These are the stock-standard tropes that persist throughout many, many stories. The product of this is that it’s conventional wisdom for almost all humanity, with each culture having different emphasis and priority on each.
It’s worth noting these values contradict without considering time and place. It’s also worth noting that some of these values are utterly wrong.
The Natural World:
- Civilization threatens nature, so we must protect it.
- The natural wilderness is harsh, hostile, and indifferent to who suffers and dies in it.
- We must be cautious and respectful of wild animals, even if they seem docile.
- Proper hygiene and sanitation helps avoid infection.
- Don’t skip meals.
- Eat the right food (i.e., not junk food).
- Drive safely.
- Get enough sleep.
- God is good.
- Beliefs make people stupid.
- Hope can change reality.
- Drinking alcohol or consuming recreational drugs can destroy your life.
- Anti-drug propaganda is overstating the problem.
- Feelings are better than thinking.
- Always trust your first impressions.
- First impressions are misleading.
Understanding, values, and science:
- Curiosity is dangerous.
- Curiosity is good.
- Curiosity has risks and rewards.
- Keep an open mind to trying new things.
- Knowing some things will sacrifice our sanity and happiness.
- Education is overrated.
- Knowledge is power.
- Science isn’t always good for the world.
- Science doesn’t give any meaningful answers.
- Science without morality makes us evil.
- Every scientific discovery is inherently good.
- To help someone is equipping them for today, but teaching them to help themselves equips them for life.
- Beautiful people are good (or inverted where beautiful people are bad).
- Evil people are ugly (or inverted where evil people are attractive).
- Clothes and hygiene define who a person is, so they should take pride in it.
- Good people dress modestly.
- Appearance isn’t everything.
- It’s not good to be vain.
- Don’t be completely honest.
- Honesty is always the best policy.
- Accept who you are.
- Don’t be shy with others or about what you want.
- Don’t take on tasks that are too large.
- Have fun like you were dying.
- Living well is more than surviving.
- Focus on today, since you might not live tomorrow.
- The journey matters more than the destination.
- Learn satisfaction with your lot in life.
- Do everything in moderation.
- Rushing into things is foolish.
- Hesitating means you’ll miss out.
- Prevention is better than curing.
- It’s good to work hard for better things.
- You will regret opportunities you don’t take.
- Life is awful, but we can improve it.
- You’re bound to fail, but should still try.
- Even in peril, keep a positive attitude.
- Cynicism is bad.
- Idealism is bad.
- Not everything that seems to have value is valuable.
- Not everything that seems to have no value is worthless.
- Desiring things is better than getting them.
- Giving is better than receiving.
- Success can be lonely.
- Don’t play God.
- Capitalism is bad.
- Fools lose their money quickly.
- Saving money is as good as earning it.
- The more power, the more responsibility.
- More power corrupts more.
- Unrestrained ambition leads to evil.
- True strength isn’t about measurable force.
- Plan carefully.
- Your plans might not go the way you want.
- You may not like what you think you want.
- Conceit comes before destruction.
- You must be willing to compromise.
- Stick to what you believe in.
- Anything worth doing is worth doing right.
- Failing is better than doing nothing.
- Never give up.
- Sometimes you have to give up.
- Quality is better than quantity.
- Cheaters will eventually get caught.
- Something is only fun to win when it’s challenging.
- All talent only matters if you refine it.
- Failure is the greatest teacher, and mistakes aren’t as bad as they appear.
- Turn your failures into success.
- Patience will be rewarded.
- Time marches on.
- Some suffering is good for us.
Language, Stories, and Communication:
- Language has power.
- Actions are more important than words.
- Words are more important than actions.
- Stories have inherent value.
- Old stories are bad.
- New stories are bad.
- Reading is fun and useful.
- If you lie about danger too frequently, nobody will believe you later.
- Reality is better than fiction.
- It’s wrong to download media without paying for it.
- It’s fine to download media without paying for it.
- Social media is bad.
- Accept people for who they are.
- It’s sometimes okay to agree to disagree.
- Two unlikely people can agree on something.
- You should always agree with your friends.
- Having enemies is good for us.
- Treat others with acceptance and tolerance.
- You should forgive people who hurt you.
- Never forget what people who wronged you have done.
- Change and progress are bad.
