Famously Said Random quote

Quotes about virtue

884 quotes from 395 people

Most readBy personPage 57 of 59

I’ll never
Be such a gosling to obey instinct, but stand
As if a man were author of himself,
And knew no other kin.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Coriolanus (c. 1608), Act V, Scene III, spoken by CoriolanusIn context
- Character
Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Measure for Measure (c. 1604), Act II, Scene I, spoken by EscalusIn context
- Good & Evil
No ceremony that to great ones longs,
Not the king’s crown, nor the deputed sword,
The marshal’s truncheon, nor the judge’s robe,
Become them with one half so good a grace
As mercy does.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Measure for Measure (c. 1604), Act II, Scene II, spoken by IsabellaIn context
- Forgiveness
- Power
O, the blood more stirs
To rouse a lion than to start a hare!
William Shakespeare1564–1616Henry IV, Part 1 (c. 1597), Act I, Scene III, spoken by HotspurIn context
- Courage
- Risk
A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.
Henrik Ibsen1828–1906An Enemy of the People (1882), Act I, spoken by BillingIn context
- Leadership
- Responsibility
Chivalry!⁠—why, maiden, she is the nurse of pure and high affection⁠—the stay of the oppressed, the redresser of grievances, the curb of the power of the tyrant⁠—Nobility were but an empty name without her, and liberty finds the best protection in her lance and her sword.
Walter Scott1771–1832Ivanhoe (1819), Chapter XXIXIn context
- Honor
- Liberty
Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one’s mind.
W. Somerset Maugham1874–1965Of Human Bondage (1915), Chapter XXXIXIn context
- Character
- Decisions
The human heart is vast enough to contain all the world. It is valiant enough to bear the burden, but where is the courage that would cast it off?
Joseph Conrad1857–1924Lord Jim (1900), Chapter 34In context
- Courage
- Emotion
At times he regarded the wounded soldiers in an envious way. He conceived persons with torn bodies to be peculiarly happy. He wished that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage.
Stephen Crane1871–1900The Red Badge of Courage (1895), Chapter IXIn context
- Courage
- War & Peace
The emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning. I assure you that the most winning woman I ever knew was hanged for poisoning three little children for their insurance-money, and the most repellant man of my acquaintance is a philanthropist who has spent nearly a quarter of a million upon the London poor.
Arthur Conan Doyle1859–1930The Sign of the Four (1890), Chapter IIIn context
As soon as any man says of the affairs of the State What does it matter to me? the State may be given up for lost.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau1712–1778The Social Contract (1762), Book III, Chapter XVIn context
The noble soul has reverence for itself.
Friedrich Nietzsche1844–1900Beyond Good and Evil (1886), Chapter IXIn context
- Character
- Pride
Human nature is not a machine to be built after a model, and set to do exactly the work prescribed for it, but a tree, which requires to grow and develop itself on all sides, according to the tendency of the inward forces which make it a living thing.
John Stuart Mill1806–1873On Liberty (1859), Chapter IIIIn context
- Character
When a man’s partner is killed he’s supposed to do something about it. It doesn’t make any difference what you thought of him. He was your partner and you’re supposed to do something about it.
Dashiell Hammett1894–1961The Maltese Falcon (1930), Chapter 20In context
I distrust a man that says when. If he’s got to be careful not to drink too much it’s because he’s not to be trusted when he does.
Dashiell Hammett1894–1961The Maltese Falcon (1930), Chapter 11In context
- Character