Boris Akunin. Pelagia and the black monk (№ 190810)

Each of us has its own norm. And it is the duty of the individual to himself - to rise above this norm. <...> Man those valuable, so interesting, ... if you will, and so great that it can change for the better. Always. At any age, after any failure, any moral decline. In our very psyche has a mechanism of self-improvement. If this mechanism is not used, it rusts, and then the person becomes degraded, falls below its standards.