Quotes about virtue
884 quotes from 395 people
Mutability of temper and inconsistency with ourselves is the greatest weakness of human nature.
Joseph Addison1672–1719The Spectator (1711–1714), No. 162 (5 September 1711)I believe most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity of opportunity to be otherwise.
Maya Angelou1928–2014I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), Ch. 35It is not by recognizing the want of courage in someone else that you acquire courage yourself..
Ludwig Wittgenstein1889–1951Culture and Value (1980), p. 44eCourage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.
Billy Graham1918–2018“A Time for Moral Courage”, Reader’s Digest (July 1964)The lion who breaks the enemy’s ranks is a minor hero compared to the lion who overcomes himself.
Rumi1207–1273I, 1389Develop enough courage so that you can stand up for yourself and then stand up for somebody else.
Maya Angelou1928–2014in Rainbow in the Cloud: The Wisdom and Spirit of Maya Angelou (2014), p. 68Where the roots of private virtue are diseased, the fruit of public probity cannot but be corrupt.
Felix Adler1851–1933Founding Address (1876)It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue.
Voltaire1694–1778Notebooks (c.1735-c.1750)It is the duty of every man, so far as his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error.
Thomas Paine1737–1809The Theophilanthropist: Containing Critical, Moral, Theological and Literary Essays, in Monthly Numbers, p. 387
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882Journal (November 8, 1838)
Scott Adams1957–2026“A Kind Word”, in DNRC Newsletter #9 (December 1995)
Oscar Wilde1854–1900The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
Thomas Sowellborn 1930Wimps Versus Barbarians, May 21, 2013- Joseph Addison1672–1719The Tatler, No. 192 (1 July 1710)
Henry James1843–1916The Portrait of a Lady (1881), Ch. XVI