No man can purchase his virtue too dear, for it is the only thing whose value must ever increase with the price it has cost us.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
When a man’s knowledge is sufficient to attain, and his virtue is not sufficient to enable him to hold, whatever he may have gained, he will lose again.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Virtue, not rolling suns, the mind matures; that life is long which answers life’s great end.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
You cannot believe in honor until you have achieved it. Better keep yourself clean and bright: you are the window through which you must see the world.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
The most beautiful things in the universe are the starry heavens above us and the feeling of duty within us.
—Indian Proverb
Sin is commitable in thought, word or deed; so is virtue.
—Martin H. Fischer
We are double-edged blades, and every time we whet our virtue the return stroke straps our vice.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Sincerity and truth are the basis of every virtue.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
It is of no consequence of what parents a man is born, as long as he be a man of merit.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
When men grow virtuous in their old age, they only make a sacrifice to God of the devil’s leavings.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
Virtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience.
—George Goodman (b.1930) American Economist, Author
All of us are experts at practicing virtue at a distance.
—Theodore Hesburgh (1917–2015) American Catholic Educator, Clergyman
There is no man so good, who, were he to submit all his thoughts and actions to the law, would not deserve hanging ten times in his life.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
I have never seen a man as fond of virtue as of women.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Virtue and decency are so nearly related that it is difficult to separate them from each other but in our imagination.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
The superior man thinks always of virtue; the common man thinks of comfort.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
On the whole, human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Vice stirs up war, virtue fights.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
Though conditions have grown puzzling in their complexity, though changes have been vast, yet we may remain absolutely sure of one thing; that now as ever in the past, and as it will ever be in the future, there can be no substitute for elemental virtues, for the elemental qualities to which we allude when we speak of a man, not only as a good man, but as emphatically a man. We can build up the standard of individual citizenship and individual well-being, we can raise the national standard and make it what it can and shall be made, only by each of us steadfastly keeping in mind that there can be no substitute for the world-old commonplace qualities of truth, justice, and courage, thrift, industry, common sense and genuine sympathy with the fellow feelings of others.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
Virtue that wavers is not virtue.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
I would be virtuous for my own sake, though nobody were to know it; as I would be clean for my own sake, though nobody were to see me.
—Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury (1621–83) British Statesman
The deadliest foe to virtue would be complete self-knowledge.
—F. H. Bradley (1846–1924 ) British Idealist Philosopher
The vices we scoff at in others, laugh at us within ourselves.
—Thomas Browne (1605–82) English Author, Physician
I’m as pure as the driven slush.
—Tallulah Bankhead (1902–68) American Actor, TV Personality
Want of prudence is too frequently the want of virtue; nor is there on earth a more powerful advocate for vice than poverty.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American Novelist
We would frequently be ashamed of our good deeds if people saw all of the motives that produced them.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
A little integrity is better than any career.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Be virtuous and you will be eccentric.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
The superior man makes the difficulty to be overcome his first interest; success only comes later.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Always do right. This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Purity is the feminine, truth the masculine of honor.
—David Hare (b.1947) English Dramatist, Director, Film-Maker
I have not seen a person who loved virtue, or one who hated what was not virtuous. He who loved virtue would esteem nothing above it.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Who sows virtue reaps honor.
—Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Polymath, Painter, Sculptor, Inventor, Architect
The more virtuous any man is, the less easily does he suspect others to be vicious.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
The great slight the men of wit who have nothing but wit; the men of wit despise the great who have nothing but greatness; the good man pities them both, if with greatness or wit, they have not virtue.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
To be able under all circumstances to practice five things constitutes perfect virtue; these five things are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness and kindness.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
We are apt to mistake our vocation in looking out of the way for occasions to exercise great and rare virtues, and stepping over the ordinary ones which lie directly in the road before us. When we read we fancy we could be martyrs; when we come to act we find we cannot bear a provoking word.
—Hannah More
I willingly confess that it likes me better when I find virtue in a fair lodging than when I am bound to seek it in an ill-favored creature.
—Philip Sidney (1554–86) English Soldier Poet, Courtier
If he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, Sir, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoons
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Compliment others on the virtues they have; and they’re not half as pleased as being complimented for the ones they don’t have.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
The virtues of society are vices of the saint. The terror of reform is the discovery that we must cast away our virtues, or what we have always esteemed such, into the same pit that has consumed our grosser vices.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Guilt, though it may attain temporal splendor, can never confer real happiness; the evil consequences of our crimes long survive their commission, and, like the ghosts of the murdered, forever haunt the steps of the malefactor; while the paths of virtue, though seldom those of worldly greatness, are always those of pleasantness and peace.
—Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Lawyer
Wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it.
—David Starr Jordan (1851–1931) American Zoologist, Educator, Peace Activist
The time is always right to do what’s right.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
Our life is short, but to expand that span to vast eternity is virtue’s work.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Virtue is insufficient temptation.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
It is easier to enrich ourselves with a thousand virtues, than to correct ourselves of a single fault.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author