Philosopher Quotes on Virtue

Attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche:

“He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”

Attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche:

“You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.”

Attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche:

“Become who you are.”

Attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche:

“What is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil.”

Attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche:

“The higher we soar the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly.”

“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.”

Μηκέθ᾽ ὅλως περὶ τοῦ οἷόν τινα εἶναι τὸν ἀγαθὸν ἄνδρα διαλέγεσθαι, ἀλλὰ εἶναι τοιοῦτον. | X, 16

“If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it.”

XII, 17

“When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can't tell good from evil. (Hays translation)”

Ἕωθεν προλέγειν ἑαυτῷ: συντεύξομαι περιέργῳ, ἀχαρίστῳ, ὑβριστῇ, δολερῷ, βασκάνῳ, ἀκοινωνήτῳ: πάντα ταῦτα συμβέβηκεν ἐκείνοις παρὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν τῶν ἀγαθῶν καὶ κακῶν.

“Say to yourself in the early morning: I shall meet today inquisitive, ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, uncharitable men. All these things have come upon them through ignorance of real good and ill. II, 1”

Ἕωθεν προλέγειν ἑαυτῷ: συντεύξομαι περιέργῳ, ἀχαρίστῳ, ὑβριστῇ, δολερῷ, βασκάνῳ, ἀκοινωνήτῳ: πάντα ταῦτα συμβέβηκεν ἐκείνοις παρὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν τῶν ἀγαθῶν καὶ κακῶν.

Attributed to Marcus Aurelius:

“Begin each day by telling yourself: today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness — all of them due to the offenders' ignorance of what is good or evil.”

“He is happy whom circumstances suit his temper; but he is more excellent who suits his temper to any circumstances.”

§ 6.9 : Of Qualities Useful to Ourselves, Pt. 1

“When men are most sure and arrogant they are commonly most mistaken.”

§ 9.13 : Conclusion, Pt. 1

“The corruption of the best things gives rise to the worst.”

Part X - With regard to courage or abasement

“Playfully ironic letter to Adam Smith regarding the positive reception of "The Theory of Moral Sentiments”

A wise man's kingdom is his own breast: or, if he ever looks farther, it will only be to the judgment of a select few, who are free from prejudices , and capable of examining his work . Nothing indeed can be a stronger presumption of falsehood than the approbation of the multitude; and Phocion, you know, always suspected himself of some blunder when he was attended with the applauses of the popula

“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. -- Were one to go round the world with an intention of giving a good supper to the righteous, and a sound drubbing to the wicked, he would frequently be embarrassed in his choice, and would find that the merits and the demerits of most men and women scarcely amount to the value of either.”

Essay on the Immortality of the Soul

“Do not do unto others what you do not want done to yourself.”

己所不欲，勿施於人

“The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.”

君子欲訥於言而敏於行。

“Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness.”

以直報怨，以德報德。

Attributed to Confucius:

“At fifteen I had my mind bent on learning. At thirty I stood firm. At forty I had no doubts. At fifty I knew the decrees of Heaven. At sixty my ear was an obedient organ for the reception of truth. At seventy I could follow what my heart desired, without transgressing what was right.”

Attributed to Confucius:

“What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others.”

“Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the more often and steadily we reflect upon them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.”

Two things fill the mind with ever-increasing wonder and awe, the more often and the more intensely the mind of thought is drawn to them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.

“Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law.”

Der kategorische Imperativ, der überhaupt nur aussagt, was Verbindlichkeit sei, ist: handle nach einer Maxime, welche zugleich als ein allgemeines Gesetz gelten kann.

“Moral Teleology supplies the deficiency in physical Teleology , and first establishes a Theology ; because the latter, if it did not borrow from the former without being observed, but were to proceed consistently, could only found a Demonology , which is incapable of any definite concept.”

Immanuel Kant , Kant's Critique of Judgment (1892) Tr. J.H. Bernard

Attributed to Immanuel Kant:

“Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end and never merely as a means.”

