“Sophisticates may smirk at the great expectations of the Victorians -- and there was no shortage of smirking sophisticates at the time -- but the Victorians understood, as most in our culture do not, that there is a necessary connection between being good and pretending to be good.  One can, without endorsing hypocrisy, observe that we could do with a lot more tribute to virtue.  And, of course, the happy fact is that virtue, too, can pay tribute to virtue, and, in the course of doing so, invite others to act upon their capacity to be virtuous.”

-- Richard John Neuhaus, First Things