Virtue Quotes

Surely what a man does when he is caught off his guard is the best evidence as to what sort of man he is.

The act of defending any of the cardinal virtues has today all the exhilaration of a vice.

Perfect humility dispenses with modesty.

Everyone feels benevolent if nothing happens to be annoying him at the moment.

The humblest citizen of all the land; when clad in the armour of a righteous cause; is stronger than all the hosts of Error.

The opposite of talking isn't listening. The opposite of talking is waiting.

All virtue is summed up in dealing justly.

Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them.

Of all the varieties of virtues, liberalism is the most beloved.

Those who excel in virtue have the best right of all to rebel, but then they are of all men the least inclined to do so.

A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle.

It is a grand mistake to think of being great without goodness and I pronounce it as certain that there was never a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous.

Duties are not performed for duty's sake, but because their neglect would make the man uncomfortable. A man performs but one duty - the duty of contenting his spirit, the duty of making himself agreeable to himself.

Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heal that has crushed it.

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.

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.

This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own imperfections.

A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue, but moderation in principle is always a vice.

Character is much easier kept than recovered.

Virtues are acquired through endeavor, Which rests wholly upon yourself. So, to praise others for their virtues can but encourage one's own efforts.

Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.

I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.

What a man's mind can create, man's character can control.

Moderation is a virtue only in those who are thought to have an alternative.

The nearest way to glory is to strive to be what you wish to be thought
to be.

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

No one gossips about other people's secret virtues.

Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.

Principles only mean something when you stick to them when its inconvenient.

The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has done you a small favor wish that he might have done you a greater one.

That service is the noblest which is rendered for its own sake.

Old age has deformities enough of its own. It should never add to them the deformity of vice.

He that is kind is free, though he is a slave; he that is evil is a slave, though he be a king.

Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.

Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.

Live so that you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.

A country cannot subsist well without liberty, nor liberty without virtue.

Character is what you are in the dark.

Character is what you are in the dark.

No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe, as from our own. Therefore, we are saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.

How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it.

There is no joy in life like the joy of sharing.

The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back.

It is only our bad temper that we put down to being tired or worried or hungry; we put our good temper down to ourselves.

I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do. That is character!

Ridicule is generally made use of to laugh men out of virtue and good sense, by attacking everything praiseworthy in human life.

How I wish that somewhere there existed an island for those who are wise and of goodwill! In such a place even I would be an ardent patriot.

It still remains true that no justification of virtue will enable a man to be virtuous.

It still remains true that no justification of virtue will enable a man to be virtuous.

There is not enough darkness in all the world to put out the light of even one small candle.

What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?

Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.

I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant and kindness from the unkind.

I cannot love anyone if I hate myself. That is the reason why we feel so extremely uncomfortable in the presence of people who are noted for their special virtuousness, for they radiate an atmosphere of the torture they inflict on themselves. That is not a virtue but a vice.

Prosperity is the measure or touchstone of virtue, for it is less difficult to bear misfortune than to remain uncorrupted by pleasure.

There is no act, however virtuous, for which ingenuity may not find some bad motive.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.