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Quotes about virtue

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War is capitalism with the gloves off and many who go to war know it but they go to war because they don’t want to be a hero. It takes courage to sit down and be counted.
Tom Stoppard1937–2025Travesties (1974), Act I
- Courage
- War & Peace
The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences.
Winston Churchill1874–1965Speech in the House of Commons, November 12, 1936 “Debate on the Address”
- Change
- Responsibility
Suffering — how divine it is, how misunderstood! We owe to it all that is good in us, all that gives value to life; we owe to it pity, we owe to it courage, we owe to it all the virtues.
Anatole France1844–1924Le Jardin d’Épicure [The Garden of Epicurus] (1894)
With uncertainty in one scale, courage and self-confidence should be thrown into the other to correct the balance. The greater they are, the greater the margin that can be left for accidents.
Carl von Clausewitz1780–1831On War (1832), Book 1, Ch. 1
- Courage
- Risk
Independence I have long considered as the grand blessing of life, the basis of every virtue; and independence I will ever secure by contracting my wants, though I were to live on a barren heath.
Mary Wollstonecraft1759–1797A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), Dedication
- Freedom
Our loyalties are to the species and the planet. We speak for Earth. Our obligation to survive and flourish is owed not just to ourselves, but also to that Cosmos, ancient and vast, from which we spring.
Carl Sagan1934–1996Who Speaks for Earth? [Episode 13], 54 min 25 sec
- Nature
- Responsibility
Every hand and every hour should be devoted to rescue the world from its insanity of guilt, and to assuage the pangs of human hearts with balm and anodyne. To pity distress is but human; to relieve it is Godlike.
Horace Mann1796–1859Lectures on Education (1855), Lecture 6
- Charity
They treat me like a fox, a cunning fellow (Schlaukopf) of the first rank. But the truth is that with a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half, and when I have to do with a pirate, I try to be a pirate and a half.
Otto von Bismarck1815–1898To Gyula Andrássy (18 September 1877), as quoted in R. W. Seton-Watson, Disraeli, Gladstone, and the Eastern Question (1935), p. 224
- Character
The magnificence of the courage and fortitude of the Korean people defies description.
Douglas MacArthur1880–1964Farewell address to Congress (1951)
- Courage
Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Jesus7 BC–AD 30The Gospel of Matthew (1611), Matthew 25:40 (KJV)In context
- Charity
I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm’s way.
John Paul Jones1747–1792Letter to Le Ray de Chaumont (16 November 1778), as quoted in The Naval History of the United States (1890) by Willis John Abbot, p. 82
- Courage
- Risk
Christianity offers reasons for not fearing death or the universe, and in so doing it fails to teach adequately the virtue of courage.
Bertrand Russell1872–1970Education and the Social Order (1932), p. 107
Patience is a remedy for every sorrow.
PSPublilius Syrus101–101 BCThe Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, a Roman Slave, Maxim 170
I am no more messiah than you. The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare let go. Our true work is this voyage, this adventure.
Richard Bachborn 1936Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah (1977)
- Courage
- Freedom
Tyranny can scarcely be practised upon a virtuous and wise people.
John Adams1735–1826Diary entry (31 July 1796)
- Government