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Quotes about virtue

884 quotes from 395 people

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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
If a man has character, everyone has confidence in him. Soldiers must have confidence in their leader.
Omar Bradley1893–1981On military character, in 19 Stars: A Study in Military Character and Leadership (1981) by Edgar F. Puryear Jr.
- Character
- Leadership
How comes it to pass then, that we appear such Cowards in reasoning, and are so afraid to stand the Test of Ridicule?
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury1671–1713Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (1711), Vol. 1, p. 11; “A Letter Concerning Enthusiasm”.
- Courage
- Thinking
I intend to do what little one man can do to awaken the public conscience, and in the meantime I am not frightened by your menaces.
Upton Sinclair1878–1968Letter to the Louis D. Oaks, Los Angeles Chief of Police (17 May 1923)
- Courage
- Morality
Care and responsibility are constituent elements of love, but without respect for and knowledge of the beloved person, love deteriorates into domination and possessiveness.
Erich Fromm1900–1980Man for Himself (1947), Ch. 3
- Love
- Responsibility
The world of today has achieved much, but for all its declared love for humanity, it has based itself far more on hatred and violence than on the virtues that make one human.
Jawaharlal Nehru1889–1964The Discovery of India (1946)
- Good & Evil
If you have an opportunity to accomplish something that will make things better for someone coming behind you, and you don’t do that, you are wasting your time on this earth.
Roberto Clemente1934–1972Tris Speaker Award acceptance speech, Houston (29 January 1971), as quoted in The Sporting News (20 February 1971)
- Motivation & Goals
- Responsibility
The vices of which we are full we carefully hide from others, and we flatter ourselves with the notion that they are small and trivial; we sometimes even embrace them as virtues.
John Calvin1509–1564Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life (1551), Page 32.
We do not escape our boundaries or our innermost being. We do not change. It is true we may be transformed, but we always walk within our boundaries, within the marked-off circle.
Ernst Jünger1895–1998The Glass Bees (1957)
- Change
- Character
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
Do not worry over the charge of treason to your masters, but be concerned about the treason that involves yourselves. Be true to yourself and you cannot be a traitor to any good cause on earth.
Eugene V. Debs1855–1926The Canton, Ohio Speech, Anti-War Speech (1918)
- Character
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’
Winston Churchill1874–1965Speech in the House of Commons, June 18, 1940 “War Situation”.
- Courage
- War & Peace
All is well, practice kindness, heaven is nigh.
Jack Kerouac1922–1969Visions of Gerard (1963)
One can acquire everything in solitude — except character.
Stendhal1783–1842De L’Amour (On Love) (1822), Fragments
- Character
There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew.
Marshall McLuhan1911–1980Lecture “Living in an Acoustic World”, University of South Florida (1970)
- Nature
- Responsibility