citation":"\"I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought\" — Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs, Vol. II, Ch. LXVII."},{"id":"compromise-of-1850-speeches-q7","citation":"\"I wish to speak to-day, not as a Massachusetts man, nor as a Northern man, but as an American, and a member of the Senate of the United States.\" — Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster, Speeches on the Compromise of 1850, Webster's Seventh of March speech, opening sentence (The Great Speeches and Orations of Daniel Webster, ed. Whipple (1879), Project Gutenberg #12606)."},{"id":"the-black-arrow-q8","citation":"\"Ye took the better part and pardoned; I took the worse, and there lies the clay of mine enemy.\" — Robert Louis Stevenson, The Black Arrow, Book V, Chapter VII (Project Gutenberg #848)."},{"id":"boswell-life-of-johnson-q1","citation":"\"Is not a Patron, my Lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help?\" — James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, 1754 (Aetat. 45): letter to Lord Chesterfield, February 1755 (Project Gutenberg #1564 (Osgood abridgment, 1917))."},{"id":"the-mabinogion-q1","citation":"\"he who will be chief, let him be a bridge.\" — Anonymous (Middle Welsh), The Mabinogion, Branwen the Daughter of Llyr, trans. Lady Charlotte Guest."},{"id":"lane-thousand-and-one-nights-q6","citation":"\"Consider, then, O 'Efreet, the pardon of the envied to the envier, and his kindness to him, notwithstanding the injuries he had done him.\" — Anonymous; translated by Edward William Lane, The Thousand and One Nights (Lane's translation, Volume I), Chapter III, Story of the Envier and the Envied, trans. Edward William Lane."},{"id":"tennyson-ulysses-q5","citation":"\"Old age hath yet his honour and his toil; Death closes all; but something ere the end, Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.\" — Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Ulysses, Lines 50-53 (Poems (1842), ed. Collins 1900)."},{"id":"up-from-slavery-q6","citation":"\"great men cultivate love, and that only little men cherish a spirit of hatred.\" — Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, Chapter XI (Project Gutenberg #2376)."},{"id":"up-from-slavery-q7","citation":"\"I would permit no man, no matter what his colour might be, to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.\" — Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, Chapter XI (Project Gutenberg #2376)."},{"id":"wonderful-adventures-of-mrs-seacole-q7","citation":"\"Now, would all this have happened if I had returned to England a rich woman? Surely not.\" — Mary Seacole, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, Conclusion (Project Gutenberg #23031 (1857 text))."}]},{"slug":"friendship","name":"Friendship","aka":"loyalty","kind":"classical","summary":"Loyal love between equals who wish each other good for the other’s sake, sharing a life ordered to virtue.","vices":[{"slug":"disloyalty","name":"Disloyalty","description":"Betraying or abandoning a friend."},{"slug":"flattery","name":"Flattery","description":"Pleasing a friend by falsehood rather than helping him by truth."}],"definitions":[{"source":"Aristotle","ref":"Nicomachean Ethics VIII.3","text":"Perfect friendship is that of good men alike in virtue, who wish well to each other as good; such friendships are rare and lasting, unlike those of utility or pleasure."},{"source":"Cicero","ref":"De Amicitia (Laelius) 18-20","text":"Friendship can exist only between good men; it is agreement in all things divine and human, with goodwill and affection."},{"source":"Aquinas","ref":"Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 23, a. 1","text":"Charity is a friendship of man with God; friendship requires mutual goodwill grounded on some fellowship."},{"source":"Scripture","ref":"John 15:13 (KJV)","quote":"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends","work":"the-bible"},{"source":"Scripture","ref":"Proverbs 17:17 (KJV)","quote":"A friend loveth at all times","work":"the-bible"},{"source":"Scripture","ref":"Ruth 1:16 (KJV)","quote":"whither thou goest, I will go","work":"the-bible"}],"questions":["What are Aristotle’s three kinds of friendship, and which lasts?","Should a friend tell you hard truths?","Which friendship in your reading is tested, and how does it hold?","How does Christ change the meaning of friendship (John 15:15)?"],"url":"/virtues/friendship/","works":[{"slug":"a-bear-called-paddington","title":"A Bear Called Paddington","author":"Michael Bond","reason":"Mr. Gruber shares elevenses and conversation with Paddington in his Portobello Road shop and treats him as a valued friend.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-farewell-to-arms","title":"A Farewell to Arms","author":"Ernest Hemingway","reason":"Rinaldi brings Frederic cognac, news and mockery in hospital and greets him on his return as a brother.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-little-princess","title":"A Little Princess","author":"Frances Hodgson Burnett","reason":"She treats the scullery maid Becky as a friend, sharing food and stories through the attic wall.","vices":["pride"]},{"slug":"hardy-a-mathematicians-apology","title":"A Mathematician's Apology","author":"G. H. Hardy","reason":"Hardy calls his collaborations with Littlewood and Ramanujan the decisive event of his life.","vices":[]},{"slug":"joyce-portrait-of-the-artist","title":"A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man","author":"James Joyce","reason":"Cranly listens patiently to Stephen's doubts in Chapter V and urges him to consider his mother's love before refusing her request.