Thomas Merton on virtue

Persons are not known by intellect alone, not by principles alone, but only by love. It is when we love the other, the enemy, that we obtain from God the key to an understanding of who he is, and who we are.

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy.

Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone — we find it with another.

Love, while always forgiving of imperfections and mistakes, can never cease to will their removal.

C. S. Lewis1898–1963

• Forgiveness
• Love
• Theology

Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.

Aristotle384–322 BC

• Courage

To err is human, to forgive divine.

Alexander Pope1688–1744An Essay on Criticism (1711)In context

• Forgiveness