Virtue Quotes - Page 3

• The only reward of virtue is virtue.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Inspirational, Rewards, My Friends

  Essays "Friendship" (1841)

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• Virtue is not hereditary.

  Thomas Paine

  Hereditary

  Thomas Paine (2016). “COMMON SENSE (Political Classics Series): Advocating Independence to People in the Thirteen Colonies - Addressed to the Inhabitants of America”, p.34, e-artnow

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• When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.

  Thomas Paine

  Pain, War, 4th Of July

  Thomas Paine (2015). “Common Sense: and The American Crisis I”, p.38, Penguin

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• It is better to cherish virtue and humanity, by leaving much to free will, even with some loss of the object , than to attempt to make men mere machines and instruments of political benevolence. The world on the whole will gain by a liberty, without which virtue cannot exist.

  Edmund Burke

  Loss, Men, Political

  Edmund Burke (1999). “The Portable Edmund Burke”, p.433, Penguin

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• Silence is the virtue of fools.

  Francis Bacon

  Luxury, Silence, Fool

  'De Dignitate et Augmentis Scientiarum' (1640 ed., translated by Gilbert Watts) I, vii, 31

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• It still remains true that no justification of virtue will enable a man to be virtuous.

  C. S. Lewis

  Wisdom, Men, Justification

  C. S. LEWIS (1947). “THE ABOLITION OF MAN”

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• Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue.

  Confucius

  Chinese, Fine Words, Vices

  James Legge, Confucius, Mencius, Shih ching (1867). “The Chinese Classics: The life and works of Mencius”, p.117

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• The difference is too nice - Where ends the virtue or begins the vice.

  Alexander Pope

  Nice, Differences, Vices

  Alexander Pope, William Lisle Bowles, William Warburton, Joseph Warton (1806). “The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq: Essay on man. Moral essays. An essay on satire”, p.87

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• No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue.

  George Mason

  Freedom, Blessing, Government

  Virginia Declaration of Rights (Article 15), June 12, 1776.

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• Glory follows virtue as if it were its shadow.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Inspirational, Shadow, Glory

  "Tusculanarum Disputationum". Book by Marcus Tullius Cicero (Book I, Chapter 45), translated, 45 BC.

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• I prefer an interesting vice to a virtue that bores.

  Moliere

  Interesting, Vices, Bores

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• Courage is the ladder on which all the other virtues mount.

  Clare Boothe Luce

  Life, Motivational, Courage

  "Clare Boothe Luce". Reader's Digest, May 1979.

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• The only foundation for . . . a republic is to be laid in Religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.

  Benjamin Rush

  Bible, God, Religious

  Benjamin Rush (1806). “Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical ...”, p.8

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• The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue; courage is only the second virtue.

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Determination, Soldier, Endurance

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• If everyone were clothed with integrity, if every heart were just, frank, kindly, the other virtues would be well-nigh useless.

  Moliere

  Integrity, Heart, Would Be

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• Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim tribute to patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness - these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. . . . reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles.

  George Washington

  Religious, Business, Men

  "George Washington’s Farewell Address". "The Life of George Washington. Special Edition for Schools", ed. Robert Faulkner and Paul Carrese, Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, oll.libertyfund.org. 2000.

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• Virtue she finds too painful an endeavour, content to dwell in decencies for ever.

  Alexander Pope

  Pain, Endeavour, Decency

  'Epistles to Several Persons' 'To a Lady' (1735) l. 163

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• Humility is a virtue, and it is a virtue innate in guests.

  Max Beerbohm

  Humility, Guests, Innate

  Max Beerbohm (2015). “The Prince of Minor Writers: The Selected Essays of Max Beerbohm”, p.69, New York Review of Books

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• Confidentiality is a virtue of the loyal, as loyalty is the virtue of faithfulness.

  Edwin Louis Cole

  Loyalty, Literature, Faithfulness

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• No one gossips about other people's secret virtues.

  Bertrand Russell

  Respect, Keeping Secrets, People

  Bertrand Russell (2014). “On Education”, p.50, Routledge

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• I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat.

  John Milton

  Running, Race, Dust

  Areopagitica (1644)

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• Without Virtue there can be no liberty

  Benjamin Rush

  Freedom, Liberty, Morality

  Benjamin Rush (1806). “Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical ...”, p.8

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• Most dangerous is that temptation that doth goad us on to sin in loving virtue.

  William Shakespeare

  Love, Temptation, Sin

  'Measure for Measure' (1604) act 2, sc. 2, l. 180

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• Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Ambition, Government, Design

  Thomas Jefferson, Jerry Holmes (2002). “Thomas Jefferson: A Chronology of His Thoughts”, p.43, Rowman & Littlefield

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• That friendship may be at once fond and lasting, there must not only be equal virtue on each part, but virtue of the same kind; not only the same end must be proposed, but the same means must be approved by both.

  Samuel Johnson

  Mean, Vices, May

  Samuel Johnson (1825). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With Murphy's Essay”, p.302

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