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-tale-of-two-cities","title":"A Tale of Two Cities","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"Jarvis Lorry stays at the Manettes' side for eighteen years, from Dover to the escape from Paris.","vices":[]},{"slug":"a-wonder-book","title":"A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys","author":"Nathaniel Hawthorne","reason":"The little boy at the fountain keeps faith with Bellerophon, and the hero says the child's faith won the victory.","vices":[]},{"slug":"adam-of-the-road","title":"Adam of the Road","author":"Elizabeth Janet Gray","reason":"Adam works in Perkin's village so his friend can go to Oxford, and Perkin in turn has kept Nick safe.","vices":[]},{"slug":"adventures-of-huckleberry-finn","title":"Adventures of Huckleberry Finn","author":"Mark Twain","reason":"Huck tears up his letter to Miss Watson in Chapter XXXI and resolves to free Jim, choosing loyalty to his friend over everything he has been taught.","vices":[]},{"slug":"aesops-fables","title":"Aesop's Fables","author":"Aesop","reason":"The Lion and the Mouse honors mercy repaid between unequal friends.","vices":["disloyalty"]},{"slug":"all-quiet-on-the-western-front","title":"All Quiet on the Western Front","author":"Erich Maria Remarque","reason":"Paul carries the wounded Kat on his back toward the dressing station, refusing to leave him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"anne-of-green-gables","title":"Anne of Green Gables","author":"L. M. Montgomery","reason":"Anne and Diana keep their vow of friendship through Mrs. Barry's ban and Anne's years at Queen's.","vices":[]},{"slug":"apologia-pro-vita-sua","title":"Apologia Pro Vita Sua","author":"John Henry Newman","reason":"He dedicates the book to the Oratory fathers and Ambrose St. John and speaks warmly of the Anglican friends he left.","vices":[]},{"slug":"around-the-world-in-eighty-days","title":"Around the World in Eighty Days","author":"Jules Verne","reason":"Passepartout’s loyalty becomes essential to the race.","vices":["disloyalty"]},{"slug":"as-you-like-it","title":"As You Like It","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Celia leaves her father's court and her inheritance rather than be parted from the banished Rosalind.","vices":[]},{"slug":"autobiography-of-andrew-carnegie","title":"Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie","author":"Andrew Carnegie","reason":"His lifelong partnership with his cousin Dod began in their Dunfermline boyhood and continued in the firm.","vices":[]},{"slug":"beowulf","title":"Beowulf","author":"Anonymous","reason":"Wiglaf alone stands by his lord against the dragon when the other retainers flee.","vices":["disloyalty"]},{"slug":"black-ships-before-troy","title":"Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Iliad","author":"Rosemary Sutcliff","reason":"Patroclus puts on Achilles's armour and leads the Myrmidons to save the Greek ships when his friend will not.","vices":[]},{"slug":"metaxas-bonhoeffer","title":"Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy","author":"Eric Metaxas","reason":"His letters from Tegel prison to Eberhard Bethge sustain a deep friendship through two years of imprisonment.","vices":[]},{"slug":"botchan","title":"Botchan","author":"Natsume Sōseki","reason":"Once reconciled, Botchan stands with Porcupine through the newspaper scandal, the night watch at Masuya and their departure together.","vices":[]},{"slug":"captains-courageous","title":"Captains Courageous","author":"Rudyard Kipling","reason":"Harvey and Dan, a millionaire's son and a skipper's son, become friends for life.","vices":[]},{"slug":"charlottes-web","title":"Charlotte's Web","author":"E. B. White","reason":"Charlotte befriends the lonely Wilbur in the barn and spends her last summer saving his life.","vices":[]},{"slug":"confessions","title":"Confessions","author":"Augustine of Hippo","reason":"Augustine reflects on the friend whose death darkened his heart, and on loving friends in God.","vices":[]},{"slug":"cranford","title":"Cranford","author":"Elizabeth Gaskell","reason":"Martha marries Jem sooner than planned so that the couple can give her ruined mistress a home.","vices":[]},{"slug":"cuchulain-of-muirthemne","title":"Cuchulain of Muirthemne","author":"Lady Gregory","reason":"Cuchulain and Ferdiad send each other healing herbs and food each night of their combat, and Cuchulain keens for his foster-brother when he has fallen.","vices":["disloyalty"]},{"slug":"cyrano-de-bergerac","title":"Cyrano de Bergerac","author":"Edmond Rostand","reason":"He protects Christian, whom he could have killed for mocking his nose, and keeps his promise to Roxane to watch over him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"david-copperfield","title":"David Copperfield","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"Agnes, Peggotty, and Traddles remain steadfast friends to David.","vices":[]},{"slug":"death-comes-for-the-archbishop","title":"Death Comes for the Archbishop","author":"Willa Cather","reason":"Latour and Vaillant remain devoted friends through decades of shared labor.","vices":[]},{"slug":"discourse-on-voluntary-servitude","title":"Discourse on Voluntary Servitude","author":"Étienne de La Boétie","reason":"La Boétie teaches that friendship is a holy bond possible only among good men, which is why the tyrant and his favourites can never share it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"don-quixote","title":"Don Quixote","author":"Miguel de Cervantes","reason":"Sancho Panza stays with his master through every misadventure.","vices":[]},{"slug":"frost-early-poems","title":"Early Poems: A Boy's Will, North of Boston, Mountain Interval","author":"Robert Frost","reason":"The speaker of Mending Wall keeps meeting his neighbor each spring to mend the wall, even while doubting its purpose.","vices":[]},{"slug":"lavoisier-elements-of-chemistry","title":"Elements of Chemistry","author":"Antoine Lavoisier","reason":"The Preface acknowledges a community of opinions with Berthollet, Fourcroy, Laplace and Monge, in which he can hardly distinguish his ideas from theirs.","vices":[]},{"slug":"emma","title":"Emma","author":"Jane Austen","reason":"Mr. Knightley tells Emma unwelcome truths about Robert Martin and about Miss Bates because he cares for her good.","vices":["flattery"]},{"slug":"essays-bacon","title":"Essays","author":"Francis Bacon","reason":"Bacon’s essay Of Friendship treats its fruits for the heart and the understanding.