“A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold."  Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9

Do you believe that? It's from the book of Proverbs. You get this sort of moral platitude there.

"A good name is better than silver or gold." Sounds a little quaint, this talk of "a good name." But this is typical of Proverbs. Here is ethics done the old-fashioned (600 B.C.) way -- an older person telling a younger person how to live in order to have a good life. The book of Proverbs is, among other things, a great collection of this sort of wisdom - practical advice on how to get along in the world. Some of it, like any parents' advice, is valuable. Some of Proverbs, you can get along without. "A soft answer turns away wrath." Okay. "Fine speech is not becoming to a foo…