- We should influence progress, and opposing it is bad.
- Be cautious with powerful technology, especially if it was designed to kill (e.g., guns).
- Do to others what you want them to do to you.
- Kindness comes back to you.
- Cruelty comes back to you.
- We must take as well as give.
- Don’t be kind to evil.
- Kindness isn’t weakness.
- The honorable thing isn’t always the smart thing.
- Being kind doesn’t guarantee good things will happen to you.
- Immoral behavior drives entire societies to ruin.
- Follow core virtues.
- What you do when nobody else can see matters.
- Evil is easy, but doing the right thing is hard.
- Evil people can’t understand the value of being good, so they’ll eventually fail.
- Friendship’s power can conquer anything.
- Trust makes people stronger.
- If you don’t have friends, there’s something wrong with you.
- Even when you have friends, you have to do some things yourself.
- Don’t trust strangers.
- Some people should never be trusted.
- Making friends with an enemy will change them.
- You should be a friend to all living things.
- You can’t be a friend to everyone.
- People who are similar make closer friends.
- Some “friends” weren’t friends to begin with.
- Extroverted friends will help your social skills.
Romantic love:
- Love is more important than sex.
- Love’s power can conquer anything.
- You’ll fall in love at the first sight of the person you’re destined to be with.
- Be careful who you fall in love with.
- Love makes you crazy and dumb.
- Love makes you do evil things.
- Love brings out the best in people.
- Treat females nicely.
- Treat females the same way as males.
- Women are at least as competent as men.
- Women have more common sense.
- Don’t have casual sex, and even contraceptives are still risky.
- You’re not an adult until you’ve had sex.
- Opposite personalities are attracted to each other.
- Having children will elevate your marriage.
- Having children makes us grow up.
- Children are innocent.
- Children are cruel.
- You’re responsible for your children’s well-being and understanding, not any media or authority figures.
- Your relationships with relatives are stronger than any other friends.
- Build bonds with your children before it’s too late.
- You must prove yourself to the older generation.
- Not everyone from an awful family is bad.
- Justice eventually prevails.
- Your enemy may have had a terrible childhood.
- A traumatic past doesn’t justify doing bad things to others.
- One person doing the right thing can change society.
- Whoever is strongest defines what’s right.
- Whoever is most moral is strongest.
- We sometimes can’t reason with people and must apply force.
- The only way to stop an attacker is by being stronger.
Justice – Revenge:
- Revenge isn’t justice.
- Disproportionate revenge is wrong.
- You won’t find closure in revenge.
- Getting revenge will corrupt you.
- Getting revenge means you become like the person you’re avenging against.
- Break the cycle of revenge with mercy.
- Popular group thoughts are often wrong.
- You’re either in the group or out of it, and there’s no middle ground.
- Don’t stand out in the group.
- More minds and bodies make work easier.
- Too many people on a project can ruin it.
Group expectations:
- Conform to expectations.
- Don’t conform to expectations.
- Discrimination and bigotry are wrong and stupid.
- People don’t have as many differences between them as they think.
- You can do everything, but you must specialize to be a master at anything.
- If you do one thing very well, you won’t be able to do other things as well.
- Everyone’s personality is different, so they’re better at their role than you realize.
- Giving into materialism, peer pressure, and fashions is more trouble than it’s worth.
- Not remembering history dooms people to repeat it.
- Accept what you’re destined to do.
- Define your destiny for yourself.
- Nothing happens by chance, and everything is destined.
- Living forever is overrated.
- Living forever is worth the sacrifice.
- Living forever is awful.
War and military:
- War is simply cruel and terrible, so peace is always worth it.
- War is heroic and a patriotic adventure, and pacifism is for cowards and traitors.
- Soldiers are weak-willed and mindless, and only exist to kill and destroy.
- Civilians are cowards with no sense of responsibility.
- Democracy has risks (or is outright mob rule).
- People should trust authority.
- People should not trust authority.
- Think for yourself (as stated by authority figures).
- An idea is more important and durable than an individual.
- It’s noble to fight for your country strictly on that principle alone.
- Even when simply following orders, war crimes are bad.
- There is good in humanity.
- Leading through fear is necessary.
- Leading through fear is wrong.
- Leadership requires both being strict and gentle.