Sayings about Virtues
Wisdom and virtue are like the two wheels of a cart. ~ Japanese Proverb
Virtue comes not from chance but long study. ~ Italian Proverb
Vice often rides triumphantly in the coach of virtue. ~ German Proverb
Frugality is the sure guardian of our virtues. ~ Brahman Proverb
Vice hides under a cloak of virtue. ~ French Proverb
Beauty, unaccompanied by virtue, is as a flower without perfume. ~ French Proverb
Sell not virtue to purchase wealth. ~ English Proverb
Virtue is better than wealth. ~ Kenyan Proverb
The virtue of a woman does not go deep but her passion knows no limit. ~ Chinese Proverb
The door to virtue is heavy and hard to open. ~ Chinese Proverb
Virtue consists of action. ~ Dutch Proverb
Glory is the shadow of virtue. ~ Latin Proverb
Good behavior is a virtue for the man — bad behavior is the virtue of a woman. ~ Chinese Proverb
To give quickly is a great virtue. ~ Hindu Proverb
First secure an independent income, then practice virtue. ~ Greek Proverb
Vice is often clothed in virtue’s habit. ~ Traditional Proverb
The excess of virtue is a vice. ~ Greek Proverb
Virtue is not knowing but doing. ~ Japanese Proverb
Patience is the virtue of the donkeys. ~ French Proverb
Knowledge is the mother of all virtue; all vice proceeds from ignorance. ~ Traditional Proverb
With virtue you can’t be entirely poor; without virtue you can’t really be rich. ~ Chinese Proverb
Vices creep into our hearts under the name of virtue. ~ Latin Proverb
From our ancestors come our names from our virtues our honor. ~ Traditional Proverb
Coffee has two virtues, it’s wet and it’s warm. ~ Dutch Proverb
Virtue is not left to stand alone. ~ Chinese Proverb
The sin for which you repent is the father of virtue; but a virtue that you talk about, is the mother of sin. ~ Malagasy Proverb
Repentance is the spring beneath our virtues. ~ Chinese Proverb
Virtue practiced to be seen is not real virtue; vice which fears to be seen is real vice. ~ Chinese Proverb
Hidden virtues ring like a soft bell. ~ Japanese Proverb
Those who set their minds on virtue will do no evil. ~ Chinese Proverb
Great abilities produce great vices as well as virtues. ~ Greek Proverbs
That which is a sin in others is a virtue in ourselves. ~ Chilean Proverb
Never trust a woman who mentions her virtue. ~ French Proverb
Poverty destroys all virtues. ~ Indian Proverbs
Virtue never goes far without the company of idleness. ~ Jamaican Proverb
Virtue: climbing a hill; vice: running down. ~ Chinese Proverb
Ask me what are my virtues, not about the color of my skin. ~ Arabian Proverb
“Virtue in the middle”, said the Devil when seated between two lawyers. ~ Danish Proverbs
The greatest virtue is like water; good for everything. ~ Chinese Proverb
Set out wisely at first; custom will make every virtue more easy and pleasant to you than any vice can be. ~ English Proverbs
By pride one causes virtue to decline. ~ Tibetan Proverb
Virtue carries an empty purse. ~ Japanese Proverbs
Patience is a virtue. ~ Traditional Proverb
Quotations about Virtue
What is virtue? It is to hold yourself to your fullest development as a person and as a responsible member of the human community. ~ Arthur Dobrin
The superior man thinks always of virtue; the common man thinks of comfort. ~ Confucius
It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues. ~ Abraham Lincoln Quotes
All of us are experts at practicing virtue at a distance. ~ Theodore M. Hesburgh
Virtue is like precious odors, most fragrant when they are incensed or crushed. ~ Francis Bacon
People praise virtue, but they hate it, they run away from it. It freezes you to death, and in this world you’ve got to keep your feet warm. ~ Denis Diderot
I have never seen a man as fond of virtue as of women. ~ Confucius
Virtue would not go to such lengths if vanity did not keep her company. ~ François de la Rochefoucauld
Virtue has never been as respectable as money. ~ Mark Twain
Be generous, good and just, when anything is to be gained by virtue. ~ Billy Boy Franklin
Some, by admiring other men’s virtues, become enemies to their own vices. ~ Bias of Priene
