How many of you have learned significant moral lessons from a book?

Question

I have, it was a Calvin and Hobbes anthology.

Answer 1

Stranger in a Strange Land... But good o'l Calvin has also become a classic... Sad to see the end of For Better or Worse... also a good source....

Answer 2

I have. The Bible, The Brothers Karazamov, Bleak House, Brideshead Revisited, Mansfield Park, The Chosen, anything by Ursula LeGuin or Andre Norton, etc.
I would not include Calvin and Hobbes as 'significant moral lessons', but I 'relearned' some things that come more naturally to children, that is too bad when adults forget them. Have a great day!

Answer 3

Actually, I'm mostly self taught. Several years ago, I broke down and took a classical guitar class at the local university (Yes, I can spell too!) to work on my finger-picking technique. Before that, the extent of my lessons was a three day clinic taught at my elementary school. Most of what I know, however, came from a lot of hard work and a good ear. As for being a teacher, being published, being on the radio/television and being recorded. I wouldn't break my arm patting myself on the back, if I were you. I have done all of that, myself, and could name, off the top of my head, at least a dozen close friends (some of whom you may have even heard of), who have all done the same. That said, what has it changed, or, how has it improved my life: well, I can't necessarily say how, or if it has changed, or improved my life. I've been playing for almost thirty years, and can't really remember a time when I did not play. As for improvments, I have been dragged out of semi-retirement to play twelve string or other types of guitars, banjos, mandolins, etc. whenever they become fashionable for a minute or two. Plus, I have learned enough, partly through playing, to be able to do repairs on instruments, and to build them outright, which is always good for extra cash, so. I guess those could be labeled as lifestyle improvments.

Answer 4

The older I get, the easier I learn from books, even books that my eight year old granddaughter reads to me. Some are moral lessons, and some are just good insights into human nature. I was profoundly affected by many things I read as a young woman, but I still found it necessary to hit every bump in the road and make many wrong decisions, though deep down I knew they were wrong. I guess I just finally grew up. I am still learning. One of my friends obtained a tattered copy of "The House of Borgia" when we were in seventh grade, and I was shocked that such evil could be imagined, let alone carried out by one human being against another.

Answer 5

I love Calvin and Hobbes! Did you see the one today where the lifeguard tells everyone to get into the water and Calvin doesn't want to??
She says, "Calvin, Do you know what a 'rat tail' is? Calvin says, "no." The lifeguard says, "It's when you soak a towel and twist it up into a whip. It stings like crazy and is much worse than being cold. Get my drift?"
Calvin says, "I always thought life-guards were just taught how to resuscitate people and things like that."

The moral lesson from that: We need to not only listen and obey, we need to understand the consequences of disobedience!

Answer 6

Calvin and Hobbes is a great source of joy. Currently I am a rabid Get Fuzzy and Pearls Before Swine fan. Kurt Vonnegut has been a guiding light in my life.

Answer 7

Son of the Circus, --John Irving, thumbs up for moral lessons
Family Circus--well, Jeffy is kind of drooly
Calvin & Hobbes--why is Calvin always pis$ing on everything?

Answer 8

lol I have a collection of Calvin and Hobbes. Good moral lessons books. lol

Answer 9

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream -- and not make dreams your master,
If you can think -- and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings -- nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man, my son!

~ Rudyard Kipling

Answer 10

I LOVE Calvin and Hobbes. I have the whole collection, hardcover special edition and all and have read it many times. I have learned a great deal from him. I mean my transmorgifier is top notch now. OOPS! did I say that out loud....crap.