Attributed to Immanuel Kant:

“He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men.”

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”

interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992) | Variant translation by Lin Yutang : "He who knows others is learned; he who knows himself is wise".

“A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.”

Tao Te Ching, Chapter 17

“When men lack a sense of awe, there will be disaster.”

translated by Gia Fu Feng

Attributed to Lao Tzu:

“The best fighter is never angry.”

Attributed to Lao Tzu:

“Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard.”

“There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.”

Variant: The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance. | Socrates II: xxxi . Original Greek: ἓν μόνον ἀγαθὸν εἶναι, τὴν ἐπιστήμην, καὶ ἓν μόνον κακόν, τὴν ἀμαθίαν

“False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.”

Plato, Phaedo 115e

Attributed to Socrates:

“Be as you wish to seem.”

Attributed to Socrates:

“He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.”

Attributed to Socrates:

“Be slow to fall into friendship, but when thou art in, continue firm and constant.”

“Talent hits a target no one else can hit; genius hits a target no one else can see.”

Das Talent gleicht dem Schützen, der ein Ziel trifft, welches die Uebrigen nicht erreichen können; das Genie dem, der eines trifft, bis zu welchem sie nicht ein Mal zu sehn vermögen... | Vol. II, Ch. III, para. 31 (On Genius), 1844 | As cited in The Little Book of Bathroom Philosophy: Daily Wisdom from the Greatest Thinkers‎ (2004) by Gregory Bergman, p. 137

“We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people.”

As attributed in Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern English and Foreign Sources (1899) by James Wood, p. 624

“Compassion is the basis of morality.”

Boundless compassion for all living beings is the surest and most certain guarantee of pure moral conduct, and needs no casuistry. Whoever is filled with it will assuredly injure no one, do harm to no one, encroach on no man's rights; he will rather have regard for every one, forgive every one, help every one as far as he can, and all his actions will bear the stamp of justice and loving-kindness.

“It is the courage to make a clean breast of it in the face of every question that distinguishes the philosopher . He must be like Sophocles ' Oedipus , who, seeking enlightenment concerning his terrible fate, pursues his indefatigable inquiry even though he divines that appalling horror awaits him in the answer. But most of us carry with us the Jocasta in our hearts, who begs Oedipus, for God's sake, not to inquire further.”

Letter to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (November 1815) [ citation needed ]

“The New Testament … must be in some way traceable to an Indian source: its ethical system, its ascetic view of morality, its pessimism, and its Avatar, are all thoroughly Indian. It is its morality which places it in a position of such emphatic and essential antagonism to the Old Testament, so that the story of the Fall is the only possible point of connection between the two.”

quoted in The Circle of Memory_ An Autobiography - Subhash Kak

“All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.”

Et sane arduum debet esse, quod adeo raro reperitur. Qui enim posset fieri, si salus in promptu esset et sine magno labore reperiri posset, ut ab omnibus fere negligeretur? Sed omnia praeclara tam difficilia, quam rara sunt.

Attributed to Baruch Spinoza:

“Blessedness is not the reward of virtue, but virtue itself.”

Attributed to Baruch Spinoza:

“Hatred is increased by being reciprocated, and can on the other hand be destroyed by love.”

Attributed to Baruch Spinoza:

“He who lives according to the dictates of reason endeavours, as much as possible, to render back love, or kindness, for other men's hatred, anger, and contempt towards him.”

Attributed to Baruch Spinoza:

“Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.”

“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.”

Τίς εἶναι θέλεις, σαυτῷ πρῶτον ἐιπέ· εἶθ᾿ οὕτως ποίει ἃ ποιεῖς.

“No man is free who is not master of himself.”

Οὐδεὶς ἐλεύθερος ἑαυτοῦ μὴ κρατῶν.

“Yet God hath not only granted these faculties, by which we may bear every event without being depressed or broken by it, but like a good prince and a true father, hath placed their exercise above restraint, compulsion, or hindrance, and wholly within our own control.”

