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Virtue Quotes

Browse 5982 quotes about Virtue.

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Virtue Quotes

“And inasmuch as the great-souled man deserves most, he must be the best of men; for the better a man is the more he deserves, and he that is best deserves most. Therefore the truly great-souled man must be a good man. Indeed greatness in each of the virtues would seem to go with greatness of soul.”

MenSoulSeemsVirtueGreatnessDeserveBeing The BestGood ManBest Of Me
Book:Eleven Common Characteristics of Great Souls
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“If a man of good natural disposition acquires Intelligence [as a whole], then he excels in conduct, and the disposition which previously only resembled Virtue, will now be Virtue in the true sense. Hence just as with the faculty of forming opinions [the calculative faculty] there are two qualities, Cleverness and Prudence, so also in the moral part of the soul there are two qualities, natural virtue and true Virtue; and true Virtue cannot exist without Prudence.”

IfsMenTwoSoulWholeNaturalQualityMoralOpinionVirtueAcquireFacultyDispositionPrudenceClevernessForming Opinions
Author:Aristotle
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“If the state cannot be entirely composed of good men, and yet each citizen is expected to do his own business well, and must therefore have virtue, still inasmuch as all the citizens cannot be alike, the virtue of the citizen and of the good man cannot coincide. All must have the virtue of the good citizen - thus, and thus only, can the state be perfect; but they will not have the virtue of a good man, unless we assume that in the good state all the citizens must be good.”

IfsMenWellsStillsStatesGovernmentPerfectVirtueCitizensAssumingBe GoodExpectedGood ManOwn BusinessGood Citizen
Book:The Essential Aristotle
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“Now if there is any gift of the gods to men, it is reasonable that happiness should be god-given, and most surely god-given of all human things inasmuch as it is the best. But this question would perhaps be more appropriate to another inquiry; happiness seems, however, even if it is not god-sent but comes as a result of virtue and some process of learning and training, to be among the most god-like things; for that which is the prize and end of virtue seems to be the best thing in the world, and something god-like and blessed.”

IfsMenWorldShouldHumansEndsSeemsHappinessGivenProcessResultsVirtueTrainingBlessedBest ThingsReasonableBeing The BestAppropriatePrizeInquiry
Book:Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation
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“Whereas happiness is the highest good, being a realization and perfect practice of virtue, which some can attain, while others have little or none of it, the various qualities of men are clearly the reason why there are various kinds of states and many forms of government; for different men seek after happiness in different ways and by different means, and so make for themselves different modes of life and forms of government.”

MenWayKindMeanLittlesDifferentStatesReasonGovernmentFormPerfectQualityPracticeVirtueHuman NatureHighestVariousRealizationReason WhyDifferent WaysForms Of GovernmentPerfect Practice
Book:The Essential Aristotle
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“Some persons hold that, while it is proper for the lawgiver to encourage and exhort men to virtue on moral grounds, in the expectation that those who have had a virtuous moral upbringing will respond, yet he is bound to impose chastisement and penalties on the disobedient and ill-conditioned, and to banish the incorrigible out of the state altogether. For (they argue) although the virtuous man, who guides his life by moral ideals, will be obedient to reason, the base, whose desires are fixed on pleasure, must be chastised by pain, like a beast of burden.”

MenPersonsStatesReasonPainLawDesireJusticePleasureMoralVirtueExpectationsIdealsBoundsIllBurdenGuidesArguingFixedBeastVirtuousPenaltiesUpbringingObedientChastisementIncorrigibleBeast Of Burden
Author:Aristotle
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“The predominant teachings of this age are that there are no limits to man's capacity to govern others and that, therefore, no limitations ought to be imposed upon government. The older faith, born of long ages of suffering under man's dominion over man, was that the exercise of unlimited power by men with limited minds and self-regarding prejudices is soon oppressive, reactionary, and corrupt. The older faith taught that the very condition of progress was the limitation of power to the capacity and the virtue of rulers.”

MenMindLongSelfGovernmentAgeSufferingBornVirtueProgressTeachingConditionsTaughtOughtExerciseLimitsCapacityEconomicsPrejudiceLimitationRulersUnlimitedDominionReactionariesUnlimited Power
Author:Walter Lippmann
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“Now the soul of man is divided into two parts, one of which has a rational principle in itself, and the other, not having a rational principle in itself, is able to obey such a principle. And we call a man in any way good because he has the virtues of these two parts.”

MenWayTwoSoulAblePrinciplesVirtueRationalDivided
Book:Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation
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“Of cases where a man is truthful both in speech and conduct when no considerations of honesty come in, from an habitual sincerity of disposition. Such sincerity may be esteemed a moral excellence; for the lover of truth, who is truthful even when nothing depends on it, will a fortiori be truthful when some interest is at stake, since having all along avoided falsehood for its own sake, he will assuredly avoid it when it is morally base; and this is a disposition that we praise.”

