Assertion is a virtue, dominance is a vice.

You instinctively display the greatest virtue, or rather the chief defect, of us eccentric Parisians- that is, you assume the vices you have not, and conceal the virtues you possess.

Riches, the dumb god that giv’st all men tongues, / That canst do nought, and yet mak’st men do all things; / The price of souls; even hell, with thee to boot, / Is made...

Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way… you become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.

People who cannot restrain their own baser instincts, who cannot treat one another with civility, are not capable of self-government… without virtue, a society can be ruled only by fear, a truth that tyrants understand...

Virtue is too passive, too narrow. Virtue can motivate individuals, but for groups, societies, a whole civilisation, it’s a weak force. Nations are never virtuous, though they might sometimes think they are.

The modern world has forgotten the necessity of encouraging men to be better. They speak of sick men or healthy men, of interesting people or uninteresting people; they never, or seldom, indicate that there is...

Blind commitment to a theory is not an intellectual virtue: it is an intellectual crime.

More than half of my life is past; I have left only the time I need for turning the rest of it to account and for effacing my errors by my virtues.

Unlike the puerile loyalty to a conviction, loyalty to a friend is a virtue – perhaps the only virtue, the last remaining one.

To live with integrity, it is important to know what’s right and what’s wrong, to be educated morally. However, merely KNOWING is not enough. Virtuous character matters more than moral knowledge. The reason is simple:...

Modesty is not only an ornament, but also a guard to virtue.

The only relationships that exist are based on truth. Everything else is just a mutual and isolating delusion.

For psychological purposes the most important differences in conation are those in virtue of which the object is revealed as sensed or perceived or imaged or remembered or thought.

The vast world rainless, one may bid adieuTo charity and penance.

I have no fear of men, as such, nor of their books. I have mixed with them–one or two of them particularly– almost as one of their own sex. I mean I have not felt...

Humanity is not perfect in any fashion; no more in the case of evil than in that of good. The criminal has his virtues, just as the honest man has his weaknesses.

Never, in peace or war, commit your virtue or your happiness to the future.

Perhaps it takes a purer faith to praise God for unrealized blessings than for those we once enjoyed or those we enjoy now.

A Godly mother`s seed of faith yields a bounty of faithfulness.

If they ever envision Goodness as a thing that exists outside them, some real thing they’ve been called to participate in by their actions, well then, we’re headed right back toward The Virtues.

A true gentleman is one who has set his heart upon the Way. A fellow who is ashamed merely of shabby clothing or modest meals is not even worth conversing with.”(Analects 4.9)

We set no special value on the possession of a virtue until we percieve that it is entirely lacking in our adversary.

Society is indeed a contract. … It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue, and in all perfection.

‎It isn’t enough to stand up and fight darkness. You’ve got to stand apart from it, too. You’ve got to be different from it.

Never try to lock the virtue’s door with the key of viceIt may lock forever; never to be opened again

The weakest of all weak things is a virtue which has not been tested in the fire.

For there is no virtue, the honor and credit for which procures a man more odium than that of justice; and this, because more than any other, it acquires a man power and authority among...

Falsehood of a good man is better than truth of a bad one.

What a difference! Under the esthetic sky, everything is buoyant, beautiful, transient! when ethics arrives on the scene, everything becomes harsh, angular and infinitely boring

Happiness is secured through virtue; it is a good attained by man’s own will.

It be urged that the wild and uncultivated tree, hitherto yielding sour and bitter fruit only, can never be made to yield better; yet we know that the grafting art implants a new tree on...

As if a woman ever loved a man for his virtue,” Kitty mocked.

But after all kindness isn’t the only virtue.

Virtue has need of limits.

Liberation from the tyranny of the body contributes to greatness, but just as much to greatness in sin as to greatness in virtue.

Tolerance! The virtue that makes one bite his tongue so that he can tear out his hair.

Virtues are common, but the virtuous are very few. This is because ordinarily, people know but do not apply what they know. To break the culture, look for more information; learn more and apply more....

Exactness and neatness in moderation is a virtue, but carried to extremes narrows the mind.

Perception of personal danger very often set people on the path of virtue.

Ambrosio was yet to learn, that to an heart unacquainted with her, Vice is ever most dangerous when lurking behind the Mask of Virtue.

Being defiant is a two-year-old who doesn’t want to go to bed when he’s tired. Being resolute is standing one’s ground even in the face of opposition. It’s a man’s virtue, not a toddler’s vice.

From the days of old, those who walk in the way have replaced those who deviate therefrom; those who lack virtue have fallen before those who possess it. Can one escape fate?

[J]ene Entsagungen, die die Menschen alberner Weise Tugenden nennen […]

Whatever causes night in our souls may leave stars. Cimourdain was full of virtues and truth, but they shine out of a dark background.

Those are fools however learnedWho have not learned to walk with the world.

Kindness expressed to a stranger is kindness expressed to God.

Well, heaven forgive him! and forgive us all! Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall: Some run from brakes of ice, and answer none: And some condemned for a fault alone.

You can fuck anyone but when it comes to making love your virtue will be questioned.

Remember in any case, that not only the Adept, but anyone with the smallest capacity for Adeptship, is fundamentally an Artist; he will certainly not possess any of those bourgeois “virtues” which are just so...