Quotes about Virtue

Jesus' life as a foot-washing servant would eventually lead to the adoption of humility as a widely admired virtue.

Holy charity confounds all diabolical and fleshly temptations and all fleshly fears.

The brain is like a good lawyer: given any set of interests to defend, it sets about convincing the world of their moral and logical worth, regardless of whether they in fact have any of either. Like a lawyer, the human brain wants victory, not truth; and, like a lawyer, it is sometimes more admirable for skill than for virtue.

There can be no freedom without order, and there is no order without virtue. Now, that's a simple enough formulation, but it's an insight found not only in the writings of Founding Fathers like Washington or great political thinkers like Edmund Burke; it is also found in a great part of our Judeo-Christian tradition.

And this is one of the most crucial definitions for the whole of Christianity; that the opposite of sin is not virtue but faith.

The reward of the good man is to be allowed to worship in truth.

If a man in truth wills the Good then he must be willing to suffer all for the Good.

As the excellence of steel is strength, and the excellence of art is beauty, so the excellence of mankind is moral character.

This is a fact: Strength in the pursuit of peace is no vice; isolation in the pursuit of security is no virtue.

None of us can hope to get anywhere without character, moral courage and the spiritual strength to accept responsibility.

Integrity gains strength by use.

Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretence.