Quotes About Virtue

Sweet are the slumbers of the virtuous man.

Unbounded courage and compassion join'd / Tempering each other in the victor's mind / Alternately proclaim him good and great / And make the hero and the man complete.

There is no virtue so truly great and godlike as justice.

There is no greater sign of a general decay of virtue in a nation, than a want of zeal in its inhabitants for the good of their country.

There are a sort of knight-errants in the world, who, quite contrary to those in romance, are perpetually seeking adventures to bring virgins into distress, and to ruin innocence. When men of rank and figure pass away their lives in these criminal pursuits and practices, they ought to consider that they render themselves more vile and despicable than any innocent man can be, whatever low station his fortune or birth have placed him in.

How beautiful is death, when earn'd by virtue!

It is an unspeakable advantage to possess our minds with an habitual good intention, and to aim all our thoughts, words, and actions, at some laudable end.

In short, if you banish modesty out of the world, she carries away with her half the virtue that is in it.

To be perfectly just is an attribute in the divine nature; to be so to the utmost of our abilities, is the glory of man.

A man governs himself by the dictates of virtue and good sense, who acts without zeal or passion in points that are of no consequence; but when the whole community is shaken, and the safety of the public endangered, the appearance of a philosophical or an affected indolence must arise either from stupidity or perfidiousness.

I shall endeavor to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality.

True modesty avoids everything that is criminal; false modesty everything that is unfashionable.

If there's a power above us, (And that there is all nature cries aloud through all her works) he must delight in virtue.

To be perfectly just is an attribute of the divine nature to be so to the utmost of our abilities, is the glory of man.

Education is a companion which no misfortune can depress, no crime can destroy, no enemy can alienate,no despotism can enslave. At home, a friend, abroad, an introduction, in solitude a solace and in society an ornament.It chastens vice, it guides virtue, it gives at once grace and government to genius. Without it, what is man? A splendid slave, a reasoning savage.

How beautiful is death, when earn'd by virtue Who would not be that youth What pity is it That we can die but once to serve our country

Ridicule is generally made use of to laugh men out of virtue and good sense, by attacking everything praiseworthy in human life.

Self discipline is that which, next to virtue, truly and essentially raises one man above another.

Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body. As by the one, health is preserved, strengthened, and invigorated: by the other, virtue (which is the health of the mind) is kept alive, cherished, and confirmed.

Content thyself to be obscurely good. When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, the post of honor is a private station.

When love's well-timed 'tis not a fault to love; The strong, the brave, the virtuous, and the wise, Sink in the soft captivity together.

Knowledge is that which, next to virtue, truly raises one person above another.

How beautiful is death, when earned by virtue! 80 Who would not be that youth? what pity is it That we can die but once to serve our country!8 —Why sits this sadness on your brows, my friends? I should have blushed if Cato's house had stood Secure, and flourished in a civil war. 85 —Portius, behold thy brother, and remember Thy life is not thy own, when Rome demands it.

Decius A style like this becomes a conqueror. Cato Decius, a style like this becomes a Roman. Decius What is a Roman, that is Caesar's foe? 40 Cato Greater than Caesar: he's a friend to virtue.