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A review by mersell
The Road to Character by David Brooks
5.0
The driving question of this book is: How do you foster virtue? Over the the course of 10 chapters, Brooks examines the lives of people like Dorothy Day, St. Augustine, Frances Perkins, George Eliot, and others to understand how they came to embrace the pursuit of goodness — not in the form of religious piety, but in humility, service, honesty, courage, love, and other characteristics that Brooks dubs "eulogy virtues."
This book struck a chord for me, as I've been thinking a lot about how my personal moral and spiritual convictions do or do not find expression in my daily life. What does it matter what I believe if that belief doesn't result in action? Can I honestly claim that I believe people are more important than things, generosity is more valuable than wealth, and integrity is of utmost important if my life doesn't bear out those claims?
The Road to Character issues a much-needed challenge to its readers: Your strivings for personal success, approval, and notoriety are of limited worth compared to pursuing self-giving humility, love, and courage for the good of others. Moral clarity in a time of rampant individualism and relativity would do ourselves, our communities, and broader society a great deal of good.
This book struck a chord for me, as I've been thinking a lot about how my personal moral and spiritual convictions do or do not find expression in my daily life. What does it matter what I believe if that belief doesn't result in action? Can I honestly claim that I believe people are more important than things, generosity is more valuable than wealth, and integrity is of utmost important if my life doesn't bear out those claims?
The Road to Character issues a much-needed challenge to its readers: Your strivings for personal success, approval, and notoriety are of limited worth compared to pursuing self-giving humility, love, and courage for the good of others. Moral clarity in a time of rampant individualism and relativity would do ourselves, our communities, and broader society a great deal of good.