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Virtue Quotes

Browse 5982 quotes about Virtue.

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Virtue Quotes

“He who devoutly strives to attain wisdom and is on his guard against the invisible powers, should pray that both natural discrimination - whose light is but limited - and the illuminating grace of the Spirit abide in him. The first by means of practice trains the flesh in virtue, the second illuminates the intellect so that it chooses above all else companionship with wisdom; and through wisdom it destroys the strongholds of evil and pulls down 'all the self-esteem that exalts itself against the knowledge of God' (II Cor. 10:5).”

ShouldFirstsMeanSelfLightChristianSpiritEvilNaturalPracticeVirtueGraceSelf EsteemPrayingTrainStriveIntellectFleshInvisibleDiscriminationEsteemOrthodoxCompanionshipStrifeOrthodox ChristianIlluminatingKnowledge Of GodStrongholds
Author:Maximus the Confessor
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“There can be no richer man or woman than the individual who has found his or her labor of love. Personal fulfillment through the virtue of work is the highest form of desire. Work is the conduit between the supply and the demand of all human needs, the forerunner of human progress, and the medium by which the imagination is given the wings of action. A labor of love is exalted because it provides joy and self-expression to those who perform it.”

MenNeedsHumansSelfActionFormJoyDesireFoundIndividualGivenImaginationLove IsActingVirtueProgressExpressionDemandHighestLaborWingsMediumsFulfillmentSelf ExpressionExaltedHuman NeedsHuman ProgressForerunnersPersonal FulfillmentLabor Of LoveFulfillment In Life
Book:What Makes the Great Great: Strategies for Extraordinary Achievement
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“If love is the soul of Christian existence, it must be at the heart of every other Christian virtue. Thus, for example, justice without love is legalism; faith without love is ideology; hope without love is self-centeredness; forgiveness without love is self-abasement; fortitude without love is recklessness; generosity without love is extravagance; care without love is mere duty; fidelity without love is servitude. Every virtue is an expression of love. No virtue is really a virtue unless it is permeated, or informed, by love.”

IfsLoveHeartSoulSelfCareChristianJusticeLove IsExistenceVirtueExampleExpressionDutyMereTrue LoveIdeologyGenerosityFortitudeFidelityWithout LoveServitudeExtravaganceChristian LoveRecklessnessSelf CenterednessLegalismCenterednessReligious LoveExpressions Of LoveAbasement
Author:Richard Rohr
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“Some virtues, when they become fashions, also become exaggerated. Just because nobody likes a judgmental attitude does not mean that there isn't a sort of spoiled, self-righteous hypocrisy when one man obsessively commands other men not to judge without knowing the circumstances without himself, too, knowing their circumstances behind their judgments.”

MenMeanDoeSelfBehindsAttitudeKnowingVirtueFashionJudgingCircumstancesJudgmentLikesCommandHypocrisyOne ManRighteousSpoiledExaggeratedJudgmentalMental AttitudeSelf Righteous
Author:Criss Jami
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“Neither an enlightened philosophy, nor all the political wisdom of Rome, nor even the faith and virtue of the Christians availed against the incorrigible tradition of antiquity. Something was wanted, beyond all the gifts of reflection and experience - a faculty of self government and self control, developed like its language in the fibre of a nation, and growing with its growth.”

SelfPhilosophyGovernmentWantedChristianPoliticalLanguageNationsGrowthVirtueGrowingReflectionTraditionEnlightenedFacultyRomeSelf ControlAntiquitySelf-governmentIncorrigiblePolitical Wisdom
Author:Lord Acton
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“As soon as you put men together, they somehow sink, corporatively, below the level of the worst of the individuals composing it. Collect scholars on a club committee, or men of science on a jury; all their virtues vanish, and their vices pop out, reinforced by the self-confidence which the power of numbers is bound to bestow.”

MenSelfTogetherIndividualLevelsNumbersVirtueWorstBoundsVicesClubsPopsSelf ConfidenceScholarCommitteesJuryComposing
Author:Aleister Crowley
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“You are born supernaturally through faith, by the grace of God, into the kingdom of righteousness; but you are born a little babe, that is all; and if you make any progress from that point on, it must be by work, by sacrifice, by the practice of Christian virtues, by benevolence, by self-denial, by resisting the adversary, by making valiant war for God and against sin; and on no other basis, am I authorized in giving you a hope that you may come to manhood in Christ Jesus.”

IfsGivingMayLittlesWarSelfChristianSpiritualityJesusChristBornSinPracticeVirtueGraceProgressSacrificeBasesKingdomsDenialRighteousnessManhoodGrace Of GodAdversariesBenevolenceBabeResistingSelf-denialValiant
Author:Charles Henry Fowler
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“I am truly amazed that after all this time, religious groups still need to attack entertainment and use these tragedies as a pitiful excuse for their own self-serving publicity. In response to their protests, I will provide a show where I balance my songs with a wholesome Bible reading. This way, fans will not only hear my so-called, violent point of view, but we can also examine the virtues of wonderful 'Christian' stories of disease, murder, adultery, suicide and child sacrifice. Now that seems like 'entertainment' to me.”

