Probity, virtue, honor, though they should have not received the polish of Europe, will secure to an honest American the good graces of his fair countrywomen.' In America, , in other words, sincerity mattered more than style. And Chesterfield had become synonymous with all the vapid formality that Americans had fought to free themselves from.

I can't speak to whether vegetarianism is healthy. But as Alcott realized, it offers something that other diets cannot: an identity. Once can be a vegetarian, while most other diets are something one can do. He recognized that a diet wasn't merely how one ate, but how one lived.

Thy say that regular belly laughs are key to a happy marriage, even if they're forced. Like Dale Carnegie, they believe that smiling can make you happy.

Down the hall where free day care was being offered, children of parents in the workshops were likewise learning Imago dialogue, and I stopped in to watch. 'What I'm hearing you saying is my bike was in the driveway and you hurt your leg,' one second grader told another kid. 'Did I get that right?