Quotes About Virtue

Blessed the one who meditates on death each day and destroys the base passions lurking in the vines of the heart, for he will be consoled in the moment of separation.

People praise virtue, but they hate it, they run away from it. It freezes you to death, and in this world you've got to keep your feet warm.

It is not difficult to avoid death. It is much more difficult to avoid wickedness, for it runs faster than death.

Death, like virtue, has its degrees.

Do not expect good from another's death.

Sensuality is the death of the soul.

Neither a philo- nor an anti-Semite be; / And it must follow, as the night the day, / Thou canst not then be false to any man.

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings — nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you

There is no divinely mandated link between morality and competence.

Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love.7-22 REINHOLD NIEBUHR

La única sabiduría que podemos esperar adquirir es la sabiduría de la humildad. La humildad no tiene límite. —T. S. ELLIOT

Repentance, not proper behavior or even holiness, is the doorway to grace. And the opposite of sin is grace, not virtue.

Humility is the real Christian virtue," says Nouwen. "When we come to realize that . . . only God saves, then we are free to serve, then we can live truly humble lives.

Learning is an ornament to a good woman, not a distraction.

É por isso, meus caros Símias e Cebete, que os verdadeiros filósofos se acautelam contra os apetites do corpo, resistem-lhes e não se deixam dominar por eles; não têm medo da pobreza nem da ruína de sua própria casa, como a maioria dos homens, amigos das riquezas, nem temem a falta de honrarias e a vida inglória, como se dá com os amantes do poder e das distinções

Excellence is not a gift, but a skill that takes practice. We do not act rightly because we are excellent, in fact we achieve excellence by acting rightly.

Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others.

A hero is born among a hundred, a wise man is found among a thousand, but an accomplished one might not be found even among a hundred thousand men.

False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.

The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death.

when he looks at Beauty in the only way that Beauty can be seen - only then will it become possible for him to give birth not to images of virtue (because he's in touch with no images), but to true virtue [arete] (because he is in touch with true Beauty). The love of the gods belongs to anyone who has given to true virtue and nourished it, and if any human being could become immortal, it would be he.

Philosophy is the highest music.

The philosopher whose dealings are with divine order himself acquires the characteristics of order and divinity.

Knowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous.