Skip to main content

The Vanishing American Adult by Ben Sasse

Five Character-Building Habits:
1. Discover the body--its potential and its frailty, and the many diverse stages of life that lie ahead--by spending time with people who are not your peers.
2. Develop a Work Ethic--be free to work with delight rather than seeking to be free from work
3. Embrace Limited Consumption--Intentionally try to spend time creating and less time consuming
4. Learn How to Travel, and Travel Light--experience other cultures to better understand your own
5. Learn How to Read and How to Decide What to Read-Help our kids build, explain, and defend their reading choices.  Return to some of the great literature again and again.

"An awareness of one's mortality makes life richer because the important can be emphasized and the trivial marginalized."  p. 96

"A job well done makes the world a better place."  p. 134  (It doesn't so much matter what the job is.)

"I have no patience for the critics who do little but point out how the strong man stumbles...Instead learn to praise the men who are actually in the arena...Praise those who try--because there is no effort without error and shortcoming."  p. 269

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

"...the Count had restricted himself to two succinct pieces of parental advice.  The first was that if one did not master one's circumstances, one was bound to be mastered by them; and the second was Montaigne's maxim that the surest sign of wisdom is constant cheerfulness."  p. 419 "...he was wise enough to know that life does not proceed by leaps and bounds.  It unfolds...Our faculties wax and wane, our experiences accumulate, and our opinions evolve--if not glacially, then at least gradually.  Such that the events of an average day are as likely to transform who we are as a pinch of pepper is to transform a stew."  p. 402 "For his part, the Count had opted for the life of the purposefully unrushed.  Not only was he disinclined to race toward some appointed hour--disdaining even to wear a watch--he took the greatest satisfaction when assuring a friend that a worldly matter could wait in favor of a leisurely lunch or a stroll along the embankment.....

Bridges: Ministering to Those Who Question by David Ostler

"'...listening affirms people.  Indeed, it is one of the highest forms of affirmation.  When we listen, we invite another person to exist.' Listening and allowing people to talk helps them clarify their thoughts and find ways to sort through the challenges they face with someone who supports them."  p. 107 "If we don't help them, they may lose trust that the Church and its leadership can answer the questions that are important to them.  Many faith-challenging issues don't have clear answers; we simply don't know enough, so in addition to communicating the best information we have, we may need to help others see a pathway of faith even in the absence of straightforward answers."  p. 137 "'I needed someone to show me that it was love that was the strongest and largest cord that bound us together, not our common belief in the Church."  p. 157 "With Christ as our example, we minister, listen to, understand, and are blessed by...