MenMayInterestMoralCasesVirtueHonestyDependsLoversSpeechPraiseExcellenceSakeConsiderationSincerityStakesTruthfulFalsehoodDispositionAvoidedHabitualBeing TruthfulMoral Excellence
Author:Aristotle
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“These are illusions of popular history which successful religion must promote: Evil men never prosper; only the brave deserve the fair; honesty is the best policy; actions speak louder than words; virtue always triumpths; a good deed is its own rewards; any bad human can be reformed; religious talismans protect one from demon possession; only females understand the ancient mysteries; the rich are doomed to unhappiness”

MenHumansActionEvilSpeakReligiousVirtueSuccessfulRichMysteryHonestyPolicyProtectIllusionDeserveFemaleFairsBraveRewardsAncientDeedsPossessionDemonUnhappinessDoomedGood DeedsEvil ManActions Speak Louder Than WordsHonesty Is The Best PolicyTalismansActions Speak Louder
Book:Children of Dune
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“If our age in its pride laughs at and rejects Our Lady's Rosary, a countless legion of the most saintly men of every age and of every condition have not only held it most dear and have most piously recited it but have also used it at all times as a most powerful weapon to overcome the devil, to preserve the purity of their lives, to acquire virtue more zealously, in a word, to promote peace among men.”

IfsMenAgeChristianUsedPowerfulLaughingVirtueConditionsPrideWeaponsDevilOvercomingDearAll TimePreservesPurityAcquireRejectsMost PowerfulLegionRosaryPowerful WeaponsHoly RosaryPraying The Rosary
Author:Pope Pius XI
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“This fine young man had all the inclination to be a profligate of the first water, and only lacked the one good trait in the common catalogue of debauched vices - open-handedness - to be a notable vagabond. But there his griping and penurious habits stepped in; and as one poison will sometimes neutralise another, when wholesome remedies would not avail, so he was restrained by a bad passion from quaffing his full measure of evil, when virtue might have sought to hold him back in vain.”

MenFirstsSometimesMightYoungPassionEvilWaterCommonVirtueFineHabitWords Of WisdomVicesVainYoung ManPoisonTraitsRemedyInclinationNotableCataloguesVagabonds
Book:Children's Tales from Dickens – The Great Classics & The Wonderful Stories for Children (Illustrated Edition): Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol, Holiday Romance, The Old Curiosity Shop, Nicholas Nickleby, Martin Chuzzlewit, Christmas Stories, A Child’s Dream of a Star…
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“No system can long command the loyalties of men and women which does not expect of them certain measures of discipline, and particularly self-discipline. The cost in comfort may be great. The sacrifice may be real. But this very demanding reality is the substance of which comes character and strength and nobility. Permissiveness never produced greatness. Integrity, loyalty, and strength are virtues whose sinews are developed through the struggles that go on within as we practice self-discipline under the demands of divinely spoken truth.”

MenMayLongDoeRealSelfCharacterRealityCertainPracticeStruggleVirtueSacrificeGreatnessGoes OnDisciplineIntegrityComfortCostDemandMen And WomenLoyaltyCommandSubstanceBeing RealSelf DisciplineNobility
Author:Gordon B. Hinckley
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“I am afraid that old women are more skeptical in their most secret heart of hearts than any man: they believe in the superficiality of existence as in its essence, and all virtue and profundity is to them merely a veil over this "truth," a most welcome veil over a pudendum--and so a matter of decency and modesty, and nothing else.”

MenBelieveHeartMatterWomenSecretExistenceVirtueEssenceWelcomeModestySkepticismVeilsDecencySkepticalOld WomanSuperficialityProfundity
Author:Friedrich Nietzsche
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“... we have broken down the self-respecting spirit of man with nursery tales and priestly threats, and we dare to assert, that inproportion as we have prostrated our understanding and degraded our nature, we have exhibited virtue, wisdom, and happiness, in our words, our actions, and our lives!”

MenSelfActionSpiritReligionUnderstandingVirtueOur LivesBrokenThreatDareTalesDeceptionOur ActionsNurseryOur WordsBroken Down
Book:Course of popular lectures as delivered by Frances Wright: with three addresses on various public occasions, and a reply to the charges against the French reformers of 1789. Second edition
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“We find that Good and Evil happen alike to all Men on this Side of the Grave; and as the principle Design of Tragedy is to raise Commiseration and Terror in the Minds of the Audience, we shall defeat this great End, if we always make Virtue and Innocence happy and successful.”

IfsMenMindEndsHappensEvilSidesPrinciplesAudienceVirtueSuccessfulDesignCriticismTragedyTheaterRaisesDefeatTerrorGravesInnocenceGood And Evil
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Joseph Addison (Illustrated)
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“In a moment when criticism shows a singular dearth of direction every man has to be a law unto himself in matters of theatre, writing, and painting. While the American Mercury and the new Ford continue to spread a thin varnish of Ritz over the whole United States there is a certain virtue in being unfashionable.”

