I learned of Ward Farnsworth reading his book on Socratic method. I knew nothing about him, but his delivery was so striking I found myself asking “Wow! — who is this person?” So I started digging around. It turns out he has written extensively on style, rhetoric and argumentation. And philosophy. And law. And chess. And soon, Latin.

What I admire most about his writing is how every word overflows with respect for the free judgment of his audience. This respect is conveyed not only in the content, but through his use of language. It is palpable in how he addresses you as a reader, and you feel it before you comprehend it: the choice to accept or reject is your own.

I believe this is not only talent or know-how, but the fruits of a life shaped by persuading juries, judges and negotiation partners.

Ward Farnsworth is a genius of liberal virtues.

I want these liberal virtues for myself. They cannot be faked. I have work to do.

I learned of Rilke’s poem, “Archaic Torso of Apollo” from Peter Sloterdijk:

We cannot know his legendary head
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,

gleams in all its power. Otherwise
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
to that dark center where procreation flared.

Otherwise this stone would seem defaced
beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
and would not glisten like a wild beast’s fur:

would not, from all the borders of itself,
burst like a star: for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.