Virtues Quotes

The virtues, like the Muses, are always seen in groups. A good principle was never found solitary in any breast.

I'm very much a Christian in ideals and ethics, especially in terms of belief in fairness, a deep set obligation to others, and the virtues of charity, tolerance and generosity that we associate with traditional Christian teaching.

An element of exaggeration clings to the popular judgment: great vices are made greater, great virtues greater also; interesting incidents are made more interesting, softer legends more soft.

Of all virtues and dignities of the mind, goodness is the greatest, being the character of the Deity; and without it, man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing.

Success makes men rigid and they tend to exalt stability over all the other virtues; tired of the effort of willing they become fanatics about conservatism.

You can't have virtue without sin. What I'm after is having my characters' virtues defined by how they operate in a very sinful environment. That's how you test people.

Britain, which in the years immediately before this war was rapidly losing such democratic virtues as it possessed, is now being bombed and burned into democracy.

A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man. His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example.

No one of this nation ever begs, for the houses of all are common to all; and they consider liberality and hospitality amongst the first virtues.

You have a good many little gifts and virtues, but there is no need of parading them, for conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long, and the great charm of all power is modesty.

Some virtues are only seen in affliction and others only in prosperity.

Our virtues are often, in reality, no better than vices disguised.

Whenever there are great virtues, it's a sure sign something's wrong.

Sometimes we may learn more from a man's errors, than from his virtues.

The virtues of science are skepticism and independence of thought.

There may be a hundred thousand men in an army, who are all equally free; but they only are naturally most fit to be commanders or leaders, who most excel in the virtues required for the right performance of those offices.

We learn our virtues from our friends who love us; our faults from the enemy who hates us. We cannot easily discover our real character from a friend. He is a mirror, on which the warmth of our breath impedes the clearness of the reflection.

In this era in which we live, the old-fashioned virtues grow increasingly unpopular.

The characters you refer to as predatory and unsavory are useful. They're the ones who make a novel into a thriller. They're active, and most of the common virtues, the signs of a good person, are not.

When women love us, they forgive us everything, even our crimes; when they do not love us, they give us credit for nothing, not even our virtues.

People may flatter themselves just as much by thinking that their faults are always present to other people's minds, as if they believe that the world is always contemplating their individual charms and virtues.

The three chief virtues of a programmer are: Laziness, Impatience and Hubris.

Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues.

It is always one's virtues and not one's vices that precipitate one into disaster.

In fact, it is a farce to call any being virtuous whose virtues do not result from the exercise of its own reason.

Fortitude is the guard and support of the other virtues.

Christian virtues unite men. Racism separates them.

I neither drink nor smoke, because my schoolmaster impressed upon me three cardinal virtues; cleanliness in person, cleanliness in mind; temperance.

Unless the reformer can invent something which substitutes attractive virtues for attractive vices, he will fail.

Virtues, like essences, lose their fragrance when exposed.