“I comforted myself with the thought,” he said, “that even Socrates was very doubtful whether virtue could be taught.”
~ Sir Anthony Kenny
Catherine Wilson on Pain
Above all, resist superstition and the temptation to turn pain into moral virtue.
~ Wilson, Catherine. The Pleasure Principle: Epicureanism: A Philosophy for Modern Living (p. 87). HarperCollins Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Margaret Atwood on Power
“It is just fun for a lot of people to demolish other people and it always has been, across the board. People like doing it. If you’re really going to put yourself in the box marked ‘virtuous’, you’ve got to ask yourself whether you’re actually being virtuous, or whether you’re being sadistic. Be aware of how you’re using your power.”
~ Margaret Atwood
Benjamin Franklin’s Thirteen Virtues
- Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
- Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
- Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
- Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
- Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
- Industry. Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
- Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
- Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
- Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
- Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
- Tranquillity. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
- Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.
- Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
Marcus Aurelius on Virtue
“And then you might see what the life of the good man is like—someone content with what nature assigns him, and satisfied with being just and kind himself.”
~ Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius on Virtue
“This is what you deserve. You could be good today. But instead you choose tomorrow.”
~ Marcus Aurelius
Cicero on Virtue
“Honour is the reward of virtue.”
~ Cicero
Seneca on Betterment
“…putting all else aside, you make it each day your endeavour to become a better man.”
Seneca / Epistulae Morales AD Lucilium
David Hume on Virtue
Heaven and hell suppose two distinct species of men, the good and the bad. But the greatest part of mankind float betwixt vice and virtue.
~ David Hume
Benjamin Franklin on Vice
Virtue may not always make a face handsome, but vice will certainly make it ugly.
~ Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin on Virtue
The excellency of hogs is fatness, of men virtue.
~ Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin on Virtue
Retirement does not always secure virtue; Lot was upright in the city, wicked in the mountain.
~ Benjamin Franklin
Plutarch on Vices
“A few vices are sufficient to darken many virtues.”
~ Plutarch
George Eliot on Virtue
“The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”
~ George Eliot
William Shakespeare on Reputations
“Men’s evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water.”
~ William Shakespeare
Buddha on Malice
“Better than a hundred years of mischief, is one day of contemplation.”
~ Buddha
Buddha on Virtue
“Speak the truth. Give what you can. Never be angry. These three steps will lead you into the presence of the gods.”
~ Buddha
William Shakespeare on Good and Evil
“The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones.”
~ William Shakespeare
Buddha on Virtue
“Virtue is persecuted more by the wicked than it is loved by the good.”
~ Buddha
Mark Twain on Virtue
“It is easier to stay out than get out.”
~ Mark Twain
Buddha on Malice
“As dust thrown against the wind, mischief is blown back in the face of the fool who wrongs the pure and harmless.”
~ Buddha
William Shakespeare on Contentment
“Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.”
~ William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare on Good and Evil
“but we must do good against evil.”
~ William Shakespeare
Noel Coward on Gossip
“Work hard, do the best you can, don’t lose faith in yourself and take no notice of what other people say about you.”
~ Noel Coward
Buddha on Being Saved
“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.”
~ Buddha
St. Francis of Assisi on Virtue
“A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.”
~ St. Francis of Assisi
Buddha on Good and Evil
“There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it.”
~ Buddha
William Shakespeare on Virtue
“How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.”
~ William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare on Life
“Love all, trust a few,
Do wrong to none.”
~ William Shakespeare
Oliver Sacks on Tranquility
“I find my thoughts, increasingly, not on the supernatural or spiritual but on what is meant by living a good and worthwhile life – achieving a sense of peace within oneself.”
~ Oliver Sacks / Gratitude
Edith Hall on Virtue
“Yet I still longed to be a good person, live a constructive life, and ideally leave the planet a better place than I had arrived in it.”
~ Edith Hall / Aristotle’s Way: How Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life
Seamus Heaney on Good Behaviour
“Behaviour that’s admired is the path to power among people everywhere.”
~ Seamus Heaney