Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love… true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in.  — Secondhand Lions

We have to keep our ideals, if for no other reason than to use as a measuring stick against our wants and desires. If what I want doesn’t measure up to my ideals, then I need to take a good hard look both at that want and at what I see in the mirror. In my life, it’s usually when I don’t measure up that things go bad, or when I do the measuring, see that either I or what I want isn’t in line with how I want my life to go, and still go ahead with it.