“Fisker was, perhaps, not a man worthy of much thought. He had never read a book. He had never written a line worth reading. He had never said a prayer.”

-the narrator in Anthony Trollope's The Way We Live Now.

This is how Trollope introduces a new character, Fisker, in The Way We Live Now.

I would add a final line to this quote: “And he had never done something that would benefit someone.”

If I prayed, and wrote, and read, and went out and did something, that would be a life worth much thought. I want to pray the sort of prayer that keeps me focused on the highest things—kindness without self abnegation, accomplishment with modesty, even anonymity. I want to write to inspire myself. I want to read so I can learn what my fellow humans know, and when I’m not reading and writing and praying, I want to do something—create something, build something, make something that requires sustained effort over time.

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Do you know of characters who I would find worthy of much thought?

Caroline, replacingmiddlemarch [at] blogspot.com