Virtues Quotes

That future depends on the values of self-government, our sense of duty, loyalty, self-confidence and regard for the common good. We are a diverse country, and getting more diverse. And these virtues are what keep this great country together.

The moral virtues, then, are produced in us neither by nature nor against nature. Nature, indeed, prepares in us the ground for their reception, but their complete formation is the product of habit.

One can never speak enough of the virtues, the dangers, the power of shared laughter.

We need a type of patriotism that recognizes the virtues of those who are opposed to us.

Courage is the ladder on which all the other virtues mount.

I have always considered it as treason against the great republic of human nature, to make any man's virtues the means of deceiving him.

Modesty seldom resides in a breast that is not enriched with nobler virtues.

The way to put oneself in a position to take the harder, more honorable political path is to argue for one's virtues in a vigorous way.

So much of our lives is given over to the consideration of our imperfections that there is no time to improve our imaginary virtues. The truth is we only perfect our vices, and man is a worse creature when he dies than he was when he was born.

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.

Though ambition in itself is a vice, yet it is often the parent of virtues.

Ninety per cent of the world's woe comes from people not knowing themselves, their abilities, their frailties, and even their real virtues. Most of us go almost all the way through life as complete strangers to ourselves - so how can we know anyone else?

In every age poets and social reformers have tried to stimulate the people of their own time to a nobler life by enchanting stories of the virtues of the heroes of old.

Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable, and others extremely difficult.

A few vices are sufficient to darken many virtues.

One of the virtues of being very young is that you don't let the facts get in the way of your imagination.

The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues.

No one gossips about other people's secret virtues.

The faults of husbands are often caused by the excess virtues of their wives.

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.

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.

Great necessities call out great virtues.

If, when you charged a person with his faults, you credited him with his virtues too, you would probably like everybody.

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.

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

Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.

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.