To be fully aware and embracing of all that is within us and consciously seeking to be all that we can be is our most noble quest.

The most pressing socio-cultural issue of our time is not poverty, injustice, or brain biochemical imbalances. It’s character.

For modern civilization to flourish again, responsible people need to be burdened much less and the irresponsible individuals among us need to be held more accountable than they have been.

Our conceptualizations of the situations we find ourselves in can not only place us at a disadvantage, but can literally do us harm.

Anxiety plays a central role in what we have commonly called neurosis. Anxiety plays a minimal role, however, in the problems of the disordered character.

Neurotics have a big sense of right and wrong, set high standards for themselves, and carry the proverbial world on their shoulders. In contrast, disordered characters have a remarkably impaired, immature, or underdeveloped conscience. In some cases, conscience can be absent altogether.

Neurotics are too quick to feel ashamed when they’ve fallen short and too guilty when they think they’ve done wrong. In contrast, disordered characters are disturbingly lacking in their capacity to experience even healthy levels of shame or guilt.