Quotes About Virtue

One swallow does not make a summer; neither does one day. Similarly neither can one day, or a brief space of time, make a man blessed and happy.

We can do noble acts without ruling earth and sea; for even with moderate advantages one can act excellently.

Excellence then is not an act but a habit.

Thus, to give money away is quite a simple task, but for the act to be virtuous, the donor must give to the right person, for the right purpose, in the right amount, in the right manner, and at the right time.

Correct habituation distinguishes a good political system from a bad one.

Moral experience—the actual possession and exercise of good character—is necessary truly to understand moral principles and profitably to apply them. The mere intellectual apprehension of them is not possible, or if possible, profitless.

for we are noble in only one way, but bad in all sorts of ways.

Aristotle states that only one thing could justify monarchy, and that was if the virtue of the king and his family were greater than the virtue of the rest of the citizens put together. Tactfully

La justicia encierra y comprende en sí misma todas las virtudes, porque la justicia es la práctica de la virtud perfecta, y su perfección reside en el hecho de quien la ejerce y la posee; éste no lo hace sólo respecto de sí mismo, sino también respecto de los demás

Tolerance is the last virtue of a dying society

Quality is not an act, it is a habit

But what matters for questions of virtue and vice is whether your acts are not merely voluntary but also chosen.

But we must not follow those who advise us…being mortal, [to think] of mortal things, but must, so far as we can, make ourselves immortal, and strain every nerve to live in accordance with the best thing in us; for even if it be small in bulk, much more does it in power and worth surpass everything.

And retaliation too is pleasant, because if failing at it is painful, succeeding at it is pleasant.

Une chose, quand elle n'est pas excessive, est un bien ; du moment qu'elle est plus grande qu'il ne faut, elle devient un mal.

The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.

It is not easy for a generous person to grow rich, since he is ready to spend, not to take or keep, and honors wealth for the sake of giving, not for itself. Indeed, that is why fortune is denounced, because those who most deserve to grow rich actually do so least.

For we don't wish to know what bravery is but to be brave, not what justice is but to be just, just as we wish to be in health rather than to know what health is

On imagination- "that in virtue of which an image occurs in us" In other words... Imagination is a faculty of the soul

All agree that the just in distributions must accord with some sort of worth, but what they call worth is not the same; supporters of democracy say it is free citizenship, some supporters of oligarchy say it is wealth, others good birth, while supporters of aristocracy say it is virtue.

Virtue is a mean between two vices, that which depends on excess and that which depends on defect.

Courage is a mean with regard to fear and confidence.

Or, in one word, the habits are produced from the acts of working like to them: and so what we have to do is to give a certain character to these particular acts, because the habits formed correspond to the differences of these.

It is plain then that the wicked man cannot be in the position of a friend even towards himself, because he has in himself nothing which can excite the sentiment of Friendship. If then to be thus is exceedingly wretched it is a man's duty to flee from wickedness with all his might and to strive to be good, because thus may he be friends with himself and may come to be a friend to another.