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Quotes about virtue

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There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy.
Robert Louis Stevenson1850–1894Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers (1881)
- Happiness
- Responsibility
To know what you prefer, instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.
Robert Louis Stevenson1850–1894An Inland Voyage (1878), Ch. III, “The Royal Sport Nautique”.
- Character
Man is not truly one, but truly two.
Robert Louis Stevenson1850–1894Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of the CaseIn context
- Character
- Good & Evil
They say cowardice is infectious; but then argument is, on the other hand, a great emboldener
Robert Louis Stevenson1850–1894Treasure Island (1883), Part One: The Old Buccaneer, Chapter IVIn context
- Courage
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
Sublime is the dominion of the mind over the body, that, for a time, can make flesh and nerve impregnable, and string the sinews like steel, so that the weak become so mighty.
Harriet Beecher Stowe1811–1896Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), Volume I, Chapter VIIIn context
- Courage
To have ego means to believe in your own strength. And to also be open to other people’s views. It is to be open, not closed.
Barbra Streisandborn 1942Playboy interview (1977), as quoted in No Glass Slipper: Surviving and Conquering Painful Life Experiences (2006), p. 32
- Character
- Pride
Errors are inevitable. The mark of character is not refusing to recognize them, but acknowledging them and taking responsibility.
Andrew Sullivanborn 1963
- Failure
- Responsibility
A nice man is a man of nasty ideas.
Jonathan Swift1667–1745Thoughts on Various Subjects from Miscellanies (1711-1726)
- Character
Although men are accused of not knowing their own weakness, yet perhaps as few know their own strength. It is in men as in soils, where sometimes there is a vein of gold, which the owner knows not of.
Jonathan Swift1667–1745Thoughts on Various Subjects from Miscellanies (1711-1726)
- Character
It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this great town, or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads, and cabbin-doors crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and importuning every passenger for an alms.
Jonathan Swift1667–1745A Modest Proposal (1729)In context
- Charity
- Children
Patience is a remedy for every sorrow.
PSPublilius Syrus101–101 BCThe Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, a Roman Slave, Maxim 170
A good reputation is more valuable than money.
PSPublilius Syrus101–101 BCSentences, Maxim 108
- Honor
- Money
To forget the wrongs you receive, is to remedy them.
PSPublilius Syrus101–101 BCThe Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, a Roman Slave, Maxim 383
- Forgiveness
Pardon one offence and you encourage the commission of many.
PSPublilius Syrus101–101 BCSentences, Maxim 750
- Forgiveness