A man who, with inherited temperament, education, and surroundings all against him, makes great efforts and advances even a little way, is morally worthier than one who starts on a level of virtue (for which he is not responsible) higher than the other ever reached, yet makes no effort to rise further.
(E. F. Carritt, The Theory of Morals: An Introduction to Ethical Philosophy [London: Oxford University Press, 1928], 47 [italics in original])
