Quotes About Virtue

the Golden Triangle of Freedom is, when reduced to its most basic form, that freedom requires virtue; virtue requires faith; and faith requires freedom.

As nations become corrupt and vicious," he says, "they have more need of masters." The root of the word "vicious" is "vice"—the word simply means "full of vice." So Franklin, without feeling the need to explain himself much, is bluntly saying that "freedom requires virtue." And that less virtue inevitably begets less freedom. In

The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure virtue.

So Franklin, without feeling the need to explain himself much, is bluntly saying that "freedom requires virtue." And that less virtue inevitably begets less freedom.

Tocqueville put it as bluntly as Franklin or Adams had, writing: "Liberty cannot be established without morality.

Who stands fast? Only the man whose final standard is not his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom, or his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all this when he is called to obedient and responsible action in faith and in exclusive allegiance to God—the responsible man, who tries to make his whole life an answer to the question and call of God. —DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

what it was that made one virtuous, whether religion or simple cultural habit, or a

Who stands fast? Only the man whose final standard is not his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom, or his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all this when he is called to obedient and responsible action in faith and in exclusive allegiance to God—the responsible man, who tries to make his whole life an answer to the question and call of God.

Anyone on the side of truth, wherever it led, was a compatriot to be lauded.

What determines our being virtuous is largely the absence of opportunity to be otherwise

Because doing the right thing is not the goal, doing the best thing is what you must strive for.

Empathy is the greatest virtue. From it, all virtues flow. Without it, all virtues are an act.

There is perhaps no phenomenon which contains so much destructive feeling as 'moral indignation,' which permits envy or hate to be acted out under the guise of virtue.

Hope is both the earliest and the most indispensable virtue inherent in the state of being alive. If life is to be sustained hope must remain, even where confidence is wounded, trust impaired.

People are rarely diabolic or bent enthusiastically on evil. As a rule, they are only weak; they cannot resist temptation and thus give way to their evil drives.

How were they to square the tremendous wealth they accrued with their image of themselves as frugal and virtuous? Easy: just argue that commerce was itself virtuous. To be rich in corrupt old Europe must be a sign of droneishness; but to be rich in fresh young American was the fruit of hard work. The beehive provided Americans with the ideal image for their religion of work.

Perverted pride is a great misfortune in men; but pride in its original function, for which God created it, is indispensable to a proper manhood.

Christianity is simply the ideal form of manhood represented to us by Jesus Christ.

Truth is the bread of a noble manhood.

Wickedness goes to great lengths and depths where it is not checked and restrained by the free and continuous expression of the indignation of good men.

Pain is God's midwife, that helps some virtue into existence.

Righteousness is as hereditary as vice, and godly men transmit moral qualities to their children, and to their children's children.

Many people keep their old sins warm while they go to try on virtue and see if they like it.

There is but one resource for innocence among men or women, and that is an embargo upon all commerce of bad men.