"Do as Socrates urges: Nurture your soul and help others nurture theirs. In this season of love and friendship and caring, pay attention to beauty of soul, and help it flourish. It is what matters most."

Paul Woodruff was a professor of philosophy and classics for 49 years at the University of Texas at Austin. In 1969 and 1970, he served as a lieutenant and then captain in the U.S. Army in Vietnam. His latest book is “Living Toward Virtue.”