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 debased by self-justification.[La vertu s’avilit à se justifier.]
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.
Virtue and Happiness are Mother and Daughter.
Sweet mercy is nobility’s true badge.
Give me that man that is not passion’s slave.
For he’s honourable, and doubling that, most holy.
