Quotes About Virtue

All who have not been influenced by the principle of self-denial, have followed virtue merely from the love of praise.

At present, likewise, there are among Christians new Stoics who think it a vice not only to groan and weep, but even to be sad or upset. And indeed, these ridiculous ideas generally come from idle men.

We shall never arrive at true meekness by any other way than by humiliating ourselves and by honoring others from the depth of our hearts.

So long as we do not look beyond the earth, we are quite pleased with our own righteousness, wisdom, and virtue; we address ourselves in the most flattering terms, and seem only less than demigods.

For (such is our innate pride) we always seem to ourselves just, and upright, and wise, and holy, until we are convinced, by clear evidence, of our injustice, vileness, folly, and impurity.

Without the fear of God, men do not even observe justice and charity among themselves.

If we escape punishment for our vices, why should we complain if we are not rewarded for our virtues?

He has all the weaknesses that come with a conscience, but none of the strengths.

But the measure of a man was the degree to which he was prepared to inconvenience himself for what was right;

If he has a weakness, it's that he's a moral being. Where possible, he'll do the right thing, the just thing, and if he does wrong he'll bear the guilt of it.

After all, not doing bad things is not the same as doing good things, but that is why you and I will never become saints.

Growth in moral virtue is a project of monumental proportions. "Disciplining and reforming desires" sounds so simple. But how many really succeed? The words of Our Lord come to mind here: "Narrow the way and few there are who find it" (see Mt 7:14). What we are suggesting here is that friendship is one of the most critical natural helps to walking the straight and narrow path.

I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a man's word should be as good as his bond; that character — not wealth or power or position — is of supreme worth.

Most sins ... are only perverted virtues.

The problem is hedonism. The problem is the preening vanity and selfishness of 'coming out,' of parading private inclinations, of a kind that repel normal people, as if those inclinations were, all by themselves, marks of authenticity and virtue, of suffering and oppression.

Morals concern nothing less than the whole character, and the whole character is identical with the man in all his concrete make-up and manifestations. To possess virtue does not signify to have cultivated a few namable and exclusive traits; it means to be fully and adequately what one is capable of becoming through association with others in all the offices of life. The moral and the social quality of conduct are, in the last analysis, identical with each other.

The good man is the man who, no matter how morally unworthy he has been, is moving to become better.

Son, frankness is a virtue only when you're talkin' about yourself, and then it's a nuisance.

Chastity is not chastity in an old man, but a disability to be unchaste.

As virtuous men pass mildly away, and whisper to their souls to go, whilst some of their sad friends do say, the breath goes now, and some say no.

As virtuous men pass mildly away And whisper to their souls, to goe, While some of their friends doe say, The breath goes now, and some say, no: So let us melt, and make no noise...

In a moment when criticism shows a singular dearth of direction every man has to be a law unto himself in matters of theatre, writing, and painting. While the American Mercury and the new Ford continue to spread a thin varnish of Ritz over the whole United States there is a certain virtue in being unfashionable.

Her wit was more than man, her innocence a child.

And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm.