Half the vices which the world condemns most loudly have seeds of good in them and require moderated use rather than total abstinence.
—Samuel Butler
Our pleasant vices are made the whip to scourge us.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
As to the general design of providence, the two extremes of vice may serve to keep up the balance of things. When we speak against one capital vice, we ought to speak against its opposite; the middle betwixt both is the point for virtue.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
Vices are contagious, and there is no trusting the well and sick together.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Idleness is the beginning of all vices.
—Common Proverb
Vices are as truly contrary to each other as to virtue.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
Vice incapacitates a man from all public duty; it withers the powers of his understanding, and makes his mind paralytic.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
How like herrings and onions our vices are in the morning after we have committed them.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
Think no vice so small that you may commit it, and no virtue so small that you may over look it.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Some vices only lay hold of us by means of others, and these, like branches, fall on removal of the trunk.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
When Mandeville maintained that private vices were public benefits, he did not calculate the widely destructive influence of bad example. To affirm that a vicious man is only his own enemy is about as wise as to affirm that a virtuous man is only his own friend.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
What we call vice in our neighbor may be nothing less than a crude virtue. To him who knows nothing more of precious stones than he can learn from a daily contemplation of his breastpin, a diamond in the mine must be a very uncompromising sort of stone.
—William Gilmore Simms (1806–70) American Poet, Historian, Novelist, Editor
I prefer an interesting vice to a virtue that bores.
—Moliere (1622–73) French Playwright
Never support two weaknesses at the same time. It’s your combination sinners—your lecherous liars and your miserly drunkards—who dishonor the vices and bring them into bad repute.
—Thornton Wilder (1897–1975) American Novelist, Playwright
Vices and frailties correct each other, like acids and alkalies. If each vicious man had but one vice, I do not know how the world could go on.
—Richard Whately (1787–1863) English Philosopher, Theologian
No man ever arrived suddenly at the summit of vice.
—Juvenal (c.60–c.136 CE) Roman Poet
Without enthusiasm, virtue functions not at all, and vice only poorly.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
A society composed of none but the wicked could not exist; it contains within itself the seeds of its own destruction, and, without a flood, would be swept away from the earth by the deluge of its own iniquity. The moral cement of all society is virtue; it unites and preserves, while vice separates and destroys. The good may well be termed the salt of the earth, for where there is no integrity there can be no confidence; and where there is no confidence there can be no unanimity.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
It is but a step from companionship to slavery when one associates with vice.
—Hosea Ballou (1771–1852) American Theologian
There are vices which have no hold upon us, but in connection with others, and which, when you cut down the trunk, fall like the branches.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
If individuals have no virtues, their vices may be of use to us.
—Junius Unidentified English Writer
A prince must be prudent enough to know how to escape the bad reputation of those vices that would lose the state for him, and must protect himself from those that will not lose it for him, if this is possible; but if he cannot, he need not concern himself unduly if he ignores these less serious vices.
—Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) Florentine Political Philosopher
Beware of the beginnings of vice.—Do not delude yourself with the belief that it can be argued against in the presence of the exciting cause.—Nothing but actual flight can save you.
—Benjamin Haydon (1786–1846) English Painter, Writer
To attack vices in the abstract, without touching persons, may be safe fighting, but it is fighting with shadows.
—Junius Unidentified English Writer
It seemed the world was divided into good and bad people. The good ones slept better… while the bad ones seemed to enjoy the waking hours much more.
—Woody Allen (b.1935) American Film Actor, Director
The function of vice is to keep virtue within reasonable bounds.
—Samuel Butler
Say everything for vice which you can, magnify any pleasures as much as you please, but don’t believe you have any secret for sending on quicker the sluggish blood, and for refreshing the faded nerve.
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English Clergyman, Essayist, Wit
Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As, to be hated, needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
We do not despise all those who have vices, but we do despise all those who have not a single virtue.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Vice repeated is like the wandering wind; blows dust in others’ eyes, to spread itself.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
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