When a man honours his father and mother, God says, “I regard it as though I had dwelt among them and they had honoured me."
A man’s value depends upon his courage and resolution, his veracity depends upon his traits of nobility and self-respect and his chastity depends upon his sense of honor.
We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves. If what we are now has been the result of our own past actions, it certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in future can be produced by our present actions; so we have to know how to act.
Both the good and the pleasant present themselves to a man. The calm soul examines them well and discriminates. Yes, he prefers the good to the pleasant; but the fool chooses the pleasant out of greed and avarice.