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hume-political-essays","title":"Essays, Moral and Political (selection)","author":"David Hume","reason":"Of Parties in General condemns factions for setting against each other fellow citizens who ought to protect one another.","vices":[]},{"slug":"emerson-essays","title":"Essays: First Series (Self-Reliance and Other Essays)","author":"Ralph Waldo Emerson","reason":"The essay Friendship defines a friend as one with whom we may be sincere and demands truth and tenderness between equals.","vices":[]},{"slug":"luckiest-man-speech","title":"Farewell to Baseball (\"The Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth\")","author":"Lou Gehrig","reason":"Most of the speech is thanks to teammates, managers, rivals, and workers whose company he counts as his good fortune.","vices":[]},{"slug":"balzac-father-goriot","title":"Father Goriot (Le Père Goriot)","author":"Honoré de Balzac","reason":"Bianchon stays with Rastignac through the nights of Goriot's illness, studying his medical books at the bedside.","vices":[]},{"slug":"jefferson-first-inaugural-address","title":"First Inaugural Address (Jefferson)","author":"Thomas Jefferson","reason":"He asks citizens to restore to social life the harmony and affection without which liberty itself is a dreary thing.","vices":[]},{"slug":"frog-and-toad-are-friends","title":"Frog and Toad Are Friends","author":"Arnold Lobel","reason":"Frog writes Toad a letter when he learns Toad has never received mail, then waits on the porch with him until the snail arrives.","vices":[]},{"slug":"great-expectations","title":"Great Expectations","author":"Charles Dickens","reason":"Herbert Pocket stands by Pip through debt and danger and helps him shelter Magwitch.","vices":[]},{"slug":"hamlet","title":"Hamlet","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Horatio stays loyal to Hamlet to the end and is charged with telling his story truly.","vices":[]},{"slug":"henry-v","title":"Henry V","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"He calls the soldiers who fight with him his brothers.","vices":[]},{"slug":"euripides-iphigenia-in-aulis-and-other-plays","title":"Iphigenia in Aulis and Other Plays","author":"Euripides","reason":"Theseus refuses to abandon Heracles after the killings, takes his hand, and leads him to Athens.","vices":[]},{"slug":"island-of-the-blue-dolphins","title":"Island of the Blue Dolphins","author":"Scott O'Dell","reason":"Karana overcomes her fear of the Aleuts and shares gifts and her secret name with Tutok.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ivanhoe","title":"Ivanhoe","author":"Walter Scott","reason":"Wamba exchanges clothes with Cedric at Torquilstone, risking his life so his master can escape.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mccullough-john-adams","title":"John Adams","author":"David McCullough","reason":"After years of estrangement he resumes his correspondence with Jefferson in 1812 and keeps it up until both men die.","vices":[]},{"slug":"johnny-tremain","title":"Johnny Tremain","author":"Esther Forbes","reason":"Rab takes in the injured and friendless Johnny and at his death leaves him his musket.","vices":[]},{"slug":"journey-to-the-west-a-mission-to-heaven","title":"Journey to the West (A Mission to Heaven)","author":"Wu Cheng'en","reason":"After the Master dismisses Sun for killing the disguised demon, the horse and Pa Kiel fetch him back and Sun returns to rescue his master.","vices":["disloyalty"]},{"slug":"julius-caesar","title":"Julius Caesar","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Brutus and Cassius reconcile after their quarrel and stand together to the end at Philippi.","vices":[]},{"slug":"just-so-stories","title":"Just So Stories","author":"Rudyard Kipling","reason":"Stickly-Prickly and Slow-Solid help each other learn to swim and curl until they both become Armadillos.","vices":[]},{"slug":"kidnapped","title":"Kidnapped","author":"Robert Louis Stevenson","reason":"David and Alan keep faith with each other through the round-house fight, the flight in the heather and a bitter quarrel.","vices":[]},{"slug":"king-lear","title":"King Lear","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Kent serves Lear in disguise after being banished.","vices":["flattery"]},{"slug":"kokoro","title":"Kokoro","author":"Natsume Sōseki","reason":"Sensei’s testament recalls his betrayal of his friend K and his lifelong remorse.","vices":["disloyalty"]},{"slug":"le-morte-darthur","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur","author":"Thomas Malory","reason":"Arthur grieves more for the broken fellowship of his knights than for the loss of his queen in Book XX.","vices":[]},{"slug":"bulfinch-legends-of-charlemagne","title":"Legends of Charlemagne","author":"Thomas Bulfinch","reason":"Zerbino gives his life defending the abandoned sword of the mad Orlando, who had once rescued him and Isabella.","vices":[]},{"slug":"letters-from-a-farmer-in-pennsylvania","title":"Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania","author":"John Dickinson","reason":"Letter I asks Pennsylvania to stand by New York, since a wise man does not watch unconcerned while his neighbour's house burns.","vices":[]},{"slug":"letters-from-a-stoic","title":"Letters from a Stoic","author":"Seneca","reason":"Seneca writes as a friend to Lucilius and discusses what true friendship requires.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tintern-abbey","title":"Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey","author":"William Wordsworth","reason":"The final paragraph turns from his own vision to a loving blessing on Dorothy, his dearest Friend.","vices":[]},{"slug":"little-bear","title":"Little Bear","author":"Else Holmelund Minarik","reason":"Thinking there will be no party, Little Bear cooks Birthday Soup and welcomes Hen, Duck and Cat to share it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"little-house-on-the-prairie","title":"Little House on the Prairie","author":"Laura Ingalls Wilder","reason":"Pa and Mr. Edwards trade labor on each other's cabins and share music, food and danger as the nearest neighbors on the prairie.","vices":[]},{"slug":"little-lord-fauntleroy","title":"Little Lord Fauntleroy","author":"Frances Hodgson Burnett","reason":"Cedric never forgets Mr. Hobbs and Dick, and Dick's loyalty in turn saves his inheritance.","vices":[]},{"slug":"vasari-lives-of-the-artists","title":"Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects (Volume 1)","author":"Giorgio Vasari","reason":"Vasari presents Giotto and Dante as close friends, Giotto painting Dante's portrait in the Podestà chapel.","vices":[]},{"slug":"friends-romans-countrymen","title":"Mark Antony's Funeral Oration (\"Friends, Romans, countrymen\")","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Antony speaks for a murdered friend who was faithful and just to him, at personal risk before a crowd that had just cheered his killers.","vices":[]},{"slug":"usama-ibn-munqidh-memoirs","title":"Memoirs of Usama ibn Munqidh","author":"Usama ibn Munqidh","reason":"He records the bonds of amity with a Frankish knight who called him brother and with the Templars who cleared a chapel for his prayer.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mike-mulligan-and-his-steam-shovel","title":"Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel","author":"Virginia Lee Burton","reason":"Mike refuses to sell Mary Anne for junk when the new shovels take their work, and he looks for a job they can do together.","vices":[]},{"slug":"moby-dick","title":"Moby-Dick","author":"Herman Melville","reason":"Queequeg and Ishmael become bosom friends, and Queequeg's coffin bears Ishmael up after the wreck.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mr-poppers-penguins","title":"Mr. Popper's Penguins","author":"Richard and Florence Atwater","reason":"Captain Cook and Greta, both failing alone, revive as soon as they are together.","vices":[]},{"slug":"mrs-dalloway","title":"Mrs. Dalloway","author":"Virginia Woolf","reason":"Peter and Sally, meeting again at the party after many years, talk of Clarissa with old affection and honesty.","vices":[]},{"slug":"much-ado-about-nothing","title":"Much Ado About Nothing","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Beatrice stands by her cousin Hero when the Prince, Claudio and even Leonato believe the slander.","vices":[]},{"slug":"my-fathers-dragon","title":"My Father's Dragon","author":"Ruth Stiles Gannett","reason":"Elmer and the freed dragon laugh together at the crocodile train and set off on the long journey home side by side.","vices":[]},{"slug":"my-side-of-the-mountain","title":"My Side of the Mountain","author":"Jean Craighead George","reason":"Sam welcomes the lost teacher Bando into his camp, and Bando climbs back up the mountain at Christmas to see him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"number-the-stars","title":"Number the Stars","author":"Lois Lowry","reason":"Annemarie keeps Ellen's Star of David necklace safe through the war and resolves to wear it until the Rosens return.","vices":[]},{"slug":"o-captain-my-captain","title":"O Captain! My Captain!","author":"Walt Whitman","reason":"The poem gives the crowd its joy and the captain his grief, honouring both the shared victory and the bond with the fallen leader.","vices":[]},{"slug":"of-mice-and-men","title":"Of Mice and Men","author":"John Steinbeck","reason":"George and Lennie share their dream of a farm and care for each other.","vices":[]},{"slug":"old-yeller","title":"Old Yeller","author":"Fred Gipson","reason":"Old Yeller fights the she-bear, the wild hogs and the rabid wolf to save the boys and Mama.","vices":[]},{"slug":"on-friendship","title":"On Friendship","author":"Michel de Montaigne","reason":"Montaigne’s essay on his friendship with La Boetie.","vices":[]},{"slug":"copernicus-on-the-revolutions","title":"On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres","author":"Nicolaus Copernicus","reason":"Copernicus credits Bishop Tiedemann Giese and Cardinal Schönberg with pressing him to publish, and Rheticus left his Wittenberg post to study with him and carry the book to press.","vices":[]},{"slug":"orlando","title":"Orlando: A Biography","author":"Virginia Woolf","reason":"Walking London at night in the eighteenth century, Orlando finds in Nell and her companions a frank friendship she never found among the wits.","vices":[]},{"slug":"paul-reveres-ride","title":"Paul Revere's Ride","author":"Henry Wadsworth Longfellow","reason":"The unnamed friend climbs the dark belfry and risks discovery so that Revere can carry the warning.","vices":[]},{"slug":"persuasion","title":"Persuasion","author":"Jane Austen","reason":"Anne Elliot’s steady constancy to Wentworth endures eight years.","vices":[]},{"slug":"pollyanna","title":"Pollyanna","author":"Eleanor H. Porter","reason":"Jimmy Bean faces Miss Polly's anger to tell her the truth because he would walk over hot coals for Pollyanna.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sam-the-minuteman","title":"Sam the Minuteman","author":"Nathaniel Benchley","reason":"Sam's grief and fear when his friend John is shot in the leg show how closely the boys of Lexington are bound together.","vices":[]},{"slug":"shane","title":"Shane","author":"Jack Schaefer","reason":"Shane takes Joe's danger on himself, and Joe stands beside Shane against Morgan's crew in the saloon.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sonnet-116","title":"Sonnet 116","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"The marriage of true minds is a union of wills, the bond of the closest friendship as well as of spouses.","vices":[]},{"slug":"shakespeares-sonnets","title":"Sonnets","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"The speaker forgives the young man's wrong in Sonnets 33 to 35 and keeps faith with him through absence and rivalry.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-strange-case-of-dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde","title":"Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde","author":"Robert Louis Stevenson","reason":"Utterson keeps faith with Jekyll for years, tracking Hyde and finally breaking down the cabinet door to help him.","vices":["disloyalty"]},{"slug":"stuart-little","title":"Stuart Little","author":"E. B. White","reason":"After Margalo carries him back from the garbage scow, Stuart leaves home and family to search for her when she flies away.","vices":[]},{"slug":"surprised-by-joy","title":"Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"His friendship with Arthur Greeves begins when they discover a shared love of Northernness, and it lasts all his life.","vices":[]},{"slug":"proust-swanns-way","title":"Swann's Way","author":"Marcel Proust","reason":"Swann remains a loyal and generous neighbour to the narrator's family even though they never guess his standing in the great world.