Quotes About Virtue

As the great work of the sanctification of our souls is to be begun by humility, so must it be completed by the same

Every year ought to find us more fervent in charity; every day ought our soul to augment in strength, and be decked with new flowers of virtue and good works.

He who has charity is far from all sin.

For his innocence and great virtues he was beloved by his master, and all who were acquainted with that religious family, above all his fellow-disciples, for which reason he was called Munghu, or Mungho, which in the language of that country signified "one dearly beloved;" and this is the name which the Scots usually give him to this day.

The virtue of this great saint was often exercised with temptations. One was a suggestion to quit his desert and go to Rome, to serve the sick in the hospitals; which, by due reflection, he discovered to be a secret artifice of vain-glory inciting him to attract the eyes and esteem of the world. True humility alone could discover the snare which lurked under the specious gloss of holy charity

The method of forming men to virtue by example, is, of all others, the shortest, the most easy, and the best adapted to all circumstances and dispositions.

The scholar whose knowledge is made use of and benefited from, is worthier and more virtuous than seventy thousand worshippers and adorers.

What is immoral to do is immoral to threaten.

One of the best maxims in determining our course in life is, to select, at the outset, that in which virtue and principle will be least likely to be put to a test, and in which, from the nature of the calling, a man may bring around him such associations and influences as will be an auxiliary in keeping him in the path of virtue.

Virtue cannot separate itself from reality without becoming a principle of evil.

Everyone tries to define this thing called Character. It's not hard. Character is doing what's right when nobody's looking Most people say that is it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.

As far as I'm concerned, I prefer silent vice to ostentatious virtue.

The true measure of a man is the degree to which he has managed to subjugate his ego.

Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.

It is not even in extraordinary situations, where all eyes are upon us, where all our energy is aroused, and all our vigilance is awake, that the highest efforts of virtue are usually demanded of us; but rather in silence and seclusion, amidst our occupations and our homes; in wearing sickness, that makes no complaint; in sorely-tried honesty, that asks no praise; in simple disinterestedness, hiding the hand that resigns its advantage to another.

A man does not have to be an angel in order to be saint.

A man does not have to be an angel to be a saint.

Alguien puede estar mal, pero eso no implica hacer el mal.

I sit in happy mediation on my rock, pondering, while my line dries again, upon the ways of trout and men. How like fish we are: ready, nay eager, to seize upon whatever new thing some wind of circumstance shakes down upon the river of time! And how we rue our haste, finding the gilded morsel to contain a hook. Even so, I think there is some virtue to eagerness, whether its object prove true or false. How utterly dull would be a wholly prudent man, or trout, or world!

Ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching- even when doing the wrong thing is legal.

One of the great attractions of patriotism -- it fulfills our worst wishes. In the person of our nation we are able, vicariously, to bully and cheat. Bully and cheat, what's more, with a feeling that we are profoundly virtuous.

May the New Year bring you courage to break your resolutions early! My own plan is to swear off every kind of virtue, so that I triumph even when I fall!

Y a lo mejor esto constituye la más grande virtud del hombre, su toque divino. El último de los atorrantes de Flores es más interesante que una estrella, solamente porque su comportamiento no es predecible.

The battleline between good and evil runs through the heart of every man.