Virtue, in a word, is strength. For Shakespeare, "Virtue is bold." Virtue gives us the ability to do the right thing at the right time. A person's character consists of the various virtues he has cultivated.

Virtue is variable and versatile. There is a virtue for every moral challenge. We need courage in the face of danger, wisdom in a crisis, love for all occasions, and kindness on a daily basis.

This book is a series of 32 highly distinctive articles. Each one of them centers on a virtue or a virtuous activity. Its aim is to make virtue attractive as well as dramatic, by demonstrating its importance in a variety of situations. We should all aspire to be virtuous, for it is through virtues that we become fully ourselves. Indeed, virtue is indispensable.