An author by the name of Vardis Fisher has written a novel, which I have not read, but I suspect that the title suggests more than all of the material that might be included in that volume. The name of the book is Forgive Us Our Virtues. Forgive us our virtues - it’s a prayer that we all might offer. It’s quite easy to pray "forgive us our trespasses"; the higher devotion allows us to say "forgive us our virtues."

Benjamin Franklin is often quoted for his homely wisdom as a guide for those who search for successful living, and I suspect that there is not one among us who could not quote at least one or two of the proverbs from Poor Richard’s Almanac. But Ben Franklin once made a rather sad kind of mistake. It was a mistake that is common to many of us. He decided to adopt a system whereby…