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Quotes about virtue

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Therefore the good man, although he is a slave, is free; but the bad man, even if he reigns, is a slave, and that not of one man, but, what is far more grievous, of as many masters as he has vices.
Augustine of Hippo354–430The City of God, Book IV, ch. 3
- Freedom
So material a difference does it make, not what ills are suffered, but what kind of man suffers them. For, stirred up with the same movement, mud exhales a horrible stench, and ointment emits a fragrant odor.
Augustine of Hippo354–430The City of God (early 400s)
- Character
For there is one thing we must never forget…the majority can never replace the man. And no more than a hundred empty heads make one wise man will an heroic decision arise from a hundred cowards.
Adolf Hitler1889–1945
- Courage
Now always be the best, my boy, the bravest,
and hold your head up high above the others.
Homer900–800 BCIliad, VI. 208 (tr. Robert Fagles); Glaucus recalling his father’s charge
- Courage
- Motivation & Goals
See now, how men lay blame upon us gods for what is after all nothing but their own folly.
Homer900–800 BCThe Odyssey (8th century BC), Book IIn context
- God
- Responsibility
A wolf was no less a wolf because a whim of chance caused him to run with the watch-dogs.
Robert E. Howard1906–1936“Beyond the Black River” (1935)
- Character
Responsibilities gravitate to the person who can shoulder them; power to the man who knows how.
Elbert Hubbard1856–1915“J.B. Runs Things,” Short Stories and Index: Elbert Hubbard’s Selected Writings, Part 14 (1923), p. 278
- Responsibility
If there is any better way to teach virtue than by practicing it, I do not know it.
Elbert Hubbard1856–1915The Better Part (1901)
The ineffable joy of forgiving and being forgiven forms an ecstasy that might well arouse the envy of the gods.
Elbert Hubbard1856–1915The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard (1927)
- Forgiveness
Where ambition can be so happy as to cover its enterprizes, even to the person himself, under the appearance of principle, it is the most incurable and inflexible of all human passions.
David Hume1711–1776The History of England (1754-62)
- Character
- Motivation & Goals
Write me as one that loves his fellow men.
Leigh Hunt1784–1859Abou Ben Adhem (1834)In context
- Charity
- Love
You see, the point is that the strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.
Henrik Ibsen1828–1906An Enemy of the People (1882), Act V
- Character
- Courage
A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.
Henrik Ibsen1828–1906An Enemy of the People (1882), Act I, spoken by BillingIn context
- Leadership
- Responsibility
It gives me a sense of freedom to know that a deed of deliberate courage is still possible in this world,⁠—a deed of spontaneous beauty.
Henrik Ibsen1828–1906Hedda Gabler (1890), Act Fourth, spoken by HeddaIn context
Above all things, one should maintain his self-respect, and there is but one way to do that, and that is to live in accordance with your highest ideal.
Robert G. Ingersoll1833–1899The trial of Charles B. Reynolds for blasphemy (1887)
- Advice
- Character