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tanglewood-tales","title":"Tanglewood Tales","author":"Nathaniel Hawthorne","reason":"Thasus, though no relation, walks with Telephassa until he is lame and keeps a bed ready for Europa all his life.","vices":[]},{"slug":"that-hideous-strength","title":"That Hideous Strength","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"The household at St Anne's, from the sceptic MacPhee to Ivy Maggs, shares work and danger as equals under the Director.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-adventures-of-sherlock-holmes","title":"The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes","author":"Arthur Conan Doyle","reason":"Watson leaves his practice and his home at a word from Holmes in later cases, and in The Speckled Band brings his revolver to share the danger of the night watch.","vices":[]},{"slug":"argonautica","title":"The Argonautica","author":"Apollonius of Rhodes","reason":"Heracles refuses to abandon the search for Hylas, and Telamon rages at the crew for sailing on without Heracles.","vices":["disloyalty"]},{"slug":"articles-of-confederation","title":"The Articles of Confederation","author":"Continental Congress","reason":"Article III joins the states in a firm league of friendship, binding each to assist the others against any attack.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-bible","title":"The Bible","author":"Anonymous","reason":"Ruth’s loyalty to Naomi and David’s friendship with Jonathan.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-black-arrow","title":"The Black Arrow","author":"Robert Louis Stevenson","reason":"Dick refuses to leave Lawless to be hanged and begs Earl Risingham for his life as well as his own.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-borrowers","title":"The Borrowers","author":"Mary Norton","reason":"The Boy carries Arrietty's letter to the badger's set and later breaks open the grating so her family can escape Mrs Driver.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-bronze-bow","title":"The Bronze Bow","author":"Elizabeth George Speare","reason":"Joel and Thacia keep faith with Daniel and their shared oath even when Daniel is harsh and when it endangers their family.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-call-of-the-wild","title":"The Call of the Wild","author":"Jack London","reason":"Buck leaps into the Forty-Mile rapids to save Thornton, and Thornton refuses a fortune rather than sell him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-courage-of-sarah-noble","title":"The Courage of Sarah Noble","author":"Alice Dalgliesh","reason":"She trades English words for the way to the berry bushes and makes friends with Small John and Mary.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-cricket-in-times-square","title":"The Cricket in Times Square","author":"George Selden","reason":"Harry and Tucker take Chester to Grand Central and see him off, though they wanted him to stay.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-eagle-of-the-ninth","title":"The Eagle of the Ninth","author":"Rosemary Sutcliff","reason":"Freed by Marcus, Esca chooses to stay and goes north with him into the country of tribes who would kill them both.","vices":[]},{"slug":"epic-of-gilgamesh","title":"The Epic of Gilgamesh","author":"Anonymous (Babylonian; standard version attributed to Sin-leqi-unninni)","reason":"Gilgamesh and Enkidu, after wrestling at the doorway, become companions who face Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven together, and Gilgamesh mourns his friend for seven days and nights.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-giver","title":"The Giver","author":"Lois Lowry","reason":"The Giver and Jonas, alone with knowledge no one else shares, become true companions and comfort each other in the Annex.","vices":[]},{"slug":"colum-the-golden-fleece","title":"The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles","author":"Padraic Colum","reason":"The heroes hold together through the Clashing Rocks and carry the Argo on their shoulders across the Libyan desert.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-great-gatsby","title":"The Great Gatsby","author":"F. Scott Fitzgerald","reason":"Nick alone stays to arrange Gatsby's funeral and tries to bring his so-called friends to it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"fielding-tom-jones","title":"The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling","author":"Henry Fielding","reason":"Partridge follows Tom through danger and poverty, and Tom provides for him in the end.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-hobbit","title":"The Hobbit","author":"J. R. R. Tolkien","reason":"Bilbo frees the dwarves from the spiders and the Elvenking's dungeons though they have often scorned him.","vices":[]},{"slug":"homeric-hymns","title":"The Homeric Hymns","author":"Anonymous (Homeric)","reason":"Hermes and Apollo end their quarrel over the stolen cattle by exchanging the lyre and the herdsman's staff.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-hound-of-the-baskervilles","title":"The Hound of the Baskervilles","author":"Arthur Conan Doyle","reason":"Watson stays at Sir Henry's side on the moor as Holmes asked, and Holmes later admits how much his friend's reports and loyalty mattered.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-house-at-pooh-corner","title":"The House at Pooh Corner","author":"A. A. Milne","reason":"In Galleons Lap Pooh promises Christopher Robin that he will not forget him, not even when he is a hundred.","vices":["disloyalty"]},{"slug":"huxley-wilberforce-debate","title":"The Huxley-Wilberforce Debate","author":"Thomas Henry Huxley and Samuel Wilberforce","reason":"Huxley and Hooker spoke for the absent and ailing Darwin, and Hooker wrote to him within two days to tell him what had happened.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-jungle-book","title":"The Jungle Book","author":"Rudyard Kipling","reason":"Baloo, Bagheera and Kaa set aside their own fears and quarrels to rescue Mowgli from the Cold Lairs.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-last-battle","title":"The Last Battle","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Tirian and Jewel stand together from the first rash charge to the final battle and pass through the door side by side.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-last-days-of-socrates","title":"The Last Days of Socrates","author":"Plato","reason":"Crito, Phaedo, and the companions stay with Socrates to the end, and the Phaedo closes by calling him the best and wisest of men.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-last-of-the-mohicans","title":"The Last of the Mohicans","author":"James Fenimore Cooper","reason":"At Uncas's grave Hawkeye takes Chingachgook's hand and tells him that he is not alone.","vices":[]},{"slug":"sterne-tristram-shandy","title":"The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman","author":"Laurence Sterne","reason":"Corporal Trim serves Toby for years as companion and fellow engineer, and the brothers Walter and Toby stay affectionate through every quarrel over their hobby-horses.","vices":[]},{"slug":"boswell-life-of-johnson","title":"The Life of Samuel Johnson","author":"James Boswell","reason":"He joins Reynolds in founding the Literary Club in 1764 and keeps faith with Boswell, Garrick and the Thrales for decades.","vices":[]},{"slug":"life-of-st-teresa-of-jesus","title":"The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus","author":"Teresa of Avila","reason":"She defines prayer itself as friendship with God and relies on friends such as Peter of Alcantara in the work of reform.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-lion-the-witch-and-the-wardrobe","title":"The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Susan and Lucy refuse to leave Aslan alone on his last night and stay to weep over him and pull the muzzle from his face.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-little-prince","title":"The Little Prince","author":"Antoine de Saint-Exupéry","reason":"The fox and the prince tame each other through patient daily visits, and though the fox says he will cry at their parting, he counts the taming worth it for the colour of the wheat fields.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-lord-of-the-rings","title":"The Lord of the Rings","author":"J. R. R. Tolkien","reason":"Legolas and Gimli, of peoples long estranged, become inseparable through the war.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-merchant-of-venice","title":"The Merchant of Venice","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"Antonio signs a bond for his own flesh so that Bassanio can go to Belmont to court Portia.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood","title":"The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood","author":"Howard Pyle","reason":"Merry men share danger and keep loyalty under pressure.","vices":["disloyalty"]},{"slug":"archimedes-the-method","title":"The Method (Geometrical Solutions Derived from Mechanics)","author":"Archimedes","reason":"He shares his private method with Eratosthenes because he trusts his friend's ability to value it.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-misanthrope-and-other-plays","title":"The Misanthrope and Other Plays","author":"Molière","reason":"Alceste’s refusal of any flattery among friends raises the question of how candor and kindness fit together.","vices":["flattery"]},{"slug":"the-nicomachean-ethics","title":"The Nicomachean Ethics","author":"Aristotle","reason":"Books VIII and IX are the classic treatise on friendship.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-odyssey","title":"The Odyssey","author":"Homer","reason":"Penelope, Telemachus, Eumaeus, and the old dog Argos keep faith with an absent master for twenty years.","vices":["disloyalty"]},{"slug":"the-phantom-of-the-opera","title":"The Phantom of the Opera","author":"Gaston Leroux","reason":"The Persian risks his life to guide Raoul through the cellars to rescue Christine.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-phantom-tollbooth","title":"The Phantom Tollbooth","author":"Norton Juster","reason":"Tock stays at Milo's side from the Doldrums to the Castle in the Air, and even the cowardly Humbug finally stands with them against the demons.","vices":[]},{"slug":"poetic-edda","title":"The Poetic Edda","author":"Anonymous (Old Norse)","reason":"Hovamol 119 urges a man to visit a trusted friend often, for brambles and waving grass grow on the rarely trodden road.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-prince-and-the-pauper","title":"The Prince and the Pauper","author":"Mark Twain","reason":"Miles Hendon protects a boy he believes mad and takes his lashes in the stocks in Chapter XXVIII.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-railway-children","title":"The Railway Children","author":"E. Nesbit","reason":"Bobbie stays alone in the dark tunnel with the injured Jim while the others go for help.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ramayana","title":"The Ramayana","author":"Valmiki","reason":"Hanuman leaps the sea to Lanka and later carries a mountain of herbs from the Himalaya in loyal service to Rama and Sugriva.","vices":["disloyalty"]},{"slug":"the-red-badge-of-courage","title":"The Red Badge of Courage","author":"Stephen Crane","reason":"Wilson nurses the returning Henry with coffee, a wet handkerchief bandage and his own blankets without questioning his story.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-sign-of-the-beaver","title":"The Sign of the Beaver","author":"Elizabeth George Speare","reason":"At their parting Matt gives Attean his grandfather's watch and Attean leaves Matt his dog, calling him brother.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-silver-chair","title":"The Silver Chair","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Jill, Eustace and Puddleglum quarrel on the way north but stand together in the dark castle and come home as fast friends.