This is a moral maxim, one which very beautifully expresses the superiority of ethical over material merit. It will do immense good to mankind if the noble and lofty teachings embodied in this and other such maxims were duly unfolded and their implications clearly explained.
Life is a development in which the endeavour of man should be to travel daily towards greater and greater perfection. A life which has no direction to move in and in which one only lives in the physical sense is called “vegetation,” which means living like a thing without mind, growing merely physically. Such a life is a descent from the higher human level to a lower, unconscious, and unthinking level. The superiority of man over the rest of creation consists in nothing but the possession of a mind and an urge to excel in things of the mind and the spirit rather than in things of the body.
From this point, we come to the next: What are the great directions in which human life is to seek its perfection or the fullness of its development? These directions are variously called moral aims, ideals, or values. An ideal is a state of perfection towards which we must endeavour to travel, but which is so high that we human beings, with our limited span of life and the many weaknesses inherent in us, may never hope to reach. But there is great merit even in having felt the urge and the pull upward and in having made an effort to rise towards it.
A “value” means an idea which represents something desirable in itself rather than for the sake of something else. A small distinction may help make this clear. Wealth is a good thing, yet it is not good in itself. It is good only in so far as it helps us achieve other ends—such as the necessities of life, power, or influence. These other things, which come as a consequence of possessing wealth, in turn may not be good in themselves but may only serve as means to further ends. On the other hand, contemplating nobility is something good in itself; it is desirable for its own sake, and we cannot imagine it as merely an intervening stage to something higher.
The maxim which stands at the head of this essay expresses the conception of a value. Our criterion of judgment in life is ordinarily limited and shallow. We are carried away either by stupidity or selfishness in valuing things of a lower kind. Goodness does not lie in wealth or in power. These are merely moral or non-moral things—neither inherently good nor bad. Their goodness or badness is determined by the direction they take, by the use to which they are put. The thing which is really good, and which determines whether a man is truly good or “handsome,” whether he is worthy of our praise or not, is this quality of doing something “handsome”—that is, something morally good.