Most virtue is a demand for greater seduction. ~ Natalie Clifford Barney
When you can’t have anything else, you can have virtue. ~ Don Marquis
He who governs by way of virtue can be compared to the North Pole Star, which keeps its place while all the other stars position themselves around it. ~ Confucius
Few people have the virtue to withstand the highest bidder. ~ George Washington
Virtues are dangerous as vices insofar as they are allowed to rule over one as authorities and not as qualities one develops oneself. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
The person who talks most of his own virtue is often the least virtuous. ~ Jawaharlal Nehru
Often devotion to virtue arises from sated desire. ~ Laurence Hope Nicolson
The only reward of virtue is virtue. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sweet are the slumbers of the virtuous man! ~ Joseph Addison
Virtue is praised, but hated. People run from it, for it is ice-cold and in this world you have to keep your feet warm. ~ Denis Diderot
We should not judge a man’s virtue by his great abilities, but by the use he makes of them. ~ Francois De La Rochefoucauld
He that has energy enough to root out a vice should go further, and try to plant a virtue in its place. ~ Charles Caleb Colton
Virtues, like essences, lose their fragrance when exposed. ~ William Shenstone
Wisdom is knowing what to do next, skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue is doing it. ~ David Starr Jordan
Virtue is its own revenge. ~ E.Y. Harburn
Virtue is more clearly shown in the performance of fine actions than in the nonperformance of base ones. ~ Aristotle
God will certainly reward virtue and punish vice, either here or hereafter. ~ Benjamin Franklin Quotes
Virtue has its own reward, but no sales at the box office. ~ Mae West
Virtue consists, not in abstaining from vice, but in not desiring it. ~ George Bernard Shaw
Virtue is reason which has become energy. ~ Friedrich Schlegel
Virtue is like health: the harmony of the whole man. ~ Thomas Carlyle
Virtue can only flourish among equals. ~ Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Virtue cannot separate itself from reality without becoming a principle of evil. ~ Albert Camus
If one is not virtuous he becomes vicious. ~ John Christian Bovee
Virtue by premeditation isn’t worth much. ~ Georg C. Lichtenberg
Nothing in our times has become so unattractive as virtue. ~ Edward Dahlberg
The most virtuous are those who content themselves with being virtuous without seeking to appear so. ~ Plato
Virtue must be valuable, if men and women of all degrees pretend to have it. ~ Edgar Watson Howe
Virtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience. ~ Adam Smith
There are some persons on whom virtue sits almost as ungraciously as vice. ~ Dominique Bouhours
Virtue is simply happiness, and happiness is a by-product of function. You are happy when you are functioning. ~ William S. Burroughs
Virtue is the strongest shield. ~ Motto
Assume a virtue if you have it not. ~ William Shakespeare
Some virtues are only seen in affliction and others only in prosperity. ~ Joseph Addison Quotes
Even virtue is fairer when it appears in a beautiful person. ~ Virgil
Virtue alone is the unerring sign of a noble soul. ~ Nicolas Boileau
We need greater virtues to sustain good fortune than bad. ~ Francois De La Rochefoucauld
People who are in a fortunate position always attribute virtue to what makes them so happy. ~ John Kenneth Galbraith
Virtue is the only true nobility. ~ Thomas Fuller
Virtue is a state of war, and to live in it we have always to combat with ourselves. ~ Jean Jacques Rousseau
Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set. ~ Francis Bacon
Virtue is harmony. ~ Pythagoras
That virtue we appreciate is as much ours as another’s. We see so much only as we possess. ~ Henry David Thoreau
There are nine hundred and ninety-nine patrons of virtue to one virtuous man. ~ Henry David Thoreau