MenWritingArtMatterStatesWholeMomentsShowsLawArtistCertainUnitedUnited StatesVirtuePaintingCriticismIndependenceSpreadTheatreEvery ManMercuryRitz
Book:John Dos Passos: the major nonfictional prose
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“Man is a rational animal—so at least I have been told. … Aristotle, so far as I know, was the first man to proclaim explicitly that man is a rational animal. His reason for this view was … that some people can do sums. … It is in virtue of the intellect that man is a rational animal. The intellect is shown in various ways, but most emphatically by mastery of arithmetic. The Greek system of numerals was very bad, so that the multiplication table was quite difficult, and complicated calculations could only be made by very clever people.”

PeopleKnowsMenWayFirstsHas BeensMadeReasonDifficultCan DoAnimalViewsVirtueDifficultyTablesVariousComplicatedIntellectCleverRationalGreekMasteryGreeceCalculationsComplicationArithmeticVery CleverMultiplicationNumerals
Author:Bertrand Russell
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“... so long as woman labors to second man's endeavors and exalt his sex above her own, her virtues pass unquestioned; but when shedares to demand rights and privileges for herself, her motives, manners, dress, personal appearance, and character are subjects for ridicule and detraction.”

MenLongCharacterSexVirtueRightsSubjectsDemandLaborDressesPrivilegeAppearanceMannersMotiveEndeavorRidiculeRights And PrivilegesPersonal Appearance
Book:Eighty Years and More: Reminiscences, 1815-1897
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“In sum, all actions and habits are to be esteemed good or evil by their causes and usefulness in reference to the commonwealth, and not by their mediocrity, nor by their being commended. For several men praise several customs, and, contrarily, what one calls vice, another calls virtue, as their present affections lead them.”

MenActionEvilCausesVirtueHabitEthicsPraiseAffectionVicesGood And EvilCustomsMediocrityUsefulnessCommonwealth
Book:Behemoth or The Long Parliament
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“To me it seems that liberty and virtue were made for each other. If any man wish to enslave his country, nothing is a fitter preparative than vice; and nothing leads to vice so surely as irreligion.”

IfsMenMadeCountrySeemsWishLibertyVirtueVicesIrreligionMade For Each Other
Book:Works, Including His Letters to Thomas Prior, Dean Gervais, Mr. Pope, &c. to which is Prefixed an Account of His Life
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“The word 'We' is as lime poured over men, which sets and hardens to stone, and crushes all beneath it, and that which is white and that which is black are lost equally in the grey of it. It is the word by which the depraved steal the virtue of the good, by which the weak steal the might of the strong, by which the fools steal the wisdom of the sages.”

MenMightLostStrongBlackWhiteVirtueFoolStonesWeakStealingCrushGreySageDepravedLimes
Book:Anthem
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“Virtue and vice suppose the freedom to choose between good and evil; but what can be the morals of a woman who is not even in possession of herself, who has nothing of her own, and who all her life has been trained to extricate herself from the arbitrary by ruse, from constraint by using her charms?... As long as she is subject to man's yoke or to prejudice, as long as she receives no professional education, as long as she is deprived of her civil rights, there can be no moral law for her!”

MenLongHas BeensLawEvilMoralVirtueRightsSubjectsMoralityPrejudiceVicesPossessionCivil RightsCharmGood And EvilArbitraryDeprivedConstraintsYokeMoral LawFreedom To Choose
Author:Flora Tristan
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“Ideas about mothers have swung historically with the roles of women. When women were needed to work the fields or shops, experts claimed that children didn't need them much. Mothers, who might be too soft and sentimental, could even be bad for children's character development. But when men left home during the Industrial Revolution to work elsewhere, women were "needed" at home. The cult of domesticity and motherhood became a virtue that kept women in their place.”

MenNeedsChildrenIdeasCharacterHomeMightMotherLeftWorkResponsibilityRolesVirtueFieldsRevolutionDevelopmentNeededMotherhoodExpertsShopsElsewhereSentimentalCultCharacter DevelopmentIndustrial RevolutionDomesticityKept Woman
Author:Sandra Scarr
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“In Islamic belief, knowledge is two-fold. There is that revealed through the Holy Prophet (s.a.s.) and that which man discovers by virtue of his own intellect. Nor do these two involve any contradiction, provided man remembers that his own mind is itself the creation of God. Without this humility, no balance is possible. With it, there are no barriers. Indeed, one strength of Islam has always lain in its belief that creation is not static but continuous, that through scientific and other endeavours, God has opened and continues to open new windows for us to see the marvels of His creation”

MenMindTwoRememberBeliefVirtueCreationHumilityBalanceHolyWindowIslamIntellectProphetIslamicContradictionBarriersFoldsStaticEndeavourHoly Prophet
Author:Aga Khan IV
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