Quotes About Virtue

There are no perfect men in this world, only perfect intentions.

Unfortunately, goodness and honor are rather the exception than the rule among exceptional men, not to speak of geniuses

When love is in excess, it brings a man no honor, no worthiness.

The true test of a man's spirituality is not his ability to speak, as we are apt to think, but rather his ability to bridle his tongue.

Even great men can be corrupted

A good man regards the root; he fixes the root, and ail else flows out of it. The root is filial piety; the fruit brotherly love.

A man's indebtedness is not virtue; his repayment is. Virtue begins when he dedicates himself actively to the job of gratitude.

The superior man thinks always of virtue; the common man thinks of comfort.

For in order that man may do well, whether in the works of the active life, or in those of the contemplative life, he needs the fellowship of friends.

"The best of men are just men at best.

The superior man... does not set his mind either for or against anything, he will pursue whatever is right. The superior man thinks of virtue, the common man of comfort.

But in the hero ne'er forget the man.

Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men

Bad men cannot make good citizens. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience are incompatible with freedom.

Be gracious to all men, but choose the best to be your friends.

There is no better proof of a man's being truly good than his desiring to be constantly under the observation of good men.

To be good, and do good, is the whole duty of man comprised in a few words.

One should judge a man mainly from his depravities. Virtues can be faked. Depravities are real.

Heaven and hell suppose two distinct species of men, the good and the bad. But the greatest part of mankind float betwixt vice and virtue.

I try to act as a man of character if no one is watching or if the world is watching.

I know nothing more worthy of a man's ambition than that his son be the best of men.

It is not because men's desires are strong that they act ill; it is because their consciences are weak.

Trouthe is the hyest thyng that man may kepe.

There are two freedoms - the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where he is free to do what he ought.