Peter Abelard Quotes on Virtue
Peter Abelard was a French philosopher, logician, and theologian and one of the most original thinkers of the twelfth century. This page collects quotes attributed to Peter Abelard on the topic of virtue, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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Attributed to Peter Abelard:
“There is no sin unless through consent.”
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Attributed to Peter Abelard:
“It is not the deed but the intention of the doer that makes the sin.”
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Attributed to Peter Abelard:
“I have learnt that the name of philosopher signifies a lover of wisdom.”
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Attributed to Peter Abelard:
“In adversity men's true character is most clearly revealed.”
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“In fact we say that an intention is good, that is, right in itself, but that an action does not bear any good in itself but proceeds from a good intention. Whence when the same thing is done by the same man at different times, by the diversity of his intention, however, his action is now said to be good, now bad. Ethica, seu Scito Teipsum , Bk. 1; translation by D E Luscombe from Peter Abelard's Ethics (1971) p. 53”
Bonam quippe intentionem, hoc est, rectam in se dicimus, operationem vero non quod boni aliquid in se suscipiat, sed quod ex bona intentione procedat. Unde et ab eodem homine cum in diversis temporibus idem fiat, pro diversitate tamen intentione eius operatio modo bono modo mala dicitur.