WayNeedsChildrenStillsSelfStoriesUseShowsSeemsChristianSongReadingReligiousViewsVirtueWonderfulSacrificeGroupsAtheismFansBalanceDiseaseTragedyMurderSuicideResponseEntertainmentExcusePositive AtheismPoint Of ViewViolentProtestServingAmazedAdulteryPublicityPitifulSelf ServingBible Reading
Author:Marilyn Manson
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“Through inculcating the notion that sacrifice is a virtue, Christianity has succeeded in convincing many people that misery incurred through sacrifice is a mark of virtue. Pain becomes the inignia of morality - and conversely, pleasure becomes the insignia of immorality. Christianity, therefore, does not say, "Go forth and be miserable." Rather, it says, "Go forth and practice the virtue of self-sacrifice." In practical terms, these commands are identical.”

PeopleDoeSelfPainTermPleasureChristianityPracticeVirtueSacrificeAtheismMoralityMarkMiseryNotionPositive AtheismPracticalsCommandMiserableConvincingIdenticalSelf SacrificeImmorality
Author:George H. Smith
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“However tiresome to others, the most indefatigable orator is never tedious to himself. The sound of his own voice never loses its harmony to his own ear; and among the delusions, which self-love is ever assiduous in attempting to pass upon virtue, he fancies himself to be sounding the sweetest tones”

SelfSoundVoiceLosesLove IsVirtueSelf LoveEarsHarmonyToneFancyDelusionAttemptingSweetestTediousOratorsTiresome
Book:Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory: Delivered to the Classes of Senior and Junior Sophisters in Harvard University
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“The motives of the best actions will not bear too strict an inquiry. It is allowed that the cause of most actions, good or bad, may be resolved into the love of ourselves; but the self-love of some men inclines them to please others, and the self-love of others is wholly employed in pleasing themselves. This makes the great distinction between virtue and vice.”

MenMaySelfActionCausesVirtueBearsSelf LovePleaseVicesMotiveDistinctionStrictEmployedInquiryIncline
Book:The Works of Jonathan Swift ...: Containing Interesting and Valuable Papers, Not Hitherto Published ... With Memoir of the Author
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“Rather do what is nothing to the purpose than be idle; that the devil may find thee doing. The bird that sits is easily shot, when fliers scape the fowler. Idleness is the Dead Sea that swallows all the virtues, and the self-made sepulchre of a living man.”

MenMayMadeSelfPurposeVirtueSeaBirdDevilShotsTheeIdleIdlenessSelf MadeScapes
Book:Enchiridion Institutions, Essays and Maxims, political, moral & divine. Divided into four centuries. By Francis Quarles
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“Happiness lies outside yourself, is achieved through interacting with others. Self-forgetfulness should be one's goal, not self-absorption. The male, capable of only the latter, makes a virtue of an irremediable fault and sets up self-absorption, not only as a good but as a Philosophical Good.”

ShouldSelfLyingGoalVirtueCapablePhilosophicalFaultsMalesLatterForgetfulnessInteractingAbsorptionSelf AbsorptionInteracting With OthersSelf Forgetfulness
Author:Valerie Solanas
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“The telephone conversation is, by its very nature, reactive, not reflective. Immediacy is its prime virtue. ... The letter, written in absorbed solitude, is an act of faith: it assumes the presence of humanity: world and self are generated from within: loneliness is courted, not feared. To write a letter is to be alone with my thoughts in the conjured presence of another person. I keep myself imaginative company. I occupy the empty room.”

WorldWritingPersonsSelfHumanityRoomsCompanyVirtueWrittenLonelinessSolitudeConversationEmptyLettersAssumingPrimeTelephonesMy ThoughtsImaginativeImmediacyEmpty Rooms
Author:Vivian Gornick
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“Wisdom and virtue are by no means sufficient, without the supplemental laws of good-breeding, to secure freedom from degenerating into rudeness, or self esteem from swelling into insolence. A thousand incivilities may be committed, and a thousand offices neglected. without any remorse of conscience, or reproach from reason.”

MayMeanSelfReasonLawVirtueSelf EsteemThousandOfficeConscienceCommittedEsteemSecureSufficientRemorseNeglectedPolitenessBreedingReproachRudenessSwellingInsolenceGood BreedingIncivility
Book:The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With Murphy's Essay
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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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“From the 5th grade through the 4th year of college, our young people are being indoctrinated with a Marxist philosophy and I am fearful of the harvest. The younger generation is further to the left than most adults realize. The old concepts of our Founding Fathers are scoffed and jeered at by young moderns whose goals appear to be the destruction of integrity and virtue, and the glorification of pleasure, thrills, and self-indulgence.”