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-song-of-hiawatha","title":"The Song of Hiawatha","author":"Henry Wadsworth Longfellow","reason":"He mourns Chibiabos for seven weeks with a lament that names him the sweetest of all singers.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-song-of-roland","title":"The Song of Roland","author":"Anonymous","reason":"Roland and Oliver remain companions to death despite their quarrel.","vices":[]},{"slug":"st-crispins-day-speech","title":"The St Crispin's Day Speech","author":"William Shakespeare","reason":"He promises that whoever sheds his blood with him shall be his brother, however humble his condition.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-story-of-my-life","title":"The Story of My Life","author":"Helen Keller","reason":"Helen fills her last chapter with thanks to the friends who read to her and believed in her.","vices":[]},{"slug":"camus-the-stranger","title":"The Stranger","author":"Albert Camus","reason":"Céleste, the café owner, stands up in court and insists that the killing was a misfortune and that Meursault is a good man.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-subjection-of-women","title":"The Subjection of Women","author":"John Stuart Mill","reason":"Chapter II pictures the ideal marriage as a friendship of equals who share pursuits and improve one another.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-swiss-family-robinson","title":"The Swiss Family Robinson","author":"Johann David Wyss","reason":"Four very different brothers learn to depend on each other's gifts, which the father names as the book's chief blessing.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-three-musketeers","title":"The Three Musketeers","author":"Alexandre Dumas","reason":"The four swear their oath in Chapter IX and keep it on the ride to London, each willing to be left behind so that d'Artagnan can reach Buckingham.","vices":[]},{"slug":"ibn-battuta-travels","title":"The Travels of Ibn Battuta","author":"Ibn Battuta","reason":"Hospices, judges and rulers welcome him across the Islamic world, and he records their hospitality, such as the cells with food for travellers in the Persian mountains.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-trojan-war","title":"The Trojan War","author":"Olivia Coolidge","reason":"Achilles' grief and fury at Patroclus's death show how deeply the two companions were bound.","vices":[]},{"slug":"euripides-trojan-women-and-other-plays","title":"The Trojan Women and Other Plays","author":"Euripides","reason":"Pylades tends Orestes through his fit on the Taurian shore and then refuses to save himself by leaving his friend to die.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-true-story-of-my-life","title":"The True Story of My Life","author":"Hans Christian Andersen","reason":"He records with gratitude the friendship of Collin, Thorvaldsen, Ingemann and Jenny Lind.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-trumpet-of-the-swan","title":"The Trumpet of the Swan","author":"E. B. White","reason":"Sam keeps the swans' secret, takes Louis to school, and travels to Philadelphia to win Louis and Serena their freedom from the zoo.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-voyage-of-the-dawn-treader","title":"The Voyage of the Dawn Treader","author":"C. S. Lewis","reason":"Edmund comforts the newly changed Eustace by confessing that he himself had once been worse, a traitor in the first Narnian winter.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-wind-in-the-willows","title":"The Wind in the Willows","author":"Kenneth Grahame","reason":"Rat, Mole, and Badger rescue and reform Toad together.","vices":["disloyalty"]},{"slug":"the-witch-of-blackbird-pond","title":"The Witch of Blackbird Pond","author":"Elizabeth George Speare","reason":"Nat Eaton brings Prudence to Kit's examination and takes Hannah away on the Dolphin.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-woman-in-white","title":"The Woman in White","author":"Wilkie Collins","reason":"Marian finds Laura in the asylum, bribes the nurse to free her, and lives with her in hiding until her name is restored.","vices":[]},{"slug":"the-wonderful-wizard-of-oz","title":"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz","author":"L. Frank Baum","reason":"Dorothy refuses to leave the Lion in the Wicked Witch's yard and secretly brings him food until they can escape together.","vices":[]},{"slug":"this-side-of-paradise","title":"This Side of Paradise","author":"F. Scott Fitzgerald","reason":"At Atlantic City Amory takes Alec's disgrace upon himself so that his friend's name is spared.","vices":[]},{"slug":"twenty-thousand-leagues-under-the-sea","title":"Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea","author":"Jules Verne","reason":"Trapped under the Antarctic ice, Conseil and Ned give Aronnax the last good air in the diving tanks to keep him alive.","vices":[]},{"slug":"tennyson-ulysses","title":"Ulysses","author":"Alfred, Lord Tennyson","reason":"He calls his old mariners to share the last voyage as they shared the thunder and the sunshine before.","vices":[]},{"slug":"unbroken","title":"Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption","author":"Laura Hillenbrand","reason":"Louie and Phil hold each other together through the raft and the camps at Kwajalein and Ofuna.","vices":[]},{"slug":"beckett-waiting-for-godot","title":"Waiting for Godot","author":"Samuel Beckett","reason":"Vladimir covers the sleeping Estragon with his own coat in Act II, and the two never abandon each other despite their quarrels.","vices":[]},{"slug":"watership-down","title":"Watership Down","author":"Richard Adams","reason":"Fiver follows his dream to find his wounded brother in the drain after the Nuthanger raid.","vices":[]},{"slug":"where-the-red-fern-grows","title":"Where the Red Fern Grows","author":"Wilson Rawls","reason":"Old Dan and Little Ann attack the mountain lion to protect Billy, and Little Ann will not live after Old Dan dies.","vices":[]},{"slug":"white-fang","title":"White Fang","author":"Jack London","reason":"His devotion to Weedon Scott leads him to break through a window to follow him onto the Aurora.","vices":[]},{"slug":"winnie-the-pooh","title":"Winnie-the-Pooh","author":"A. A. Milne","reason":"Adventures are held together by loyal help across tempers.","vices":["disloyalty"]}],"quotes":[{"id":"a-wonder-book-q7","citation":"\"But if thy faith had not helped me, I should never have waited for Pegasus, and never have gone up above the clouds, and never have conquered the terrible Chimæra.