I swear that while I live I will do what little I can to preserve and to augment the liberties of man, woman, and child.It is a question of justice, of mercy, of honesty, of...

You say that Caesar Borgia suffered the just punishment of his crimes. He was destroyed not by his misdeeds, but by circumstances over which he had no control. His wickedness was an irrelevant accident. In...

Common sense has become an uncommon virtue.

Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be...

These virtues are formed in man by his doing the actions … The good of man is a working of the soul in the way of excellence in a complete life.

A city is not adorned by external things, but by the virtue of those who dwell in it.

There’s no credit in not doing what you don’t want to do. There’s no virtue in not falling, when you’re not tempted.

Socrate considérait que c’est un mal qui n’est pas loin de la folie, de s’imaginer que l’on possède une vertu, alors qu’on ne la possède pas. Certes, une pareille illusion est plus dangereuse que l’illusion...

Virtue became less the harsh and martial self-sacrifice of antiquity and more the modern willingness to get along with others for the sake of peace and prosperity.

A Credo: For the 21st Century eudaimonas architect of choosing…choose. to. live.awakened. entirely. wholly.wildly powerful, deeply masterful, authentically creative,thriving. this is not a hoped-for possible self.[reminder: we were born this way]needing not to learn the skill of being...

Modesty seldom resides in a breast that is not enriched with nobler virtues.

Success is not worth rejoicing over, failure is not worth grieving over.

My hate is general, I detest all men;Some because they are wicked and do evil,Others because they tolerate the wicked,Refusing them the active vigorous scornWhich vice should stimulate in virtuous minds.

Every good quality runs into a defect; economy borders on avarice, the generous are not far from the prodigal, the brave man is close to the bully; he who is very pious is slightly sanctimonious;...

She who has the excellence of home virtues, and can expend within the means of her husband, is a help in the domestic state

The practice of perfect virtue does not require teaching, but instructs others.

It was inevitable under a monarchy, however benevolent the monarch. The old virtues disappear. Independence and frankness are at a discount. Complacent anticipation of the monarch’s wishes is then the greatest of all virtues. One...

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.