The Road to Character

David Brooks’ The Road to Character, published in 2015, is a philosophical treatise and self-help book hybrid. Brooks believes that in an ego-obsessed, achievement-focused society, our focus is constantly on self-promotion and desire-fulfillment rather than on spiritual enrichment, strength of character, and moral compass. Brooks contrasts the outward-facing, more shallowly motivated self with the inward-facing, more introspectively driven self. After a significant amount of time spent reflecting on his own life experiences as a high-achieving newspaper columnist and political pundit, Brooks has concluded that the latter is ultimately more desirable than the former, and that we should strive to cultivate the inner self more diligently than the outward one.

Brooks refers to the “résumé virtues” of the external self and the “eulogy virtues” of the inner self. With the former, we pursue success and self-promotion in the world; with the latter, we ensure that others will remember us for who we truly are behind the façade. Brooks posits that it is unfortunate how résumé virtues are viewed as more laudable than eulogy ones, leading us to pursue day-to-day rewards and praise at the expense of developing longer-lasting beneficial virtues.

By examining several individuals whose inner qualities he views as laudable, Brooks develops a road map for developing the self that others in our lives will speak of when they remember our “eulogy virtues.