My father was a fine man, and a doctor. A plain honest-to-goodness general practitioner who cared deeply about his work, his patients and who got up at night to make house calls. He was known as a remarkable diagnostician and an excellent surgeon. When he died, I was deeply touched to know that more than a thousand people were at his funeral.
From the time I was quite small, I remember him regularly saying to me "The only important thing Brett, is to live an honourable life." When I got old enough to ask such questions, I asked him "What does that mean, Dad? How do I do that?"
He said, to live an honourable life:
You must know what, at any one time, you believe.
You must know why you believe those things.
You must be prepared to stand up for those beliefs.
You must be prepared to take the consequences for doing that.