καίτοι ὅ γε θεὸς οὐ μόνον ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν τὰς δυνάμεις ταύτας, καθ᾿ ἃς οἴσομεν πᾶν τὸ ἀποβαῖνον μὴ ταπεινούμενοι μηδὲ συγκλώμενοι ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ᾿ ὃ ἦν ἀγαθοῦ βασιλέως καὶ ταῖς ἀληθείαις πατρός, ἀκώλυτον τοῦτο ἔδωκεν, ἀνανάγκαστον, ἀπαραπόδιστον, ὅλον αὐτὸ ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν ἐποίησεν.

Attributed to Epictetus:

“It is not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”

Attributed to Epictetus:

“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”

“It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and well and justly, and it is impossible to live wisely and well and justly without living pleasantly.”

Οὐκ ἔστιν ἡδέως ζῆν ἄνευ τοῦ φρονίμως καὶ καλῶς καὶ δικαίως, οὐδὲ φρονίμως καὶ καλῶς καὶ δικαίως ἄνευ τοῦ ἡδέως. ὅτῳ δὲ τοῦτο μὴ ὑπάρχει ἐξ οὗ ζῆν φρονίμως, καὶ καλῶς καὶ δικαίως ὑπάρχει, οὐκ ἔστι τοῦτον ἡδέως ζῆν.

“Don't fear god , Don't worry about death ; What is good is easy to get, and What is terrible is easy to endure. (tr. D. S. Hutchinson, 1994 ) The Tetrapharmakos , or "four-part cure", a summary of the first four Principal Doctrines . Composed by an unidentified Epicurean philosopher ( Usener 1887:69 ); reported by Philodemus , P.Herc. 1005, IV.10–14.”

ἄφοβον ὁ θεός, ἀνύποπτον ὁ θάνατος, καὶ τἀγαθὸν μὲν εὔκτητον, τὸ δὲ δεινὸν εὐεκκαρτέρητον.

Attributed to Epicurus:

“Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little.”

Attributed to Epicurus:

“If you wish to make Pythocles wealthy, do not give him more money; rather, reduce his desires.”

Attributed to Epicurus:

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things only hoped for.”

“Hope is a good breakfast, but a bad supper.”

No. 36

“Libraries are as the shrine where all the relics of the ancient saints, full of true virtue, and that without delusion or imposture, are preserved and reposed.”

Wikiquote

“Nay, number (itself) in armies, importeth not much, where the people is of weak courage ; for (as Virgil saith) it never troubles the wolf how many the sheep be.”

Essays or Counsels Civil and Moral (1597), XXIX: "Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates.

“Essays or Counsels Civil and Moral (1597), XXIX: "Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates.”

Nay, number (itself) in armies, importeth not much, where the people is of weak courage ; for (as Virgil saith) it never troubles the wolf how many the sheep be.

Attributed to Francis Bacon:

“A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.”

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”

pp. 366-67

“Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.”

p. 18

“Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.”

Civil Disobedience, 1849

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

p. 364 | Commonly misquoted, converted to imperative mood, as "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler".

Attributed to Henry David Thoreau:

“Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.”

“A country cannot subsist well without liberty , nor liberty without virtue .”

As quoted in A Dictionary of Thoughts: Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors of the World, Both Ancient and Modern (1908) by Tryon Edwards , p. 301.

Attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau:

“Plants are shaped by cultivation and men by education.”

Attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau:

“To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties.”

Attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau:

“People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.”

Attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau:

“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”

“It is justice, not charity, that is wanting in the world.”

Ch. 4

“Virtue can only flourish among equals.”

A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790)

“It may be confidently asserted that no man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks. And the desire of rectifying these mistakes, is the noble ambition of an enlightened understanding, the impulse of feelings that Philosophy invigorates.”

A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790)

Attributed to Mary Wollstonecraft:

“I do not wish them to have power over men; but over themselves.”

Attributed to Mary Wollstonecraft:

“How can a being be generous who has nothing of its own? Or virtuous who is not free?”

“Princes who have done great deeds have held their good faith of little account.”

