Quotes About Virtue

Any Christian who is not a hero is a pig.

La grandeza nunca es en vano. Las virtudes ganadas con dolor y sacrificio son más fuertes que el odio y la muerte. Como el sol que sale de las noches profundas, tarde o temprano brillarán

Mentir ha llegado a ser una forma de espíritu. El honor ha perdido todo sentido, el honor del juramento, el honor a servir, el honor de morir. Se ríen de quienes se aferran todavía a esos viejos ritos. La virtud ha perdido su dulce canto de fuente. Las sonrisas no son ya los sentimientos del corazón, sino suspiros, estafas o rictus. Las almas se asfixian, el aire es pesado, cargado de todos los renunciamientos espirituales

Son muchos los hombres viles, pero junto a ellos, junto a esos cuya bajeza es una blasfemia de vida, existen otros: todos aquellos, los que vemos y los que no vemos, que no son así y que, por no serlo, salvan al mundo y al honor de vivir

You can drift into sin, but not into righteousness.

The depth and strength of a human character are defined by its moral reserves. People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life, for only then do they have to fall back on their reserves.

Whether it's trying to convince others that something is more true, more virtuous, or more desirable--all communication is rhetoric in action.

You don't teach virtue by preaching virtue. You teach virtue by requiring virtuous behavior, so that virtuous behavior becomes a habit.

I understand God's patience with the wicked, but I do wonder how He can be so patient with the pious. —GEORGE MACDONALD

Who sows virtue reaps honor.

But, as is sometimes the case with good people, he was perhaps liked more for this little foible than for his good qualities.

It is a peculiarly Renaissance conundrum that each and every deadly sin could happily join hands with the virtues, that the crimes of the body could coexist with a sincere desire for purity of soul.

El amor no conoce virtud ni mérito; ama, perdona y lo sufre todo, porque debe; nuestro juicio nada nos sirve para el amor; ni preferencias, ni defectos que descubrimos, provocan nuestra abnegación ni nos hacen retroceder asustados.

Love knows no virtue, no merit; it loves and forgives and tolerates everything because it must. We are not guided by reason, nor do the assets or blemishes that we discover tempt us to devotion or intimidate us. It is a sweet, mournful, mysterious power that drives us, and we stop thinking, feeling, wishing, we let ourselves drift along and never ask where we are drifting

Love knows no virtue, no profit; it loves and forgives and suffers everything, because it must.

Humble people are dignified, not because they believe their behavior can be an effective tool to control others, but because they have made dignity a part of their character.

Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroyeth much good.

It is not by his faults, but by his excellences, that we measure a great man.

Perfect humility dispenses with modesty.

There is something which unites magic and applied science while separating both from the wisdom of earlier ages. For the wise men of old the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to reality, and the solution had been knowledge, self-discipline, and virtue. For magic and applied science alike the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of men.

Let us not listen to those who think we ought to be angry with our enemies, and who believe this to be great and manly. Nothing is so praiseworthy, nothing so clearly shows a great and noble soul, as clemency and readiness to forgive.

It is not enough for us to restrain from doing evil, unless we shall also do good.

Power is no blessing in itself, except when it is used to protect the innocent.

Ability without honor is useless.