Virtuous Quotes - Page 8

• There is nothing more becoming any wise man, than to make choice of friends, for by them thou shalt be judged what thou art: let them therefore be wise and virtuous, and none of those that follow thee for gain; but make election rather of thy betters, than thy inferiors.

  Walter Raleigh

  Friendship, Wise, Art

  Sir Walter Raleigh (1829). “Miscellaneous works”, p.557

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• Sin is a dangerous toy in the hands of the virtuous. It should be left to the congenitally sinful, who know when to play with it and when to let it alone.

  H. L. Mencken

  Hands, Play, Toys

  H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.281, Vintage

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• Never suppose that in any possible situation or under any circumstances that it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing however slightly so it may appear to you... Encourage all your virtuous dispositions, and exercise them whenever an opportunity arises, being assured that they will gain strength by exercise ... and that exercise will make them habitual.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Truth, Lying, Exercise

  Thomas Jefferson, Jerry Holmes (2002). “Thomas Jefferson: A Chronology of His Thoughts”, p.60, Rowman & Littlefield

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• Happiness lies in virtuous activity, and perfect happiness lies in the best activity, which is contemplative

  Aristotle

  Lying, Philosophical, Perfect

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• It appears evident, therefore, that those actions only can truly be called virtuous, and deserving of moral approbation, which the agent believed to be right, and to which he was influenced, more or less, by that belief.

  Thomas Reid

  Psychology, Agents, Ethics

  Thomas Reid (1827). “Essays on the powers of the human mind: An essay on quantity. An analysis of Aristotl's logic”, p.630

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• There is no more beautiful sight than a young woman who glows with the light of the spirit who is confident and courageous because she is virtuous.

  Elaine S. Dalton

  Beautiful, Spiritual, Light

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• The loftiest in status are those who do not know their own status, and the most virtuous of them are those who do not know their own virtue.

  Al-Shafi‘i

  Islam, Virtue, Knows

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• Keep your analysis pure and virtuous.

  Theodor Billroth

  Analysis, Pure

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• The "kingdom of heaven" to which he referred was the state of God-consciousness, not the beautiful astral heavens that most people visualize, where virtuous souls go after death.

  Goswami Kriyananda

  Beautiful, People, Heaven

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• If virtuous, the government need not fear the fair operation of attack and defense. Nature has given to man no other means of sifting the truth, either in religion, law, or politics.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Mean, Men, Law

  Thomas Jefferson, Jerry Holmes (2002). “Thomas Jefferson: A Chronology of His Thoughts”, p.133, Rowman & Littlefield

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• The true end of education is not only to make the young learned, but to make them love learning; not only to make them industrious, but to make them love industry; not only to make them virtuous, but to make them love virtue; not only to make them just, but to make them hunger and thirst after justice.

  John Ruskin

  Education, Justice, Hunger And Thirst

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• Collect as precious pearls the words of the wise and virtuous.

  Abdelkader El Djezairi

  Inspirational, Wise, Learning

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• There are three points of doctrine the belief of which forms the foundation of all morality. The first is the existence of God; the second is the immortality of the human soul; and the third is a future state of rewards and punishments. Suppose it possible for a man to disbelieve either of these three articles of faith and that man will have no conscience, he will have no other law than that of the tiger or the shark. The laws of man may bind him in chains or may put him to death, but they never can make him wise, virtuous, or happy.

  John Quincy Adams

  Wise, Men, Sharks

  Abigail Adams, John Quincy Adams, Charles Francis Adams (1848). “Letters of Mrs. Adams: The Wife of John Adams”, p.432, Boston, Wilkins, Carter,

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• ... hitherto we have been permitted to seek beauty only in the morally good - a fact which sufficiently accounts for our having found so little of it and having had to seek about for imaginary beauties without backbone! - As surely as the wicked enjoy a hundred kinds of happiness of which the virtuous have no inkling, so too they possess a hundred kinds of beauty; and many of them have not yet been discovered.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Wicked, Littles, Facts

  Friedrich Nietzsche, Maudemarie Clark, Brian Leiter (1997). “Nietzsche: Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality”, p.195, Cambridge University Press

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• The establishment of Civil and Religious Liberty was the Motive which induced me to the Field - the object is attained - and it now remains to be my earnest wish & prayer, that the Citizens of the United States could make a wise and virtuous use of the blessings placed before them.

  George Washington

  Wise, Religious, Freedom

  George Washington, John Clement Fitzpatrick, David Maydole Matteson (1784). “The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745-1799”, p.249

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• There seem to be but three ways for a nation to acquire wealth. The first is by war, as the Romans did, in plundering their conquered neighbors. This is robbery. The second by commerce, which is generally cheating. The third by agriculture, the only honest way, wherein man receives a real increase of the seed thrown into the ground, in a kind of continual miracle, wrought by the hand of God in his favor, as a reward for his innocent life and his virtuous industry.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Life, Cheating, Real

  Benjamin Franklin (1819). “Memoirs of the life and writings of B.F. ...”, p.60

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• We can only write well about our sins because it is too difficult to recall a virtuous act or even whether it was the result of good or evil motives.

  Edward Dahlberg

  Writing, Evil, Sin

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• Sometimes I suspect that we build our traps ourselves, then we back into them, pretending amazement the while.

  Neil Gaiman

  Cages, Way, Sometimes

  "The Wake (The Sandman, Book 10)". Book sub-series by Neil Gaiman, August 1995 – March 1996.

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• Young women you will be the ones who will provide the example of virtuous womanhood and motherhood. You will continue to be virtuous lovely praiseworthy and of good report. You will also be the ones to provide an example of family life in a time when families are under attack, being redefined and disintegrating. You will understand your roles and your responsibilities and thus will see no need to lobby for rights.

  Elaine S. Dalton

  Responsibility, Motherhood, Rights

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• There is scarce any passion so heartily decried by moralists and satirists, as AMBITION; and yet, methinks, ambition is not a vice but in a vicious mind: in a virtuous mind it is a virtue, and will be found to take its color from the character in which it is mixed. Ambition is a desire of superiority; and a man may become superior, either by making others less or himself greater.

  Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke

  Passion, Ambition, Character

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• Men who have slandered the opposite sex have usually known women who were cleverer and more virtuous than they are.

  Christine de Pizan

  Sex, Men, Opposites

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• Could I be assured that America would remain virtuous, I would venture to defy the utmost Efforts of Enemies to subjugate her.

  Samuel Adams

  America, Effort, Enemy

  Samuel Adams (1968). “The Writings of Samuel Adams: 1773-1777: 1773-1777”

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• I think opinions should be judged by their influences and effects; and if a man holds none that tend to make him less virtuous or more vicious, it may be concluded that he holds none that are dangerous, which I hope is the case with me.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Thinking, Men, May

  Benjamin Franklin (2006). “The Portable Benjamin Franklin”, p.366, Penguin

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• Money and power are not your true rewards. Your name, your principles, your impeccable standards, your virtuous conduct, and remains an influence with others long after you are gone.

  Jason Hartman

  Business, Names, Long

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• I have now come to a stage of realization in which I see that God is walking in every human form and manifesting Himself alike through the sage and the sinner, the virtuous and the vicious. Therefore when I meet different people I say to myself, “God in the form of the saint, God in the form of the sinner, God in the form of the righteous, God in the form of the unrighteous.

  Ramakrishna

  People, Different, Saint

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