Virtue is persecuted more by the wicked than it is loved by the good.

The endeavor to understand is the first and only basis of virtue.

There is not enough love and goodness in the world to permit giving any of it away to imaginary beings.

Know then this truth, enough for man to know virtue alone is happiness below.

Truth is handsomer than the affectation of love. Your goodness must have some edge to it, else it is none.

We all have the duty to do good.

There never was a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous.

Blessedness is not the reward of virtue but virtue itself.

The strength of a man’s virtue should not be measured by his special exertions, but by his habitual acts.

Modesty is not only an ornament, but also a guard to virtue.

Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.

God’s dream is that you and I and all of us will realize that we are family, that we are made for togetherness, for goodness, and for compassion.

One can know a man from his laugh, and if you like a man’s laugh before you know anything of him, you may confidently say that he is a good man.

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.

Do not be very upright in your dealings for you would see by going to the forest that straight trees are cut down while crooked ones are left standing.

Moderation 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.

The love of economy is the root of all virtue.

The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue; courage is only the second virtue.

If 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.

In Buddhist culture, offering food to the monk symbolizes the action of goodness, and if you have no opportunity to support the practice of spirituality, then you are somehow left in the realm of darkness.

How can one preach goodness and love to men without at the same time offering them an interpretation of the World that justifies this goodness and this love?

What important is man should live in righteousness, in natural love for mankind.

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.

The superior man thinks always of virtue; the common man thinks of comfort.

Let us all be brave enough to die the death of a martyr, but let no one lust for martyrdom.

When virtue is lost, benevolence appears, when benevolence is lost right conduct appears, when right conduct is lost, expedience appears. Expediency is the mere shadow of right and truth; it is the beginning of disorder.

Great and good are seldom the same man.

All the goodness I have within me is totally from the Lord alone. When I sin, it is from me and is done on my own, but when I act righteously, it is wholly and completely of God.

Virtue is a habit of the mind, consistent with nature and moderation and reason.

Natural ability without education has more often attained to glory and virtue than education without natural ability.

Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one’s own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.

Truth is the beginning of every good to the gods, and of every good to man.

On the whole, human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.

The firm, the enduring, the simple, and the modest are near to virtue.

True religion is real living; living with all one’s soul, with all one’s goodness and righteousness.

The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.

There is no principle worth the name if it is not wholly good.

Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.

If there is one thing I fear less than everything else, it is, I believe, persecution for my opinions. There are a good many points about which I may be diffident, but when it comes to questions of Truth and intellectual independence, there is no holding me – I can envisage no finer end than to sacrifice oneself for a conviction.

Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.

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.

There is poison in the fang of the serpent, in the mouth of the fly and in the sting of a scorpion; but the wicked man is saturated with it.

Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.

Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practices it will have neighbors.

Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful.

Virtue is relative to the actions and ages of each of us in all that we do.

Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue.

For peace is not mere absence of war, but is a virtue that springs from, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.

Treat those who are good with goodness, and also treat those who are not good with goodness. Thus goodness is attained. Be honest to those who are honest, and be also honest to those who are not honest. Thus honesty is attained.

Religions, which condemn the pleasures of sense, drive men to seek the pleasures of power. Throughout history power has been the vice of the ascetic.

I do all the evil I can before I learn to shun it? Is it not enough to know the evil to shun it? If not, we should be sincere enough to admit that we love evil too well to give it up.

Religion which requires persecution to sustain, it is of the devil’s propagation.

Those 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.

True virtue is life under the direction of reason.

We ought to esteem it of the greatest importance that the fictions which children first hear should be adapted in the most perfect manner to the promotion of virtue.

God is the same God, always and everywhere. He is omnipresent not virtually only, but also substantially, for virtue cannot subsist without substance.

A more secret, sweet, and overpowering beauty appears to man when his heart and mind open to the sentiment of virtue.

To be good is noble; but to show others how to be good is nobler and no trouble.

Israel is guilty of apartheid and persecution of the Palestinian people, both inside Israel and also in the Occupied Territories.

In Hollywood a girl’s virtue is much less important than her hairdo.

The 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.