\" — Nathaniel Hawthorne, A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys, The Chimæra (Project Gutenberg eBook #32242)."},{"id":"adventures-of-huckleberry-finn-q6","citation":"\"All right, then, I’ll _go_ to hell\" — Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapter XXXI (Project Gutenberg #76 text)."},{"id":"emma-q5","citation":"\"She is poor; she has sunk from the comforts she was born to; and, if she live to old age, must probably sink more. Her situation should secure your compassion. It was badly done, indeed!\" — Jane Austen, Emma, Vol. III, Ch. VII (Project Gutenberg #158)."},{"id":"essays-montaigne-q5","citation":"\"If a man should importune me to give a reason why I loved him, I find it could no otherwise be expressed, than by making answer: because it was he, because it was I\" — Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Book I, Ch. XXVII, 'Of Friendship', trans. Charles Cotton (1685-1686)."},{"id":"emerson-essays-q7","citation":"\"A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud.\" — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: First Series (Self-Reliance and Other Essays), VI. Friendship (Project Gutenberg #2944)."},{"id":"hans-brinker-q5","citation":"\"you have called me your friend. Take this strap--quick!\" — Mary Mapes Dodge, Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates, Chapter 44, The Race (Project Gutenberg #764)."},{"id":"henry-v-q9","citation":"\"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers\" — William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act 4, Scene 3 (Project Gutenberg #1521, modern spelling)."},{"id":"incidents-in-the-life-of-a-slave-girl-q6","citation":"\"when I speak of Mrs. Bruce as my friend, the word is sacred.\" — Harriet A. Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Chapter XLI, Free at Last (Project Gutenberg #11030 (1861 text))."},{"id":"kidnapped-q5","citation":"\"We’re neither one of us to mend the other--that’s the truth! We must just bear and forbear, man Alan\" — Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, Chapter XXIV (1886 text)."},{"id":"kidnapped-q6","citation":"\"For just precisely what I thought I liked about ye, was that ye never quarrelled:--and now I like ye better\" — Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, Chapter XXIV (1886 text)."},{"id":"usama-ibn-munqidh-memoirs-q1","citation":"\"Between us were mutual bonds of amity and friendship.\" — Usama ibn Munqidh, Memoirs of Usama ibn Munqidh, Section I, ch. 8 (An Appreciation of the Frankish Character), trans. Philip K. Hitti."},{"id":"the-call-of-the-wild-q6","citation":"\"Love, genuine passionate love, was his for the first time.\" — Jack London, The Call of the Wild, Chapter VI (Project Gutenberg text)."},{"id":"the-comedy-of-errors-q8","citation":"\"We came into the world like brother and brother, And now let’s go hand in hand, not one before another.\" — William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors, Act 5, Scene 1 (Project Gutenberg #1504)."},{"id":"the-great-gatsby-q5","citation":"\"You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.\" — F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Chapter VIII (Project Gutenberg #64317 (1925 text))."},{"id":"the-jungle-book-q3","citation":"\"We be of one blood, ye and I\" — Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, Kaa's Hunting (Project Gutenberg #236)."},{"id":"the-last-days-of-socrates-q5","citation":"\"Such was the end, Echecrates, of our friend; concerning whom I may truly say, that of all the men of his time whom I have known, he was the wisest and justest and best\" — Plato, The Last Days of Socrates, Phaedo 118a, trans. Benjamin Jowett (1892)."},{"id":"the-last-of-the-mohicans-q6","citation":"\"The gifts of our colors may be different, but God has so placed us as to journey in the same path.\" — James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans, Chapter XXXIII (Project Gutenberg #940)."},{"id":"boswell-life-of-johnson-q3","citation":"\"A man, Sir, should keep his friendship in constant repair.\" — James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, 1755 (Aetat. 46) (Project Gutenberg #1564 (Osgood abridgment, 1917))."},{"id":"life-of-st-teresa-of-jesus-q3","citation":"\"mental prayer is nothing else, in my opinion, but being on terms of friendship with God, frequently conversing in secret with Him Who, we know, loves us.\" — Teresa of Avila, The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, Chapter VIII, § 7, trans. David Lewis."},{"id":"the-prince-and-the-pauper-q3","citation":"\"And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!\" — Mark Twain, The Prince and the Pauper, Chapter XII (Project Gutenberg #1837)."},{"id":"the-prince-and-the-pauper-q7","citation":"\"Let him go--I will take his lashes.\" — Mark Twain, The Prince and the Pauper, Chapter XXVIII (Project Gutenberg #1837)."},{"id":"the-swiss-family-robinson-q7","citation":"\"how blessed are the results of patient continuance in well-doing, what benefits arise from the thoughtful application of knowledge and science, and how good and pleasant a thing it is when brethren dwell together in unity, under the eye of parental love\" — Johann David Wyss, The Swiss Family Robinson, Chapter XVIII, trans. W. H. G. Kingston (1879)."},{"id":"the-thirty-nine-steps-q5","citation":"\"He was a true friend in need, that old roadman.\" — John Buchan, The Thirty-Nine Steps, Chapter VII (Project Gutenberg #558)."},{"id":"euripides-trojan-women-and-other-plays-q5","citation":"\"No, not in blood. In love we are brothers sworn.\" — Euripides, The Trojan Women and Other Plays, Iphigenia in Tauris, questioning of the strangers, trans. Gilbert Murray (1910)."},{"id":"white-fang-q6","citation":"\"And love was the plummet dropped down into the deeps of him where like had never gone.\" — Jack London, White Fang, Part IV, Chapter VI (Project Gutenberg text)."}]}]}