Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.
AristotleTemperance is a mean with regard to pleasures.
AristotleModesty is the color of virtue.
DiogenesWhilst shame keeps its watch, virtue is not wholly extinguished in the heart; nor will moderation be utterly exiled from the minds of tyrants.
Edmund BurkeA more secret, sweet, and overpowering beauty appears to man when his heart and mind open to the sentiment of virtue.
Ralph Waldo EmersonWhat most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy.
VoltaireThis life, which had been the tomb of his virtue and of his honour, is but a walking shadow; a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
William ShakespeareWe should every night call ourselves to an account: what infirmity have I mastered today? what passions opposed? what temptation resisted? what virtue acquired? Our vices will abate of themselves if they be brought every day to the shrift.
Lucius Annaeus SenecaA man does not have to be an angel in order to be saint.
Albert SchweitzerHonor is the reward of virtue.
Marcus Tullius CiceroOur peace shall stand as firm as rocky mountains.
William ShakespeareI believe this government cannot endure permanently, half slave and half free.
Abraham LincolnGlory follows virtue as if it were its shadow.
Marcus Tullius CiceroVirtue itself scapes not calumnious strokes.
William ShakespeareOnly on paper has humanity yet achieved glory, beauty, truth, knowledge, virtue, and abiding love.
George Bernard ShawBlushing is the color of virtue.
DiogenesTo realize that you do not understand is a virtue; Not to realize that you do not understand is a defect.
Lao TzuPeace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.
Baruch SpinozaNatural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability.
Marcus AureliusThose who have virtue always in their mouths, and neglect it in practice, are like a harp, which emits a sound pleasing to others, while itself is insensible of the music.
DiogenesTrue virtue is life under the direction of reason.
Baruch SpinozaWe should not be so taken up in the search for truth, as to neglect the needful duties of active life; for it is only action that gives a true value and commendation to virtue.
Marcus Tullius CiceroNatural ability without education has more often attained to glory and virtue than education without natural ability.
Marcus Tullius CiceroCrime when it succeeds is called virtue.
Lucius Annaeus SenecaThough ambition in itself is a vice, it often is also the parent of virtue.
Hosea BallouThe man of life upright has a guiltless heart, free from all dishonest deeds or thought of vanity.
Thomas CarlyleThere never was a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous.
Benjamin FranklinSuspicion is far more to be wrong than right; more often unjust than just. It is no friend to virtue, and always an enemy to happiness.
Hosea BallouWe become just by performing just action, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave action.
AristotleI am not virtuous. Our sons will be if we shed enough blood to give them the right to be.
Jean-Paul SartreSecrecy is the element of all goodness; even virtue, even beauty is mysterious.
Thomas CarlyleJudges ought to be more leaned than witty, more reverent than plausible, and more advised than confident. Above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue.
Francis BaconTo enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.
BuddhaWisdom does not show itself so much in precept as in life – in firmness of mind and a mastery of appetite. It teaches us to do as well as to talk; and to make our words and actions all of a color.
Lucius Annaeus SenecaModeration has been called a virtue to limit the ambition of great men, and to console undistinguished people for their want of fortune and their lack of merit.
Benjamin DisraeliKnowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous.
PlatoThe virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.
AristotleLove means to love that which is unlovable; or it is no virtue at all.
Gilbert K. ChestertonVirtue is a habit of the mind, consistent with nature and moderation and reason.
Marcus Tullius CiceroSocialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.
Winston ChurchillAll virtue is summed up in dealing justly.
AristotleHe who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.
ConfuciusThe endeavor to understand is the first and only basis of virtue.
Baruch SpinozaBlessedness is not the reward of virtue but virtue itself.
Baruch SpinozaTyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them.
VoltaireIf you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
Jesus ChristThe Scoutmaster who is a hero to his boys holds a powerful lever to their development but at the same time brings a great responsibility on himself. They are quick enough to see the smallest characteristic about him, whether it be a virtue or a vice.
Robert Baden-PowellOf all virtues and dignities of the mind, goodness is the greatest, being the character of the Deity; and without it, man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing.
Francis BaconA man must be both stupid and uncharitable who believes there is no virtue or truth but on his own side.
Joseph AddisonDependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.
Thomas JeffersonThe superior man does not, even for the space of a single meal, act contrary to virtue. In moments of haste, he cleaves to it. In seasons of danger, he cleaves to it.
ConfuciusSuccessful and fortunate crime is called virtue.
Lucius Annaeus SenecaVirtue is insufficient temptation.
George Bernard ShawChastity does not mean abstention from sexual wrong; it means something flaming, like Joan of Arc.
Gilbert K. ChestertonIf one has a good disposition, what other virtue is needed? If a man has fame, what is the value of other ornamentation?
ChanakyaWhat the statesman is most anxious to produce is a certain moral character in his fellow citizens, namely a disposition to virtue and the performance of virtuous actions.
AristotleGod is the same God, always and everywhere. He is omnipresent not virtually only, but also substantially, for virtue cannot subsist without substance.
Isaac NewtonMost dangerous is that temptation that doth goad us on to sin in loving virtue.
William ShakespeareSilence is the virtue of fools.
Francis BaconAll the gold which is under or upon the earth is not enough to give in exchange for virtue.
Plato