“Anybody knew that no two men were alike. You could measure cloth with a yardstick, or distance by miles, but you could not lump men together and measure them by any rule. Brains and character did not depend on anything but the man himself. Some men did not have the sense at sixty that some had at sixteen. And Almanzo considered that he was as good, any day, as any man twenty-one years old.
“Almanzo’s father thought so too. A man had the right to keep his sons at work for him until they were twenty-one years old. But Almanzo’s father had put his boys to work early and trained them well. Almanzo had learned to save money before he was ten and he had been doing a man’s work on the farm since he was nine. When he was seventeen, his father had judged that he was a man and had given him his own free time…”
-from The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder, describing why Almanzo was homesteading, despite being younger than the required age of 21
“Honor is not something to be worn on a man’s sleeve like a lady’s favor. It is a quality deep within a man, giving him humility and understanding and kindness-as well as bravery.”
- Senhor Andrea Bianco to Dom Joao Goncalves. From The Mapmaker
“A man’s character may be judged most truly by what he laughs at.” – Unknown
“Discipline will bring payoffs in whatever area of life you apply it.
The payoff for Spiritual discipline is a stable Christian life – maturity, usefulness, satisfaction, contentedness.
The payoff for Relational discipline is a flourishing marriage and family life along with a network of significant relationships.
The payoff for Physical discipline is a fit body, increased energy, resistance to sickness, lower insurance rates, higher concentration levels and increased self-worth.
The payoff for Financial discipline is freedom from debt and the satisfaction of knowing your little nest egg is growing.”
-Dr. Bill Hybels
Originally Published in the YLCFJ Spring 2001, #30
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