PeopleYearsSelfPhilosophyYoungFatherLeftGoalRealizingPleasureVirtueGenerationsCollegeIntegrityConceptsAdultsDestructionGradesFearfulHarvestFoundingIndulgenceOur Founding FathersMarxistYounger GenerationSelf IndulgenceGlorification
Author:Ezra Taft Benson
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“An essential virtue is humility. ... The principle of humility and prayer leads one to feel a need of divine guidance. Self-reliance is a virtue, but with it should go a consciousness of the need of superior help-a consciousness that as you walk firmly in the pathway of duty, there is a possibility of your making a misstep; and with that consciousness is a prayer, a pleading that God will inspire you to avoid that false step”

NeedsFeelsShouldSelfHelpingPrayerWalksConsciousnessStepsPrinciplesVirtuePossibilityHumilityInspireDivineDutyEssentialsGods WillSuperiorsGuidanceSelf RelianceReliancePathwaysPleadingDivine Guidance
Author:David O. McKay
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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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“... 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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“Wealth brings with it its own checks and balances. The basis of political economy is noninterference. The only safe rule is found in the self-adjusting meter of demand and supply. Open the doors of opportunity to talent and virtue and they will do themselves justice, and property will not be in bad hands. In a free and just commonwealth, property rushes from the idle and imbecile to the industrious, brave and persevering.”

SelfHandsPoliticalFoundOpportunityWealthJusticeEconomyVirtueDoorsTalentBalanceSafeDemandBasesPropertyBraveChecksIdleMeterCommonwealthAdjustingIndustriousImbecilesPolitical Economy
Author:Ralph Waldo Emerson
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“The first law that ever God gave to man was a law of pure obedience; it was a commandment naked and simple, wherein man had nothing to inquire after, or to dispute, forasmuch as to obey is the proper office of a rational soul, acknowledging a heavenly superior and benefactor. From obedience and submission spring all other virtues, as all sin does from self-opinion.”

MenFirstsDoeSoulSelfLawSinSimpleOpinionVirtuePureOfficeSpringSuperiorsNakedRationalObedienceHeavenlyCommandmentsSubmissionDisputesBenefactorsSelf Opinion
Book:Montaigne's Essays: Top Essays
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“There's only one way for an individual to remain upright, not to fall to pieces, not to sink into the mire of self-oblivionorself-contempt. That's calmly to turn away from everything, to say, "Enough!" and, folding one's useless arms across one's empty breast, to retain the ultimate, the sole attainable virtue, the virtue of recognizing one's own insignificance.”

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Author:Ivan Turgenev
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“Republics demanded virtue. Monarchies could rely on coercion and "dazzling splendor" to suppress self-interest or factions; republics relied on the goodness of the people to put aside private interest for public good. The imperatives of virtue attached all sorts of desiderata to the republican citizen: simplicity, frugality, sobriety, simple manners, Christian benevolence, duty to the polity. Republics called on other virtues--spiritedness, courage--to protect the polity from external threats. Tyrants kept standing armies; republics relied on free yeomen, defending their own land.”

PeopleSelfChristianInterestSimpleVirtueDemocracyLandDutyCitizensRepublicanProtectGoodnessStandingArmyThreatSimplicityMannersRelyRepublicTyrantsImperativesSelf InterestMonarchyCoercionBenevolenceSplendorSobrietyFactionsDazzlingFrugalityPublic GoodYeoman
Author:James Monroe
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“The divine within you is stronger than anything that is without you. Therefore, be not afraid of anything. Rely on your own Inner Self, the Divinity within you. Tap the source through looking within. Improve yourself. Build your character. Purify the heart. Develop the divine virtues. Eradicate evil traits. Conquer all that is base in you. Endeavor to attain all that is worthy and noble. Make the lower nature the servant of the higher through discipline, Tapas, self-restraint and meditation. This is the beginning of your freedom.”

HeartSelfCharacterEvilVirtueMeditationDivineSourceHigherDisciplineStrongerWorthyNobleConquerServantRelyDivinityEndeavorNot AfraidTraitsWithin YouRestraintWithout YouInner SelfYour FreedomSelf RestraintImproving YourselfTapas
Author:Sivananda
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“It is easy enough to say, Be true to your values. But what if your values are irrational? Or what if the virtues you have committed yourself to are so much against human nature that they cannot be practiced consistently? Be careful of what you accept as your code of morality. Think carefully about whether its tenets serve your life and well being. Exercise critical judgment. Realize how much is at stake-your life, your happiness, your self-esteem.”

IfsThinkingHumansWellsSelfEnoughValuesEasyRealizingAcceptingVirtueHuman NatureSelf EsteemMoralityExerciseJudgmentCommittedCarefulCriticalEsteemBeing TrueWell BeingCodeWhat IfStakesBe CarefulConsistentlyIrrational
Author:Nathaniel Branden
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