Make sure that however good you may be, you have faults; that however dull you may be, you can find out what they are; and that however slight they may be, you had better make some patient effort to get quit of them. . . . Therefore see that no day passes in which you do not make yourself a somewhat better creature; and in order to do that find out first what you are now. ... If you do not dare to do this, find out why you do not dare, and try to get strength of heart enough to look yourself fairly in the face, in mind as well as in body.
John Ruskin, Sesame and Lilies, 1899
John Ruskin, Sesame and Lilies, 1899
