Quotes about virtue
884 quotes from 395 people
Mental clarity is the child of courage, not the other way around.
Nassim Nicholas Talebborn 1960The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010), p. 57No one can build his security upon the nobleness of another person.
Willa Cather1873–1947Alexander’s Bridge (1912) Ch. 8Forgiveness is an absolute necessity for continued human existence.
Desmond Tutu1931–2021Without Forgiveness There Is No Future (1998)The vices of our teachers are not to be imitated, their virtues are.
Jerome345–420Apology Against Rufinus, Book III, sec. 27The rank is but the guinea’s stamp,
The man’s the gowd for a’ that.Kindness is wisdom. There is none in life
But needs it, and may learn.
Philip James Bailey1816–1902Festus (1839)God knows, I’m no the thing I should be,
Nor am I even the thing I could be.
Robert Burns1759–1796Posthumous Pieces (1799)To the extent that we try to be like others, we convert ourselves into zombies.
Alejandro Jodorowskyborn 1929Psychomagic: The Transformative Power of Shamanic Psychotherapy (2010)A man is honorable in proportion to the personal risks he takes for his opinion.
Nassim Nicholas Talebborn 1960Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (2012), p. 147You must intervene. You must interfere. And that is actually the motto of human rights.
Elie Wiesel1928–2016Commencement ceremony (Class of 2011) at Washington University in St. Louis.Decency is not news; it is buried in the obituaries — but it is a force stronger than crime.
Robert A. Heinlein1907–1988This I Believe: Our Noble, Essential Decency (1952)But thus do I counsel you, my friends: distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful!
Friedrich Nietzsche1844–1900Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Part II, Chapter 29, tr. Thomas CommonIn context
José Martí1853–1895Martí: Thoughts/Pensamientos (1994)- Philip James Bailey1816–1902Festus (1839)
Gerald Stanley Lee1862–1944Crowds (1913), Book II, Chapter XV.