Vices Quotes - Page 3

• No exile at the South Pole or on the summit of Mont Blanc separates us more effectively from others than the practice of a hidden vice.

  Marcel Proust

  Practice, Literature, Exile

  Marcel Proust (1948). “The Maxims of Marcel Proust”

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• Unless the reformer can invent something which substitutes attractive virtues for attractive vices, he will fail.

  Walter Lippmann

  Inspirational, Failing, Virtue

  Walter Lippmann (1914). “A Preface to Politics”

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• Have not prisons - which kill all will and force of character in man, which enclose within their walls more vices than are met with on any other spot of the globe - always been universities of crime?

  Peter Kropotkin

  Wall, Character, Men

  Peter Kropotkin (2012). “Anarchism: A Collection of Revolutionary Writings”, p.134, Courier Corporation

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• There is no vice so simple but assumes some mark of virtue on his outward parts.

  William Shakespeare

  Simple, Venice, Shylock

  'The Merchant of Venice' (1596-8) act 3, sc. 2, l. 73

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• Probably the greatest harm done by vast wealth is the harm that we of moderate means do ourselves when we let the vices of envy and hatred enter deep into our own natures.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Mean, Envy, Hatred

  Theodore Roosevelt (2015). “Theodore Roosevelt on Bravery: Lessons from the Most Courageous Leader of the Twentieth Century”, p.36, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• The worst vice of the solitary is the worship of his food.

  Cyril Connolly

  Food, Solitude, Literature

  David Pryce-Jones, Cyril Connolly (1983). “Cyril Connolly: journal and memoir”, HarperCollins

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

  Albert Einstein

  Love, Inspirational, Life

  Attributed in "Albert Einstein: A Documentary Biography" by Carl Seeling, (p. 114), 1956.

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• So much of our lives is given over to the consideration of our imperfections that there is no time to improve our imaginary virtues. The truth is we only perfect our vices, and man is a worse creature when he dies than he was when he was born.

  Edward Dahlberg

  Men, Perfect, Literature

  Edward Dahlberg (1967). “Alms for Oblivion”, p.138, U of Minnesota Press

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• Vice knows she is ugly, so puts on her mask.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Ugly, Virtue, Mask

  Benjamin Franklin (2004). “Poor Richard's Almanack”, p.133, Barnes & Noble Publishing

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• Half the vices which the world condemns most loudly have seeds of good in them and require moderate use rather than total abstinence.

  Samuel Butler

  Use, Half, World

  Samuel Butler (2012). “The Way of All Flesh”, p.239, Courier Corporation

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• An element of exaggeration clings to the popular judgment: great vices are made greater, great virtues greater also; interesting incidents are made more interesting, softer legends more soft.

  Walter Bagehot

  Exaggeration Is, Interesting, Elements

  Richard Holt Hutton, Walter Bagehot (1858). “The National Review”, p.463

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• Through tattered clothes great vices do appear; Robes and furred gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold and the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks. Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it.

  William Shakespeare

  Strong, Clothes, Justice

  William Shakespeare (2004). “The Great Comedies and Tragedies”, p.795, Wordsworth Editions

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• We make ourselves a ladder out of our vices if we trample the vices themselves underfoot.

  Saint Augustine

  Ladders, Ifs

  'Sermons' bk. 3 'De Ascensione'

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• No company is preferable to bad. We are more apt to catch the vices of others than virtues, as disease is far more contagious than health.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Health, Disease, Virtue

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• Every vice has its excuse ready.

  Publilius Syrus

  Inspirational, Virtue, Excuse

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• The rhythmic pattern of the poem, which forces continuity of attention - incites a pleasurable compulsion to 'follow' - is either a tried metrical suasion-contrivance or a specially invented pattern of physical insistences, equally, if not more, binding in its effect on the reader. From a straight linguistic point of view, there is room for wonder if there is not latent vice in this environment in which pleasurable physically-compelled responses, produced by incidents of poetic utterance, are identified with the Good.

  Laura Riding

  Views, Attention, Utterance

  "The Promise of Words". London Review of Books, Vol. 17, No. 17, p. 23, September 07, 1995.

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• A lot of vices that I've had over the years were always to make up for some sort of character deficiency, one of them being shyness.

  Slash

  Character, Years, Shyness

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• He who busies himself with things other than improvement of his own self becomes perplexed in darkness and entangled in ruin. His evil spirits immerse him deep in vices and make his bad actions seem handsome.

  Ali ibn Abi Talib

  Beauty, Self, Evil

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• We tolerate without rebuke the vices with which we have grown familiar.

  Publilius Syrus

  Virtue, Familiar, Tolerate

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• The second vice is lying, the first is running in debt.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Running, Lying, Debt Free

  Benjamin Franklin (2004). “Poor Richard's Almanack”, p.291, Barnes & Noble Publishing

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• A few vices are sufficient to darken many virtues.

  Plutarch

  Reality, Virtue, Sufficient

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• Think no vice so small that you may commit it, and no virtue so small that you may over look it.

  Confucius

  Thinking, Looks, May

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• All institutions are prone to corruption and to the vices of their members.

  Morris West

  Corruption, Institutions, Members

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• The vices we scoff at in others laugh at us within ourselves.

  Thomas Browne

  Laughing, Virtue, Vice And Virtue

  Sir Thomas Browne (1844). “Religio Medici. Its sequel, Christian Morals ... With resemblant passages from Cowper's Task, and a verbal index. [Edited by John Peace.]”, p.183

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

  Barry Goldwater

  Memorial Day, Freedom, Gay

  Speech accepting nomination for president at Republican National Convention, San Francisco, Cal., 16 July 1964

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