Quotes About Virtue

Goodness does not consist in greatness, but greatness in goodness.

He that is kind is free, though he is a slave; he that is evil is a slave, though he be a king.

To abstain from sin when one can no longer sin is to be forsaken by sin, not to forsake it.

The virtue of paganism was strength the virtue of Christianity is obedience.

There is no intrinsic virtue to law and order unless "law" is equated with justice and "order" with the discipline of a people satisfied that justice has been done.

When about to commit a base deed, respect thyself, though there is no witness.

Know ye what ye want? What ye ask? Know ye virtue from maniacal muttering? Sin from folly? Desiring a teacher, who among ye are worthy to learn? Brutally shall I teach the gospel of soul-suicide, of contraception, not preservation and procreation. Fools! Ye have made vital the belief the Ego is eternal, fulfilling a purpose, not lost to you.

The wise pleasure seeker, having realised they are "different degrees of desire" and never desirable, gives up both Virtue and Vice and becomes a Kiaist. Riding the Shark of his desire he crosses the ocean of the dual principle and engages himself in self-love.

If you could truly believe, we should realise the virtue of it. We are not free to believe . . . . however much we so desire, having conflicting ideas to first exhaust. Sigils are the art of believing; my invention for making belief organic, ergo, true belief.

Austin Osman, Spare

A good name, like good will, is attained by many actions and may be lost by one.

Every Islamic value I had been taught instructed me to put myself last. Life on earth is a test, and if you manage to put yourself last in this life, you are serving Allah; your place will be first in the Hereafter. The more deeply you submit your will, the more virtuous that makes you.

Fiecare valoare islamica ce mi se insuflase ma invatase ca eu sa fiu ultima in lista prioritatilor. Viata pe pamant este un test si, daca reusesti sa nu-ti acorzi importanta in viata asta, il servesti pe Allah; si astfel vei avea intaietate in viata de apoi. Cu cat iti suprimai mai mult dorintele, cu atat mai virtuos deveneai. Dar Johanna, Ellen si toti ceilalti din Olanda pareau sa creada ca era firesc sa-ti cauti fericirea pe pamant, aici si acum.

He first advocates practicing moral conduct as a foundation for spiritual development.

God, give me courage to do what I can, humility to admit what I can't, and wisdom to know the difference.

not everyone is willing to defend a position of 'not knowing.' There is no virtue in ignorance for its own sake.

After all, there are "good" behaviors and "bad" behaviors—are they really equivalent?

And we must not have the feeling of arrogance when indulging in the acts of charity, for if one does any good thing for others with the sense of the 'doer-ship' one loses all merit, according to the ancient Indian thought. Chanakya has merely repeated the same thought.]

If you want to overpower the entire world merely by just one action, then put restraint upon your tongue speaking ill of others.

Positive emotions are not the same as virtue. Virtue is valor, moral courage, persistence in adversity, and protection of the weak against the tyranny of the strong - not hand-wringing sympathy. Compassion is the recognition of sameness, of kinship with others.

A man that hath no virtue in himself ever envieth virtue in others.

Libraries ... are as the shrines where all the relics of ancient saints, full of true virtue, and that without delusion or imposture, are preserved and reposed.

The following by certain estates of men, answerable to that, which a great person himself professeth (as of soldiers, to him that hath been employed in the wars, and the like), hath ever been a thing civil, and well taken, even in monarchies; so it be without too much pomp or popularity. But the most honorable kind of following, is to be followed as one, that apprehendeth to advance virtue, and desert, in all sorts of persons.

For arts of pleasure sensual, the chief deficience in them is of laws to repress them. For as it hath been well observed, that the arts which flourish in times while virtue is in growth, are military; and while virtue is in state, are liberal; and while virtue is in declination, are voluptuary: so I doubt that this age of the world is somewhat upon the descent of the wheel.