Cardinal
Fortitude
The quiet form of courage: keep going when you want to stop.
Try this: Finish the last ten minutes of studying even when your brain wants out.
Φ · Philotimo
Your love and your honor require you to do the right thing.
Philotimo is an ancient Greek word about Love and Honor. It means doing the right thing even when no one is watching and no reward is coming, simply because your own conscience requires it.
For Team Philotimo, the right thing has two joined parts: help people understand the world, and help them build their Seven Quiet Powers.
Seven sides of the fountain at Firefly
The Seven Quiet Powers
Character is trained the same way muscles are, a little every day. The fountain at Firefly has seven sides, one for each power: the four cardinal virtues and the three theological virtues.
When things feel hard
Cardinal
Prudence
Pause before you react.
Try this: When someone makes you angry, wait five full breaths before speaking.
When you have choices
Cardinal
Justice
Be fair, even when no one is scoring you.
Try this: Admit your part in an argument first.
Cardinal
Temperance
Know when enough is enough.
Try this: Set a timer for screens and actually stop when it rings.
When the path isn’t clear
Theological
Faith
Trust that some things matter even when you can’t see the proof yet.
Try this: Keep a promise you made only to yourself.
Theological
Hope
Take the next small step anyway.
Try this: After a failure, write down one thing you will try differently tomorrow.
When someone else needs you
Theological
Charity
Give something of yourself without being asked.
Try this: Notice who is sitting alone and sit with them, or help without announcing it.
These seven powers work in every direction, toward yourself and toward everyone your life touches. Pick one. Practice it today. Then pick another tomorrow.
From the book
The Quiet Powers in Stolen Wells
Each power gets its own full-page plate in the chapter where the team needs it. Tap a page to see it full size.
For families and teachers
A Quiet Power of the week
Pick one power on Monday. Read its page together, try the “Try this,” and talk at dinner about when someone in the family used it. Next week, pick another. Draft
All the pages are in the free Moral Literacy Infographics PDF.
For grown-ups
Why virtues, not rules
Children are usually given rules, and AI is usually given constraints. Neither one is the same as character. Team Philotimo takes the older path: goodness is grown by example and practice. The seven classical virtues show up in nearly every culture and tradition, which is why the books share them with every family. Draft
JoinPhilotimo.com
Join Team Philotimo
The Team Philotimo idea is meant to be shared. Other authors are welcome to write their own Team Philotimo stories set in their own corners of the world, using the premise and the Seven Quiet Powers under an open Creative Commons license. The characters of this series stay with these books. Draft