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Quotes about virtue

884 quotes from 395 people

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The upper hand is better than the lower hand. The upper hand is the one which spends and the lower is the beggar’s.
MMuhammad571–632Riyadh-as-Saliheen by Imam Al-Nawawi, volume 4, hadith number 531
- Charity
Though I’ve belted you and flayed you,
By the livin’ Gawd that made you,
You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din!
Rudyard Kipling1865–1936Gunga Din (1890), Barrack-Room Ballads (1892, 1896), Gunga Din, Stanza 5.In context
- Character
Apparently, a concern for others is self-love at its least attractive, while greed is now a sign of the higher altruism.
Gore Vidal1925–2012Screening History (1992), Ch. 1: The Prince and the Pauper, p. 24
- Charity
- Money
Change is the immediate responsibility of each of us, wherever and however we are standing, in whatever arena we choose.
Audre Lorde1934–1992Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (1984), “Learning from the 60s”
- Change
- Responsibility
We had all become used to the totalitarian system and accepted it as an unchangeable fact and thus helped to perpetuate it.
Václav Havel1936–2011New Year’s Address to the Nation (1990)
- Government
- Responsibility
Given ships or sails adapted to the breezes of heaven, there will be those who will not shrink from even that vast expanse.
Johannes Kepler1571–1630Translated by Edward Rosen, Kepler’s Conversation with Galileo’s Sidereal Messenger (1965), p. 39.
- Courage
- Science
We create our own destiny by the way we do things. We have to take advantage of opportunities and be responsible for our choices.
Ben Carsonborn 1951Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (1990), p. 63
- Motivation & Goals
- Responsibility
The conclusion is, not that hardships are desirable, but that virtue is desirable, which enables us patiently to endure hardships.
Seneca the Younger5 BC–AD 65Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter LXVII: On Ill-Health and Endurance of Suffering
If this long island story of ours is to end at last, let it end only when each one of us lies choking in his own blood upon the ground.
Winston Churchill1874–1965Speech to the Cabinet (28 May 1940), quoted in Martin Gilbert, Finest Hour: Winston S. Churchill, 1939–1941 (1983), p. 420
- Courage
- War & Peace
Everybody makes fun of virtue, which by now has, as its primary meaning, an affectation of prudery practiced by hypocrites and the impotent.
TMThomas Merton1915–1968The Seven Storey Mountain (1948), p. 223
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain⁠—and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.
Dale Carnegie1888–1955How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936), Part 1: Fundamental Techniques in Handling People, p. 36.
- Character
- Forgiveness
Since we are all naturally prone to hypocrisy, any empty semblance of righteousness is quite enough to satisfy us instead of righteousness itself.
John Calvin1509–1564Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536; 1559), Book 1, Chapter 1, p. 45
The dedication of a lifetime — these are words that are easy to utter, but this is a mighty assignment. For it is often easier to fight for principles than to live up to them.
Adlai Stevenson II1900–1965Speech to the American Legion convention, New York City (27 August 1952); as quoted in “Democratic Candidate Adlai Stevenson Defines the Nature of Patriotism” in Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches In History (2004) by William Safire, p. 79—80
- Character
Tell the truth boldly, whether it hurts or not. Never pander to weakness. If truth is too much for intelligent people and sweeps them away, let them go; the sooner the better.
Swami Vivekananda1863–1902Pearls of Wisdom
- Courage
- Truth & Lies
Very simply, diverse personalities are to be found in the breast of each of us, and often the life of more than one superior man is nothing but the coexistence of a philosopher and a snob.
Marcel Proust1871–1922Notes to his translation of Ruskin’s Sesame and Lilies (Sésame et les lys, 1906); in Marcel Proust: On Reading Ruskin, tr. Jean Autret and William Burford (Yale University Press, 1987), p. 152
- Character