True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Virtue has never been as respectable as money.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Only happy people can learn. Only happy people can teach. Our religion should put a sparkle in our eyes and a tone in our voice, and a spring in our step that bears witness of our faith and confidence in the goodness of God.
—Unknown
Look a man in the eye and say what you really think, don’t just smile at him and say what you’re supposed to think.
—Unknown
Virtue is harmony.
—Pythagoras (570–495 BCE) Greek Philosopher
People praise virtue, but they hate it, they run away from it. It freezes you to death, and in this world you’ve got to keep your feet warm.
—Denis Diderot (1713–84) French Philosopher, Writer
Some have been thought brave because they didn’t have the courage to run away.
—Common Proverb
We can never be certain of our courage until we have faced danger.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog.
—Unknown
Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle… (or) Einstein’s Theory of Relativity … (or) the Second Theory of Thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
For myself, I am an optimist — it does not seem to be much use being anything else.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Of all the varieties of virtue, liberality is the most beloved.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Beauty as we feel it is something indescribable; what it is or what it means can never be said.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
If you create an act, you create a habit. If you create a habit, you create a character. If you create a character, you create a destiny.
—Andre Maurois (1885–1967) French Novelist, Biographer
I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Virtue is the only true nobility.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
From Obedience and submission comes all our virtues, and all sin is comes from self-opinion.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed … The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. All history will convince you of this, and that wisdom and penetration are the fruit of experience, not the lessons of retirement and leisure. Great necessities call out great virtues.
—Abigail Adams (1744–1818) American First Lady
Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of a man you are, for it shows me what your ideal of manhood is, and what kind of a man you long to be.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Some virtues are only seen in affliction and others only in prosperity.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
Men’s evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
All virtue is summed up in dealing justly.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
All art is a struggle to be, in a particular sort of way, virtuous.
—Iris Murdoch (1919–99) British Novelist, Playwright, Philosopher
Beauty is not caused. It is.
—Emily Dickinson (1830–86) American Poet
If you can be well without health, you may be happy without virtue.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
He who loses wealth loses much; he who loses a friend loses more; but he who loses his courage loses all.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher