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Quotes about virtue

884 quotes from 395 people

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There is safety in reserve, but no attraction. One cannot love a reserved person.
Jane Austen1775–1817Emma (1815), Volume II, Chapter VIIn context
- Character
- Love
Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself. Being true to anyone else or anything else is not only impossible, but the mark of a fake messiah.
Richard Bachborn 1936Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah (1977)
- Character
I am no more messiah than you. The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare let go. Our true work is this voyage, this adventure.
Richard Bachborn 1936Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah (1977)
- Courage
- Freedom
No one does anything uncharacteristic of who they are.
Richard Bachborn 1936The Bridge Across Forever (1984)
- Character
Seek first the virtues of the mind; and other things either will come, or will not be wanted.
Francis Bacon1561–1626The Advancement of Learning (1605), Book II, xxxi
Kindness is wisdom. There is none in life
But needs it, and may learn.
Philip James Bailey1816–1902Festus (1839)
- Wisdom
Men might be better if we better deemed
Of them. The worst way to improve the world
Is to condemn it.
Philip James Bailey1816–1902Festus (1839)
- Change
- Character
Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight: always to try to be a little kinder than is necessary?
J. M. Barrie1860–1937The Little White Bird (1902), Ch. 4
- Charity
The petit-bourgeois is a man unable to imagine the Other. If he comes face to face with him, he blinds himself, ignores and denies him, or else transforms him into himself.
Roland Barthes1915–1980Mythologies (1957), p. 151
- Character
“Oh, no, my dear; I’m really a very good man; but I’m a very bad Wizard, I must admit.”
L. Frank Baum1856–1919The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), Chapter XVIn context
- Character
- Comedy
There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. True courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty.
L. Frank Baum1856–1919The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), Chapter XVIn context
- Courage
- Fear
What do you expect, one is what one is, partly at least.
Samuel Beckett1906–1989Molloy (1951)
- Character
The fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose.
HBHada Bejar
- Charity
A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is born with — a man is what he makes of himself.
Alexander Graham Bell1847–1922Bell Telephone Talk (1901)
- Character
Goodness is achieved not in a vacuum, but in the company of other men, attended by love.
Saul Bellow1915–2005Dangling Man (1944) [Penguin Classics, 1996, ], p. 84
- Love