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Quotes about virtue

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In archery we have something like the way of the superior man. When the archer misses the center of the target, he turns round and seeks for the cause of his failure in himself.
Confucius551–479 BCThe Doctrine of the Mean
- Failure
- Responsibility
In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.
Mark Twain1835–1910Mark Twain’s Notebook (1935), p. 413
- Courage
- Patriotism
Responsibility does not only lie with the leaders of our countries or with those who have been appointed or elected to do a particular job. It lies with each one of us individually.
Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lamaborn 1935Nobel lecture (1989)
- Responsibility
Consequences are unpitying. Our deeds carry their terrible consequences, quite apart from any fluctuations that went before — consequences that are hardly ever confined to ourselves.
George Eliot1819–1880Adam Bede (1859)
- Responsibility
The true measurement of a person’s worth isn’t what they say they believe in, but what they do in defense of those beliefs. If you’re not acting on your beliefs, then they probably aren’t real.
Edward Snowdenborn 1983As quoted in Glenn Greenwald, No Place to Hide (Penguin, 2015 ed.), p. 45
- Character
Forgiveness breaks the chain of causality because he who ‘forgives’ you — out of love — takes upon himself the consequences of what you have done. Forgiveness, therefore, always entails a sacrifice.
Dag Hammarskjöld1905–1961Easter 1960
- Forgiveness
Although men are accused of not knowing their own weakness, yet perhaps as few know their own strength. It is in men as in soils, where sometimes there is a vein of gold, which the owner knows not of.
Jonathan Swift1667–1745Thoughts on Various Subjects from Miscellanies (1711-1726)
- Character
I have said what I meant and meant what I said. I have not done as well as I should like to have done, but I have done my best, frankly and forthrightly; no man can do more, and you are entitled to no less.
Adlai Stevenson II1900–1965Speech, (3 November 1952) as quoted in “The Graceful Loser” in Time (23 July 1965)
- Character
The basis of self-government and freedom requires the development of character and self-restraint and perseverance and the long view. And these are qualities which require many years of training and education.
John F. Kennedy1917–1963Address at the University of Washington
- Character
- Freedom
He who would do good to another must do it in minute particulars;
General good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite, and flatterer:
For art and science cannot exist but in minutely organized Particulars.
William Blake1757–1827Jerusalem The Emanation of The Giant Albion (c. 1803–1820), Ch. 3, plate 55, line 60
- Charity
- Morality
All is in a man’s hands and he lets it all slip from cowardice, that’s an axiom. It would be interesting to know what it is men are most afraid of. Taking a new step, uttering a new word is what they fear most.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky1821–1881Crime and Punishment (1866)In context
- Courage
- Fear
It is when we all play safe that we create a world of utmost insecurity. It is when we all play safe that fatality will lead us to our doom. It is in the “dark shade of courage” alone that the spell can be broken.
Dag Hammarskjöld1905–1961Servant of Peace: A Selection of the Speeches and Statements of Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary General of the United Nations (1962), p. 107
- Courage
- Risk
Many people today believe that cynicism requires courage. Actually, cynicism is the height of cowardice. It is innocence and open-heartedness that requires the true courage⁠—however often we are hurt as a result of it.
Erica Jongborn 1942How to Save Your Own Life (1977)
- Courage
The bullet that will kill me is not yet cast.
Napoleon1769–1821Statement at Montereau (17 February 1814)
- Courage
- Life & Death
When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.
Confucius551–479 BCAnalects, Chapter I
- Advice
- Character