From Obedience and submission comes all our virtues, and all sin is come from self-opinion. ~ Michel Eyquem De Montaigne
Virtue is more to a man than either water or fire. ~ Confucius Quotes
Our virtues are usually just disguised vices. ~ Francois De La Rochefoucauld
Any of us can achieve virtue, if by virtue we merely mean the avoidance of the vices that do not attract us. ~ Robert S. Lynd
Recommend to your children virtue; that alone can make happy, not gold. ~ Ludwig van Beethoven
Virtue, the strength and beauty of the soul, is the best gift of Heaven: a happiness that even above the smiles and frowns of fate. ~ John Armstrong
Virtue is insufficient temptation. ~ George Bernard Shaw
Blushing is the color of virtue. ~ Diogenes
Men’s evil manners live in brass, their virtues we write in water. ~ William Shakespeare Quotes
It is as hard to satirize well a man of distinguished vices, as to praise well a man of distinguished virtues. ~ Jonathan Swift
Virtue is not a thing you can have by halves; it is or it is not. ~ Honore de Balzac
The virtuous control themselves. ~ Buddha Quotes
The virtue in most request is conformity. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Virtue is too often merely local. ~ Samuel Johnson
The world rewards the appearance of virtue more often than it reward the virtue itself. ~ Francois De La Rochefoucauld
The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons. ~ Aristotle
If you can be well without health, you may be happy without virtue. ~ Edmund Burke
Virtue is an angel, but she is a blind one, and must ask Knowledge to show her the pathway that leads to her goal. ~ Horace Mann
As you do not sweeten your mouth by saying honey, so you do not grow virtuous by merely talking of virtue. ~ Ivan Panin
How sternly we reproach virtue for its failings, how indulgent we are to the better qualities of vice! ~ Honore de Balzac
When men grow virtuous in their old age, they only make a sacrifice to God of the devil’s leavings. ~ Alexander Pope
What is virtue but the Trade Unionism of the married? ~ George Bernard Shaw Quotes
To be innocent is to be not guilty; but to be virtuous is to overcome our evil inclinations. ~ William Penn
The glory that goes with wealth and beauty is fleeting and fragile; virtue is a possession glorious and eternal. ~ Sallust
We try to make a virtue of the vices that we are unwilling to correct. ~ Francois De La Rochefoucauld
In Hollywood a girl’s virtue is much less important than her hairdo. ~ Marilyn Monroe
Virtuous and vicious everyone must be; few in extremes, but all in degree. ~ Alexander Pope
Be virtuous and you will be eccentric. ~ Mark Twain Quotes
If you have performed an act of great and disinterested virtue, conceal it; if you publish it, you will neither be believed here, nor rewarded hereafter. ~ Charles Caleb Colton
Virtue, like a dowerless beauty, has more admirers than followers. ~ Marguerite Gardiner
There is but little virtue in the action of masses of men. ~ Henry David Thoreau
Man seems to be capable of great virtues but not of small virtues; capable of defying his torturer but not of keeping his temper. ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton
A person’s greatest virtue is his ability to correct his mistakes and continually make a new person of himself. ~ Yang-Ming Wang
What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy. ~ Voltaire Quotes
We do not place especial value on the possession of a virtue until we notice its total absence in our opponent. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
Great necessities call out great virtues. ~ Abigail Adams
All virtue is summed up in dealing justly. ~ Aristotle Quotes
The less a man thinks or knows about his virtues, the better we like him. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes
It is not the business of virtue to extirpate the affections of the mind, but to regulate them. ~ Joseph Addison
Absolute virtue is as sure to kill a man as absolute vice is, let alone the dullness of it and the pomposities of it. ~ Samuel Beckett
One’s outlook is a part of his virtue. ~ Amos Bronson Alcott