Top Values Tool™

Determine Which Values you Prefer

Top Values Tool

The following values inventory was created by Jason Merchey to determine which “Value Set” you most prefer (i.e., which are your “top values”).
A Value Set is a grouping of two or three values that in some way are similar (one is “Strength and Courage”, for example).
Spend 10-30 minutes reflecting on the examples of values you are presented.
Please check the number that describes your attraction to the following statements, with “1” meaning “absolutely none” and “10” meaning “an enthusiastic yes!”.
Your preferences will be ranked from highest to lowest by the computer.
By clicking here, you agree to receive feedback and suggestions about your top values, ethics, inspiration and wisdom. It’s free, and your email address won’t be traded or sold.

Man masters nature not by force, but by understanding. – Jacob Bronowski (b. 1908) Polish-American writer

Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late. – Benjamin Franklin (b. 1706) American statesman

Recommend to your children virtue; that alone can make them happy, not gold. – Ludwig von Beethoven (b. 1770) German composer

This is the journey that men make: to find themselves. If they fail in this, it doesn’t matter much what else they find. – James A. Michener (b. 1907) American novelist

Competition and individualism appear to be basic human needs, and society benefits from them. But they need to be tempered and balanced by care. – Pearl M. Oliner & Samuel P. Oliner, American sociologists

Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves? – Friedrich Nietzsche (b. 1844) German philosopher

He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (b. 1749) German writer

There are no shortcuts to any place worth going. – Beverly Sills (b. 1929) American opera singer

If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living. – Gail Sheehy American political writer

One doesn't have a sense of humor. It has you. – Larry Gelbart (b. 1923) American author

He first practices what he preaches, and then he preaches according to this practice. – Confucius (b. 550, B.C.E.) Chinese philosopher

You take people as far as they will go, not as far as you would like them to go. – Jeanette Rankin (b. 1880) - American pacifist and social activist

Your work is to discover your work, and then with all your heart to give yourself to it. – Siddhartha Gautama (b. 623 B.C.E.) The Buddha.

When a man is wrapped up in himself he makes a pretty small package. – John Ruskin (b. 1819) English artist and critic

When has justice ever been as simple as a rule book? – Ralph Wills

The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war. – Ralph Waldo Emerson (b. 1803) American writer and pioneer in personal development

True contentment is the power of getting out of any situation all there is in it. – G. K. Chesterton (b. 1874) English writer

Freewill , though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of automata – of creatures that worked like machines – would hardly be worth creating. – C. S. Lewis (b. 1898) Irish writer

If we think we have ours and don't owe any time or money or effort to help those left behind, then we are a part of the problem rather than the solution to the fraying social fabric that threatens all Americans. – Marian Wright Edelman (b. 1939) children’s advocate

Peace is possible around the world, and children are the answer. – Quincy Jones (b. 1933) American music producer

Don’t worry. Be happy. – Meher Baba (b. 1894) Persian-Indian self-described guru

When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on. – Thomas Jefferson (b. 1743) Thinker, writer, statesman.

The more tests of hardship one passes, the greater he will become. – Chinese proverb

Not for pleasure does man strive, but for power…the most alive feeling of power. – Friedrich Nietzsche (b. 1844) German philosopher

A king without learning is but a crowned ass. – English proverb

If you wish to learn the highest truth, you must begin with the alphabet. – Japanese proverb

Without courage, we cannot hold out against the worst in ourselves or others. – André Comte-Sponville (b. 1952) French philosopher

Two men look out through the same bars; one sees the mud and one the stars. – Frederick Langbridge (b. 1849) English poet and reverend

Something is wrong in America when I’m paying a lower tax rate than my secretary. – Warren Buffett (b. 1930) wealthy American philanthropist

Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons. – Bertrand Russell (b. 1872) English philosopher and agnostic.

