Quotes about virtue
884 quotes from 395 people
Thomas Paine1737–1809Letter to the Addressers (1792)- Thomas Paine1737–1809The American Crisis (1776), No. XIII
- Thomas Paine1737–1809“The Forester’s Letters”, Letter III: To Cato, Pennsylvania Journal (24 April 1776)
It is the duty of every man, so far as his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error.
Thomas Paine1737–1809The Theophilanthropist: Containing Critical, Moral, Theological and Literary Essays, in Monthly Numbers, p. 387When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember, that virtue is not hereditary.
I look so totally artificial, but I’ve always been the simplest person in the world.
Dolly Parton1946–2026Interview by Jancee Dunn, “Dolly Parton: At 57, the Country Legend Still Brims With Vitality”, Rolling Stone (30 October 2003)- Dolly Parton1946–2026Interview by Jancee Dunn, “Dolly Parton: At 57, the Country Legend Still Brims With Vitality”, Rolling Stone (30 October 2003)
Pericles494–429 BCPericles’ Funeral Oration
Fernando Pessoa1888–1935Álvaro de Campos (heteronym), “Começo a conhecer-me. Não existo.”, in Fernando Pessoa & Co: Selected Poems, trans. Richard Zenith (Grove Press, 1998)From childhood’s hour I have not been
As others were — I have not seen
As others sawI never knew any man in my life who could not bear another’s misfortunes perfectly like a Christian.
Alexander Pope1688–1744Thoughts on Various Subjects (1727)Of Manners gentle, of Affections mild;
In Wit, a Man; Simplicity, a Child.Alexander Pope1688–1744“Epitaph on Gay” (1733), lines 1-2. Reported in The Poems of Alexander Pope, ed. John Butt, sixth edition (Yale University Press, 1970), p. 818
