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Virtue Quotes

Browse 5982 quotes about Virtue.

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Virtue Quotes

“If we keep the path of virtue undefiled through devout and true knowledge, and do not deviate to either side, we will experience the advent of God revealed to us because of our dispassion. For 'I will sing a psalm and in a pure path I will understand when Thou wilt come to me' (cf. Ps. 101:1-2). The psalm stands for virtuous conduct; understanding indicates the spiritual knowledge, gained through virtue, by means of which we perceive God's advent, when we wait for the Lord vigilant in the virtues.”

IfsMeanChristianSpiritualWaitingUnderstandingSidesLordVirtuePathPurePerceiveOrthodoxVirtuousOrthodox ChristianAdventVigilantPsalmsCfsTrue KnowledgeDeviateSpiritual KnowledgeKnowledge Gained
Author:Maximus the Confessor
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“I mean that it is more natural for me to be wicked than virtuous, when I do a bad act, and I've done many, I never feel wither shame, remorse or fear, I sometimes wish it was not necessary as I don't like the trouble, but as for any moral sense of principle, I haven't a particle. Many people are like me as actions prove, but they are not so frank in owning it and insist on keeping up the humbug of virtue.”

PeopleFeelsMeanSometimesDoneActionWishNaturalMoralPrinciplesVirtueTroubleHavensProveShameLike MeWickedFrankVirtuousRemorseParticlesHumbugOwning It
Author:Louisa May Alcott
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“Men that are free, well-born, well-bred, and conversant in honest companies, have naturally an instinct and spur that prompteth them unto virtuous actions, and withdraws them from vice, which is called honour. Those same men, when by base subjection and constraint they are brought under and kept down, turn aside from that noble disposition, by which they formerly were inclined to virtue, to shake off and break that bond of servitude, wherein they are so tyrannously enslaved; for it is agreeable with the nature of man to long after things forbidden, and to desire what is denied us.”

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Author:Francois Rabelais
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“Men have been taught that their first concern is to relieve the suffering of others. ... To make that the highest test of virtue is to make suffering the most important part of life. Then man must wish to see others suffer in order that he may be virtuous. Such is the nature of altruism.”

MenFirstsMayHas BeensImportantSufferingOrderWishVirtueTaughtHighestConcernTestsVirtuousAltruismParts Of LifeFountainheadSuffering Of Others
Book:For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)
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“Every virtuous woman desires a husband to whom she can look for guidance and protection through this world. God has placed this desire in woman's nature. It should be respected by the stronger sex. Any man who takes advantage of this, and humbles a daughter of Eve to rob her of her virtue, and cast her off dishonored and defiled, is her destroyer, and is responsible to God for the deed.”

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Book:Journal of Discourses
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“Many are really virtuous who cannot explain what virtue is . . . But the powers themselves in reality perform their several operations with sufficient constancy and uniformity in persons of good health whatever their opinions be about them . . .”

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Book:An Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Passions and Affections
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“Fear guides more to their duty than gratitude; for one man who is virtuous from the love of virtue, from the obligation he thinks he lies under to the Giver of all, there are ten thousand who are good only from their apprehension of punishment.”

ThinkingMenLyingVirtueDutyGratitudeThousandTenGuidesPunishmentObligationOne ManVirtuousGiverApprehension
Book:The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith: With an Account of His Life and Writings : Stereotyped from the Paris Edition : Complete in One Volume
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“I suppose as long as novels last, and authors aim at interesting their public, there must always be in the story a virtuous and gallant hero; a wicked monster, his opposite; and a pretty girl, who finds a champion. Bravery and virtue conquer beauty; and vice, after seeming to triumph through a certain number of pages, is sure to be discomfited in the last volume, when justice overtakes him, and honest folks come by their own.”

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Book:The four Georges. The English humorists. Roundabout papers
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“Virtue is as little to be acquired by learning as genius; nay, the idea is barren, and is only to be employed as an instrument, in the same way as genius in respect to art. It would be as foolish to expect that our moral and ethical systems would turn out virtuous, noble, and holy beings, as that our aesthetic systems would produce poets, painters, and musicians.”

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Author:Arthur Schopenhauer
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“There is no bounty to be showed to such As have real goodness: Bounty is A spice of virtue; and what virtuous act Can take effect on them that have no power Of equal habitude to apprehend it?”

RealVirtueEffectsEqualGoodnessVirtuousSpicesBenevolenceBounty
Book:Poetaster, Or, The Arraignment: Sejanus His Fall ; The Devil is an Ass ; The New Inn, Or, The Light Heart
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“The virtuous to those mansions go Where pleasures unembitter'd flow, Where, leading up a jocund band, Vigor and Youth dance hand in hand, Whilst Zephyr, with harmonious gales, Pipes softest music through the vales, And Spring and Flora, gaily crown'd, With velvet carpet spread the ground; With livelier blush where roses bloom, And every shrub expires perfume.”

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Book:The Ghost
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“This sutra enjoins a rule of morality. It says nobody should be disrespected. A man can impress evdrybnody by his virtues. Disrespecting others means downfall of our own virtues. A person who disrespects others, in a way disrespect himself. A virtuous man does not disrespect his friend or vevn his enemy. Disrespect to enemy can investigate him toreact. The best thing is to destroy him completely. For a ruler this is very important.”

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Author:Chanakya
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“Some things the legislator must find ready to his hand in a state, others he must provide. And therefore we can only say: May our state be constituted in such a manner as to be blessed with the goods of which fortune disposes (for we acknowledge her power): whereas virtue and goodness in the state are not a matter of chance but the result of knowledge and purpose. A city can be virtuous only when the citizens who have a share in the government are virtuous, and in our state all the citizens share in the government.”

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Book:Delphi Complete Works of Aristotle (Illustrated)
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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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“We underestimate the value of patience. It is possible that people might sometimes interrupt our meditation sessions or Dharma study, but they can never take away our opportunity to train in inner virtues such as patience. It is this mental training, rather than outer virtuous activities, that is the essence of Dharma practice.”

PeopleSometimesMightValuesOpportunityPracticeVirtueStudyMeditationActivityTrainingEssenceTrainVirtuousUnderestimateSessionDharma
Author:Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
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“Manners or etiquette ('accessibility, affability, politeness, refinement, propriety, courtesy, and ingratiating and captivating behavior') call for no large measure of moral determination and cannot, therefore, be reckoned as virtues. Even though manners are no virtues, they are a means of developing virtue.... The more we refine the crude elements in our nature, the more we improve our humanity and the more capable it grows of feeling the driving force of virtuous principles.”

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Author:Immanuel Kant
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