Quotes About Virtue

Time eventually convinces most of us that forgiveness is a virtue. Conveniently, cowardice and forgiveness look identical at a certain distance.

I wish to live without committing any fault at any time.

How transcendent is the virtue of the middle conduct! Rare for a long time has been its practice among the people.

Non virtuous behavior brings about unhappiness. Every time.

It is absolutely impossible at the same time to be a man of understanding and not to be ashamed to gratify the body.

Est solarus Oth Mithas

Rien ne m'explique : mes vices et mes vertus n'y suffisent absolument pas ; mon bonheur le fait davantage.

Practicaba en secreto una vida austera de la que nadie tenía idea. Pero el largo aprendizaje del deber estoico no lo había endurecido en una actitud de falsa sabiduría; era demasiado fino como para no haberse apercibido de que los extremos de la virtud se asemejan a los del amor en que su mérito proviene precisamente de su rareza, de su condición de obra maestra única, de hermoso exceso.

El amor (perdóname) es un sentimiento que no he vuelto a experimentar desde entonces; se necesitan demasiadas virtudes para ser capaz de amar; me extraña que en mi infancia haya podido creer en un pasión tan vana, casi siempre engañosa y que no es necesaria ni siquiera para la voluptuosidad.

Pero mi hipocresía era menos grosera de lo que pensaban: todo placer regido por el gusto me parecía casto.

The exultation of poverty as a spiritual virtue is of the ego, not the spirit.  A person acting from a motivation of contribution and service rises to such a level of moral authority that worldly success is a natural result.

morals are worn as a badge to make you look good and [...] it's so much easier to talk about your beliefs than to live up to them

Avoid transgression. How's that for advice.

morality is a check upon the strongest temptations.

It is one of the best traits of good people that they love where they pity.

So she prayed, Lord, give me patience. She knew that was not an honest prayer, and she did not linger over it....it cost her tears to think that her situation might actually be that desolate, so she prayed again for patience, for tact, for understanding--for every virtue that might keep her safe from conflicts that would be sure to leave her wounded, every virtue that might at least help her to preserve an appearance of dignity, for heaven's sake.

When defects of character are your character, you become a what.

I don't know exactly what covetise is, but in my experience it is not so much desiring someone else's virtue or happiness as rejecting it, taking offense at the beauty of it.

A belief in one's own virtue is far more dangerous than a belief in one's cunning.

Uxuriousness may be the last refuge of the honest man

A belief in one's own virtue is far more dangerous than a belief in one's cunning.

But above all with a patriarchal love for his followers. Virtue was rewarded. Injuries avenged. A livelihood guaranteed.

Actions define a man,words are just a fart in the wind.

He was a man in the prime of his life, his fifties...broad forehead, aquiline nose, penetrating gaze, the very soul of rectitude and goodness.