--- title: "Book: Nobility of Spirit: A Forgotten Ideal" description: "Book: Nobility of Spirit: A Forgotten Ideal" --- [![Main-Logo-01-1](https://blog.thebusinessofgood.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Main-Logo-01-1.png?width=250&height=43&name=Main-Logo-01-1.png "Main-Logo-01-1")](https://www.thebusinessofgood.org) # Tim McCarthy and the Business of Good ## [Book: Nobility of Spirit: A Forgotten Ideal](https://blog.thebusinessofgood.org/articles/book-nobility-of-spirit-a-forgotten-ideal) ** Jan 1, 2010 7:25:00 AM / by [Tim McCarthy](https://blog.thebusinessofgood.org/author/tim-mccarthy) ![](https://blog.thebusinessofgood.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/jan10_RobReimen_NobilityOfSpirit-2.png)Nobility of Spirit: A Forgotten Ideal Written by Rob Riemen [more] Preface: A tough read, this book is a call for a return to Nexus Institute founder believes is the lost ideal of "nobility of spirit." Rob Riemen's starts with a prelude that describes the inspiration for his three essays in the book: dialogue with Thomas Mann's (Doctor Faustus author) daughter, Elizabeth Mann Borgese and her friend, Joseph Goodman, composer of an obscure symphony titled "Nobility of Spirit." In his essays, the book's three chapters, Riemen draws from philosophers and intellectuals as diverse as Socrates, Goethe, Whitman and Camus. And while the coming together of all of it is pretty idealistic and abstract, bordering on anarchic, the very argument that individual dignity and humanism is being lost in our mass world is compelling to me. A favorite quote: "Language cannot tolerate lies. A lie renders words mute, seizes their soul." 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