VIRTUE QUOTES
quotations about virtue
Virtue has its own reward, but no box office.
MAE WEST
An Uncommon Scold
Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set.
FRANCIS BACON
Essays
If you have performed an act of great and disinterested virtue, conceal it; if you publish it, you will neither be believed here, nor rewarded hereafter.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
Virtue is the habit of acting according to wisdom.
GOTTFRIED WILHELM LEIBNIZ
"Felicity", Leibniz: Political Writings
As a good tree produces good fruit; even so does a virtuous soul produce pure thoughts.
WILLIAM SCOTT DOWNEY
Proverbs
There is but little virtue in the action of masses of men.
HENRY DAVID THOREAU
Civil Disobedience
Encourage all your virtuous dispositions, and exercise them whenever an opportunity arises, being assured that they will gain strength by exercise, as a limb of the body does, and that exercise will make them habitual.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
letter to Peter Carr, August 19, 1785
Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues: hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.
AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO
attributed, Christian Spirit
Light may be produced by candle, by oil, by gas, by electricity: warmth by wood, by coal, by steam. As it would be foolish for the user of one means to disparage all the others, so 'tis foolish to fret because the manner in which others are virtuous differs from ours.
IVAN PANIN
Thoughts
Let cunning statesmen praise or blame,
Let Fortune turn or go her way,
Come instant death, or lingering shame,
Firm souls from virtue will not stray.
BHARTRHARI
"The Praise of Firmness"
Virtue is more to a man than either water or fire. I have seen men die from treading on water and fire, but I have never seen a man die from treading the course of virtue.
CONFUCIUS
The Wisdom of Confucius
He who sows virtue reaps glory.
LEONARDO DA VINCI
Thoughts on Art and Life
The virtuous will be sure to speak uprightly; but those whose speech is upright may not be virtuous.
CONFUCIUS
The Wisdom of Confucius
It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
attributed, The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln
When I hear a man discoursing of virtue, or of any sort of wisdom, who is a true man and worthy of his theme, I am delighted beyond measure: and I compare the man and his words, and note the harmony and correspondence of them. And such an one I deem to be the true musician, having in himself a fairer harmony than that of the lyre.
PLATO
Laches
Virtue has more admirers than followers.
NORMAN MACDONALD
Maxims and Moral Reflections
Virtue is harder to be got than knowledge of the world; and, if lost in a young man, is seldom recovered.
JOHN LOCKE
Some Thoughts Concerning Education
Virtue is the fount whence honour springs.
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE
Tamburlaine the Great
As you do not sweeten your mouth by saying honey, so you do not grow virtuous by merely talking of virtue.
IVAN PANIN
Thoughts
Most virtues and flowers bloom best on poor soil.
AUSTIN O'MALLEY
Keystones of Thought