Each person has inside a basic decency and goodness. If he

“Each person has inside a basic decency and goodness. If he listens to it and acts on it, he is giving a great deal of what it is the world needs most. It is not complicated but it takes courage. It takes courage for a person to listen to his own goodness and act on it.” Thus spoke Pablo Casals, the great cellist and humanist, whose music sang not only through his instrument but through the nobility of his spirit. These words, tender yet powerful, flow from a man who believed that the highest harmony was not found merely in art, but in the human heart. In them, he reveals an eternal truth: that within every soul lies a seed of goodness, a spark of decency placed there by nature or by the divine—and that the salvation of the world depends upon our courage to let that light shine.

Casals was no idle dreamer. He lived through two world wars, through tyranny, hatred, and division. He saw mankind at its worst—and yet, he refused to lose faith in humanity. He withdrew from public performance for years in protest against injustice, choosing silence over complicity. His belief in decency and goodness was not born of naiveté, but of struggle. Having seen cruelty, he still believed in compassion. Having witnessed destruction, he still believed in creation. For him, every act of kindness, however small, was a note in the great symphony of peace that the world so desperately needed to hear.

“It takes courage,” he says—because to follow one’s goodness is no easy path. The world, with all its noise and fear, often mocks gentleness, mistaking it for weakness. To listen to the voice of one’s own conscience, to act with kindness when others act with cruelty, to extend understanding in the face of scorn—these are acts of quiet heroism. The brave are not only those who charge into battle; they are also those who dare to remain kind in a world that rewards harshness. Courage, in Casals’s wisdom, is not the absence of fear but the triumph of the heart over it.

Consider the story of Oskar Schindler, a man who lived in a time when cruelty ruled and fear silenced millions. A businessman and member of the Nazi Party, he could have lived comfortably amid evil—but instead, he listened to that inner goodness Casals speaks of. He risked his wealth, his reputation, and his life to save over a thousand Jews from death. Schindler was not born a saint; he was an ordinary man who chose to heed the whisper of decency within him. His story proves Casals’s truth: that the world is not changed by power or speeches, but by individuals who have the courage to act upon the quiet voice of conscience.

Casals himself embodied this principle in his art. When he played the cello, he believed he was not merely making music, but offering peace. He once said, “Music will save the world,” and by this he meant not the notes themselves, but the spirit of harmony and compassion that music represents. Every bow he drew across the strings was an act of reverence for life. Through his music, he called humanity to remember its own goodness, to awaken to the better angels of its nature. His belief was simple: if each person listened to the music of decency within them, the world would be healed.

Yet the path to goodness demands endurance. To act rightly when the world tempts one to apathy is a lifelong task. Goodness, like music, must be practiced daily. It begins in small things—the kind word, the honest act, the forgiveness offered where vengeance seems easier. These are the instruments of moral courage, the daily practice of the human soul. The one who tends his inner decency grows strong not in pride, but in peace; not in dominance, but in dignity.

Therefore, let this be the teaching for all who live and listen: heed the voice of your own goodness. Do not drown it in the noise of anger or ambition. When the world darkens, be the light. When others despair, be the calm. When cruelty seems to reign, let your actions be the quiet rebellion of kindness. Remember that courage is not always a shout; sometimes it is the steady whisper that says, “Do what is right.” For as Pablo Casals teaches us, the greatest gift we can give the world is not brilliance or wealth or fame—it is the living proof of human decency. And when each of us acts from that place of inner goodness, the symphony of the world, long dissonant, will at last begin to find its tune again.