The Moral Compass: Stories for a Life's Journey [Paperback]

More than two million readers have usedThe Book of Virtues,the nationwide #1 bestseller by William J. Bennett, to help their families learn the essential traits of good character.

The Moral Compass,the inspiring and instructive companion volume toThe Book of Virtues,offers many more examples of good and bad, right and wrong, in great works from literature and in exemplary stories from history. Organized by the stages along life's journey, these stories and poems serve as reference points on a moral compass, guiding the reader through the ethical and spiritual challenges along the pathway of life: leaving home, entering into marriage, easing the burdens of others, nurturing one's children, and fulfilling the obligations of citizenship and leadership.

Drawn from familiar Western history and mythology as well as a wide selection of tales and folklore from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, the stories inThe Moral Compassare literary and evocative, designed to inspire as well as instruct. Complete with informative introductions and notes,The Moral Compassis an indispensable guide that will help family members meet the challenges of life at any age.Chapter 1

All children need bread and shelter. But a true home, of course, is much more than that. Children also need love and order and, because they are not born knowing the difference between right and wrong, a place where they can begin to develop a moral sense. The transmission of virtues is one important reason for a home, and attention to the virtues is one of the important ties that bind a family together. It is the peculiarity of man, in comparison with the rest of the animal world, Aristotle wrote, that he alone possesses a perception of good and evil, of the just and the unjust, and of other similar qualities; and it is association in these things which makes a family.

And so home is the place where we receive our first instruction in the virtuelY