I don't have kids, but if I did and I was asked to suggest maxims to live by then then it would be these sentiments, the powerful words of the Italian novelist, Natalie Ginsburg, who wrote that children should: "not be taught the little virtues, but the great ones. Not thrift but generosity and an indifference to money; not caution but courage and a contempt for danger; not shrewdness but frankness and a love of truth; not tact but love for one's neighbour and self-denial; not desire for success but a desire to be and to know". It's never too late in life to come across such energising observations. I've been cheered all day since stumbling across them. Serendipity - thank God for it.