If I have seen farther it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. – attributed to Isaac Newton (b. 1643) English physicist

Why were the adults who faced World War II the “greatest generation?” Not because they were made of different stuff than we are, but because they faced a time of trouble that evoked the ancient strengths within. – Martin E. P. Seligman, Psychologist and pioneer of “positive psychology”

I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn. – Albert Einstein (b. 1879) German-American physicist

Patience and passage of time do more than strength and fury. – Jean de la Fontaine (b. 1621) French writer

That I did not fail was due in part to patience.... – Jane Goodall (b. 1934) scientist.

How could I integrate my need for spirituality and love with my desire for material comforts and the good life? How could I stop keeping score the old way and start keeping score a new way? How could I build a truly successful, happy life – one of significance? – Mark Albion, American writer

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness. – Tenzin Gyatso (b. 1935) The Tibetan Buddhist philosophical leader

America has incredibly difficult issues and an honest search for solutions can only come from a sustained effort by the broadest array of America’s brightest and wisest men and women. What the U.S. really needs is leadership that could marshal that effort. – Bob Herbert, journalist for The New York Times

Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth. – Albert Einstein

Sometimes you just have to bow to the absurd. – Melinda M. Snodgrass (b. 1951) American writer

Better to build schoolrooms for the boy than cells for the man. – Eliza Cook (b. 1818) English author

There are no victims in this society. There are trials and tribulations and difficulties that stem from race and gender and whatever, but I believe you must take responsibility for yourself. You have to believe that you can take charge of your life. – Condoleeza Rice (b. 1954) National Security Advisor to George W. Bush

Diligence is the Mother of Good luck. – Benjamin Franklin (b. 1706) Founding Father of America

It is never too late to be what you might have been. – George Eliot (b. 1819) English writer

Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve. – Erich Fromm (b. 1900) German-American psychologist.

Creativity belongs to the artist in each of us. To create means to relate. The root meaning of the word art is "to fit together" and we all do this every day. Not all of us are painters but we are all artists. Each time we fit things together we are creating – whether it is to make a loaf of bread, a child, a day. – Corita Kent (b. 1918) American muralist

If you let yourself be absorbed completely, if you surrender completely to the moments as they pass, you live more richly those moments. – Anne Morrow Lindbergh (b. 1906) American writer

You can stand tall without standing on someone. You can be a victor without having victims. – Harriet Woods

When in doubt, risk it. – Holbrook Jackson (b. 1874) English journalist

What is important is how closely we look today at what is done to human beings, what criteria we use for “progress.” We are accustomed to measuring the state of the nation by the numbers on the stock market rather than by how many children die of malnutrition. – Howard Zinn (b. 1922) American radical historian and progressive social activist

The great, wonderful quality of human beings is that we can overcome even absolute terror, and we do. – Isabel Allende (b. 1942) Chilean-American writer

In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of doing wrong deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. – Martin Luther King, Jr. (b. 1929) Civil rights pioneer

When I was young, I was put in a school for retarded kids for two years before they realized I actually had a hearing loss. And they called ME slow! – Kathy Buckley (b. 1948) American comedienne

My reality is my reality. I’m not going to deny it. I’m not going to deny it at all. I stand in front of people. Behold my reality. – Carlos Santana (b. 1947) Mexican-American guitarist.

The great man is the one who does not lose his originally good child’s heart. – Mencius (372 B.C.E.) Chinese philosopher

Blessed is he who expects no gratitude, for he shall not be disappointed. – W. C. Bennett (b. 1867)

Every child is an artist; the problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. – Pablo Picasso (b. 1881) Spanish artist

When we grant another person the status of hero, we instinctively protect his claim to superiority by denying our own full potential for empowerment. – Sue Erikson Bloland, American psychoanalyst

We all belong to one human family. – Irene, rescuer of Jews during World War II.

