Quotes About Virtue

We rise in popwer and make a difference in the world due to what is best about human nature, but we fall from power due to what is worst.

There is one type of gambling which should always be encouraged. It is betting on goodness. When a person has wronged you, be good to him. If he adds insult to injury, double the bet. And keep on doubling it. You will surely win!

It is easy to be nice, even to an enemy from lack of character.

But as Warren explained in a law review article published in 2021, this endless, exhausting work of bearing witness is at least theoretically important because "there is virtue in screaming into the face of deafening indifference, if only because the sound of my voice reminds me that I have not yet succumbed to it.

The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness.

Children," Mrs. Oakenfeld sighed. "I do not want you to be good to avoid being punished. I do not want you to be good so that you can receive rewards. I want you to be good," she stressed, "because it is the right thing to do. You are very formidable adversaries, but don't you see that when you work against eachother, you just cancel eachother out?

Claims to ordinariness and salt-of-the-earth virtue—"slumming it," as it's crudely called—are themselves pretentious. The assumption that dropping your aitches or asserting a love of a cheap beer over a fine wine, or processed cheese over a Parmesan, will make you seem unspoiled or somehow more gritty is classic downwardly mobile play-acting.

The effects of kindness are not always seen immediately, Sometimes it takes years until your kindness will pay off, And is returned to you. And sometimes you never see the fruits of your labors, But they are there, Deep inside of the soul of the one you touched.

I deserve respect for the things I did not do.

But no moral philosopher, from Aristotle to Aquinas, to John Locke and Adam Smith, divorced economics from a set of moral ends or held the production of wealth to be an end in itself; rather it was seen as a means to the realization of virtue, a means of leading a civilized life.

To get the best out of a man go to what is best in him.

Tis very strange men should be so fond of being wickeder than they are.

Anyone can become angry —that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way —this is not easy. ARISTOTLE, The Nicomachean Ethics

Moral regrets sound like this: If only I'd done the right thing.

Self-criticism can sometimes motivate our performance when we criticize ourselves for particular actions rather than for deep-seated tendencies. But unless carefully managed and contained, self-criticism can become a form of inner-directed virtue signaling. It projects toughness and ambition, but often leads to rumination and hopelessness instead of productive action.

But unless carefully managed and contained, self-criticism can become a form of inner-directed virtue signaling. It projects toughness and ambition, but often leads to rumination and hopelessness instead of productive action.[

I may be capable of evil, son, but that doesn't mean I am.

I don't want to do anything that violates my own personal code of ethics and morals.

Virginity can be lost by a thought.

Ladies, just a little more virginity, if you don't mind.

I think virtually everyone wants to do good and be good and be decent to each other and pursue something that is valuable to them and meaningful.

Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

When virtue is lost, benevolence appears, when benevolence is lost right conduct appears, when right conduct is lost, expedience appears. Expediency is the mere shadow of right and truth; it is the beginning of disorder.

Moral courage is higher and a rarer virtue than physical courage.