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Quotes about virtue

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The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.
George Eliot1819–1880Middlemarch (1871–1872), FinaleIn context
- History
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
T. S. Eliot1888–1965The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915), Line 45In context
- Courage
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
T. S. Eliot1888–1965The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915), Line 79In context
- Courage
- Decisions
The awful daring of a moment’s surrender
Which an age of prudence can never retract
By this, and this only, we have existed
T. S. Eliot1888–1965The Waste Land (1922)In context
- Courage
- Risk
After such knowledge, what forgiveness?
T. S. Eliot1888–1965Poems (1920), “Gerontion”
- Forgiveness
- Knowledge
I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm.
Elizabeth I of England1533–1603Speech to the Troops at Tilbury (1588)
Let tyrants fear, I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects.
Elizabeth I of England1533–1603Speech to the Troops at Tilbury (1588)
- Courage
- Leadership
I declare before you all, that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and to the service of our great imperial family, to which we all belong.
Elizabeth II1926–2022Broadcast on her 21st birthday, from Cape Town (21 April 1947)
- Leadership
- Responsibility
A hero is no braver than an ordinary person, but he is braver five minutes longer.
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882
- Courage
A great part of courage is the courage of having done the thing before.
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882“Culture,” The Conduct of Life (1860).
- Courage
Courage consists in the power of self-recovery.
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882Essays, Circles.
- Courage
The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882The Conduct of Life (1860), Worship
- Honor
Rings and jewels are not gifts but apologies for gifts. The only true gift is a portion of yourself.
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882
- Charity
Character is higher than intellect… A great soul will be strong to live, as well as strong to think.
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882The American Scholar (1837), par. 27
- Character
Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy.
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882Letters and Social Aims (1876), Social Aims
- Life & Death