Famously Said Random quote

Quotes about virtue

884 quotes from 395 people

Most readBy personPage 22 of 59

No man can purchase his virtue too dear, for it is the only thing whose value must ever increase with the price it has cost us.
CCCharles Caleb Colton1777–1832Lacon (1820), Volume 1, Vol. I; XXVI
Content thyself to be obscurely good.
When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway,
The post of honor is a private station.
Joseph Addison1672–1719Cato, A Tragedy (1713), Act IV, scene iv
- Honor
If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life.
Henry David Thoreau1817–1862Walden (1854), p. 85In context
- Charity
A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of.
Joseph Addison1672–1719The Spectator (1711–1714), No. 231 (24 November 1711)
- Character
It is immoral to use private property in order to alleviate the horrible evils that result from the institution of private property.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
- Charity
- Economics
Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities, because, as has been said, ‘it is the quality which guarantees all others.’
Winston Churchill1874–1965In Great Contemporaries, “Alfonso XIII” (1937)
- Courage
Let me add, that only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.
Benjamin Franklin1706–1790letter to the Abbés Chalut and Arnaud (17 April 1787)
- Freedom
To know what you prefer, instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.
Robert Louis Stevenson1850–1894An Inland Voyage (1878), Ch. III, “The Royal Sport Nautique”.
- Character
It was the nation and the race dwelling all round the globe that had the lion’s heart. I had the luck to be called upon to give the roar.
Winston Churchill1874–1965Speech in Westminster Hall (30 November 1954), quoted in The Times (1 December 1954), p. 11
- Courage
- Leadership
Disobedience, the rarest and most courageous of the virtues, is seldom distinguished from neglect, the laziest and commonest of the vices.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950Maxims for Revolutionists (1903), #89
- Courage
But if he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, Sir, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoons.
Samuel Johnson1709–1784Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol I (14 July 1763) p. 123
- Clever Jabs
If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl.
H. L. Mencken1880–1956“Epitaph” from Smart Set (December 1921)
- Forgiveness
- Life & Death
The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy; I mean that if you are happy you will be good.
Bertrand Russell1872–1970New Hopes for a Changing World (1951), Part I: Man and Nature, Ch. 1: Current Perplexities, p. 10
- Happiness
Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn’t anyone who doesn’t appreciate kindness and compassion.
Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lamaborn 1935“Kindness and Compassion” p. 47.
- Charity
- Religion
The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased, and not impaired, in value.
Theodore Roosevelt1858–1919Speech before the Colorado Live Stock Association, Denver, Colorado (August 29, 1910); in The New Nationalism (1910), p. 52
- Nature
- Responsibility