Quotes About Virtue

When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad, and that is my religion. - Abraham Lincoln

Fulfilling God's law to avoid evil is faith. Fulfilling God's law to achieve good is hope. Fulfilling God's will without any extrinsic reason to this is charity.

An adolescent act of defiance has now become a familiar form of virtue. 'Going with the flow' has become an imperative, a clear version of the good life. Chance is sentimentally evoked in popular fictions. We 'change' to move on from tragedy or difficulty, we 'change' to overcome trauma, we are frequently told to accept 'change' as some perennial fact of life, the contemplation of which brings wisdom.

Our works are made worthy of eternity by virtue of the mercy in him, rather than on the basis of the merit in them.

The efficacy of the truths in God's message rather than any virtue in the messenger transforms hearts.

Seek for illumination of self, and then the world, through the simple, humble, almighty, supreme virtue of love.

The true test of a man's character is not how much he has, but how much he is willing to give.

I never mind choler in a man if he have also honesty and good sense.

The true test of a man's character is how he behaves when no one is watching.

Let a man avoid evil deeds as a man who loves life avoids poison.

Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.

The greatest prayer is patience

Neither fire nor wind, birth nor death can erase our good deeds.

To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.

Virtue is persecuted more by the wicked than it is loved by the good.

It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.

There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it.

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.

On life's journey faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter, wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection by night. If a man lives a pure life, nothing can destroy him.

If there is one righteous person the rain falls for his sake.

If one doth act in friendly wise, With no evil thought toward any single creature, And in so doing becometh proper, And if he have compassion in his soul Toward all living beings--this noble one Doth acquire abundant Virtue.

Prejudice renders a man's virtue his habit, and not a series of unconnected acts. Through just prejudice, his duty becomes a part of his nature.

as a general lassitude overtakes the sated Turk; then a love of ease and virtue supplants the love for maidens; our Ottoman enters upon the impotent, repentant, admonitory stage of life, forswears, disbands the harem, and grown to an exemplary, sulky old soul, goes about all alone among the meridians and parallels saying his prayers, and warning each young Leviathan from his amorous errors.

cannibals—morally enfeebled also, by the incompetence of mere unaided virtue or right-mindedness in Starbuck, the invulnerable jollity of indifference and recklessness in Stubb, and the pervading mediocrity in Flask.