Virtue Quotes

Virtue itself ‘scapes not calumnious strokes.

Virtue is more zealously persecuted by ill men than it is beloved by the good.[translation by John Willis Clark]Virtue is more persecuted by the wicked than loved by the good.[translation by John Ormsby][La virtud, mas es perseguida de los malos, que amada de los buenos.]

Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful.

Virtue, perhaps, is nothing more than politeness of soul.[La vertu n’est peut-être que la politesse de l’âme.]

Virtue is harder to be got, than knowledge of the world; and, if lost in a young man, is seldom recovered.

Virtue is a state of war, and that living in it means onealways has some battle to wage against oneself.[La vertu est un état de guerre, et que, pour y vivre, on a toujours quelque combat à rendre contre soi.]

Virtue doesn’t pay.

For a virtuous woman is a pearl of great price, and her value is greater than rubies.

Every man is the arbiter of his own virtues but let no man prescribe for another man’s wellbeing.

When ye are exalted above praise and blame, and your will would command all things, as a loving one’s will: there is the origin of your virtue.[Wenn ihr erhaben seid über Lob und Tadel, und euer Wille allen Dingen befehlen will, als eines Liebenden Wille: da ist der Ursprung eurer Tugend.]

What is virtue but the Trade Unionism of the married?

We value virtue but do not discuss it. The honest bookkeeper, the faithful wife, the earnest scholar get little of our attention compared to the embezzler, the tramp, the cheat.