7 classical virtues of trust, justice, hope, temperance, wisdom, courage and compassion - and how this applies to medicine

We often receive an email from the Chief of Staff on Wednesdays. The email is meant to unite the physicians at Cleveland Clinic around a common idea/topic/thought for that week.

One of the emails mentioned "A virtuous culture built on the seven classical virtues of trust, justice, hope, temperance, wisdom, courage and compassion. These virtues offer us 25 centuries of wisdom about human conduct at its best."

As a simple exercise, try thinking about one of those each day of the week, make it the "theme of the day":

Monday - Trust
Tuesday - Justice
Wednesday - Hope
Thursday - Temperance
Friday - Wisdom
Saturday - Courage
Sunday - Compassion

These concepts are not new, of course. There have been multiple different variations proposed throughout the centuries. Some examples are references below. If you feel adventurous, don't limit yourself to 7 virtues but consider the 24 Prussian virtues below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussian_virtues

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_virtues

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_virtues