There is no hell like a troubled conscience. – English proverb

The government was set to protect man from criminals – and the Constitution was written to protect man from the government. – Ayn Rand (b. 1905) Russian-American writer

Human kindness shines like blazing torches. Kindness is an act of mercy given away responsibly by a person who has every right to express wrath. – Alwyn Pereira, church-based youth leader

The voyage of discovery lies not in finding new landscapes but in having new eyes. – Marcel Proust (b. 1871) French writer

Success is often just an idea away. – Frank Tyger

Know thyself – Socrates (b. 469, B.C.E.) Ancient Greek philosopher

Men show their character in nothing more clearly than by what they think laughable. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (b. 1749) German writer

It's a matter of taking the side of the weak against the strong, something the best people have always done. – Harriet Beecher Stowe (b. 1811) American writer

Fear feeds on itself; so does confidence and self-reliance. Make your choice. – Leonard Leeman (b. 1938) American writer

Great is truth, and it prevails. – III Esdras, 4:41

What a lovely surprise to discover how un-lonely being alone can be. – Ellen Burstyn (b. 1932) American actressx

If you think you’re too small to make a difference, you’ve never been in bed with a mosquito. – Anita Roddick (b. 1942) English social activist and socially-responsible entrepreneur

The ultimate aim of the human mind, in all its efforts, is to become acquainted with Truth. – Eliza Farnham (b. 1815) American novelist and social reformer

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage. – Anais Nin (b. 1903) French-American writerx

We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world. – Helen Keller (b. 1880) Extraordinary woman.

The longest journey is the journey inwards of him who has chosen his destiny. – Dag Hammarskjöld (b. 1905) Swedish statesman

The aim of a joke is not to degrade the human being but to remind him that he is already degraded. – George Orwell (b. 1903) English writer

Be creative with every moment. – Jan Phillips (b. 1949) writer and thought leader

I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself. – Mikhail Baryshnikov (b. 1948) Russian dancer

It requires no wisdom to become a father, but it does to be one. – Leonard Leeman American writer

Human happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected. – George Washington (b. 1732) America’s first president

Never assume the obvious is true. – William Safire (b. 1929) American writer and political thinker.

I found that if business is managed from the heart, great things can and will happen. All that is stopping us is our imagination. – Anita Roddick (b. 1942) Owner of the socially-responsible “The Body Shop”

If we don’t turn around now, we just may get where we’re going – Navajo proverb

He who commits wrong must suffer wrong. – Ralph Waldo Emerson (b. 1803) American writer and pioneer of personal growth

It is better to receive an injury than to inflict one. – Cicero (b. 106, B.C.E.) Roman orator and statesman

Learn to say no. It will be more use to you than to able to read Latin. – Charles Spurgeon (b. 1834) English preacher and writer

There is a kind of virtue that lies not in extraordinary actions, not in saving poor orphans from burning buildings, but in steadfastly working for a world where orphans are not poor and buildings comply with decent fire codes. – Randy Cohen Writer on ethics

A day you waste is one you can never make up. – George Allen (b. 1922) American sports coach

Happiness depends upon ourselves. – Aristotle (b. 384, B.C.E.) Ancient Greek philosopher

I feel that if one follows what I call one’s “bliss”– the thing that really gets you deep in the gut and that you feel is your life– doors will open up. They do! They have in my life and they have in many lives I know of. – Joseph Campbell (b. 1904) American cultural anthropologist and writer

I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to: liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other. – Harriet Tubman (b. 1819) American slave and abolitionist

In the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher. – Tenzin Gyatso (b. 1935) The fourteenth Dalai Lama.

The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding. – Leonardo da Vinci (b. 1452) Italian inventor and scientist.

Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be "damned if you do, and damned if you don't." – Eleanor Roosevelt

I was sad to see my father cry, but I understood it, because sometimes a man has to cry. – Rudolfo A. Anaya (b. 1937) Mexican-American writer

He who wants a rose must respect the thorn. – Persian proverb

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. – Mohandas K. Gandhi (b. 1869) Indian peace and justice pioneer.

Don’t judge anyone harshly until you have been through his experiences. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (b. 1749) German writer

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