Within our control are our own opinions, aspi-rations, desires, and the things that repel us. These areas are quite rightly our concern, because they are directly subject to our influence. We always have a choice about the contents and character of our inner lives.

Now is the time to get serious about living your ideals. Once you have determined the principles you wish to exemplify, abide by these rules as if they were laws, as if it were indeed sinful to compromise them. The longer you wait, the more you will be vulnerable to mediocrity and feel filled with shame and regret, because you know you are capable of better.

The life of wisdom begins with learning how to put principles, such as "we ought not to lie," into prac-tice. The second step is to demonstrate the truth of the principles, such as why it is that we ought not to lie. The third step, which connects the first two, is to indicate why the explanations suffice to justify the principles. While the second and third steps are valuable, it is the first step that matters most. For it is all too easy and common to lie while cleverly demonstrating that lying is wrong.