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I write to try to find out who I am. One of my main themes is manliness. I think I'm trying to figure out what manliness really is.

If you're a man, you don't have to worry about your manliness.

I think it's safe to say that 'manliness' was a common theme in my upbringing. It was an assumed status, but - and here's the important bit - it was the Rudyard Kipling kind. The emphasis was on gentlemanly conduct, sportsmanship, fairness and stoicism.

I'll be the judge of my own manliness.

To feel much for others and little for ourselves; to restrain our selfishness and exercise our benevolent affections, constitute the perfection of human nature.

I'm insatiably curious about human nature.

I think goodness is about how person behaves to person, and also person to world, to nature.

To be meek, patient, tactful, modest, honorable, brave, is not to be either manly or womanly; it is to be humane.

Manhood is taking care of your family and being able to bless other people. Not yourself - but whether you can bless other people.

Mencius said that human nature is good. I disagree with that.