How laudable it is for a prince to keep good faith and live with integrity, and not with astuteness, every one knows. Still the experience of our times shows those princes to have done great things who have had little regard for good faith, and have been able by astuteness to confuse men's brains, and who have ultimately overcome those who have made loyalty their foundation. You must know, then, t

Attributed to Niccolo Machiavelli:

“Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.”

Attributed to Niccolo Machiavelli:

“There is no other way of guarding oneself against flattery than by letting men understand that to tell you the truth does not offend you.”

Attributed to Niccolo Machiavelli:

“A wise prince ought to observe some such rules, and never in peaceful times stand idle, but increase his resources with industry in such a way that they may be available to him in adversity.”

Attributed to Niccolo Machiavelli:

“Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain.”

“Hitch your wagon to a star.”

Civilization

Attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.”

Attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”

Attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.”

Attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.”

“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.”

Non qui parum habet, sed qui plus cupit, pauper est.

“Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.”

Aliquando enim et vivere fortiter facere est

“Once again prosperous and successful crime goes by the name of virtue ; good men obey the bad , might is right and fear oppresses law . lines 251-253; ( Amphitryon )”

rursus prosperum ac felix scelus virtus vocatur; sontibus parent boni, ius est in armis, opprimit leges timor.

“Alternate translation: Successful and fortunate crime is called virtue. (translator unknown)”

rursus prosperum ac felix scelus virtus vocatur; sontibus parent boni, ius est in armis, opprimit leges timor.

Attributed to Seneca the Younger:

“If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favourable.”

“Love, and do what you will.”

Once for all, then, a short precept is given thee: Love , and do what thou wilt: whether thou hold thy peace , through love hold thy peace; whether thou cry out, through love cry out; whether thou correct, through love correct; whether thou spare, through love do thou spare: let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good .

“Lord, give me chastity and continence, but not yet.”

At ego adulescens miser ualde, miser in exordio ipsius adulescentiae, etiam petieram a te castitatem et dixeram, 'Da mihi castitatem et continentiam, sed noli modo.

“Beauty is indeed a good gift of God; but that the good may not think it a great good, God dispenses it even to the wicked.”

XV, 22

“Patience is the companion of wisdom.”

Patientia comes est sapientiae

Attributed to Augustine of Hippo:

“There is no possible source of evil except good.”

“The great man is he who does not lose his child's-heart.”

大人者，不失其赤子之心者也

“The feeling of compassion is the beginning of benevolence; the feeling of shame is the beginning of righteousness; the feeling of deference is the beginning of propriety; the feeling of right and wrong is the beginning of wisdom.”

2A:6, as translated by Wing-tsit Chan in A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (1963), p. 65 | Variant translation: The sense of compassion is the beginning of benevolence; the sense of shame the beginning of righteousness; the sense of modesty the beginning of decorum; the sense of right and wrong the beginning of wisdom. Man possesses these four beginnings just as he possesses four limbs. Anyone p

Attributed to Mencius:

“If you love others and they don't love you, look at your own benevolence.”

Attributed to Mencius:

“All things are already complete in oneself.”

Attributed to Mencius:

“Benevolence is man's heart, righteousness is man's path.”

“All for ourselves and nothing for other people seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.”

Chapter IV, p. 448.

“How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him.”

Section I, Chap. I.

“Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.”

Section II, Chap. III.

“The Union was a measure from which infinite Good has been derived to this country.”

Letter to William Strahan (4 April 1760), quoted in Adam Smith, The Correspondence of Adam Smith , eds. E. C. Mossner and I. S. Ross (1987), p. 68

“Poor David Hume is dying very fast, but with great cheerfulness and good humour and with more real resignation to the necessary course of things then any whining Christian ever dyed with pretended resignation to the will of God.”

Letter to Alexander Wedderburn 14 August 1776. The Correspondence of Adam Smith edited by E.C. Mossner and Ian Simpson Ross, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press 1986. The Future Hope in Adam Smith’s System , Paul Oslington

Attributed to Buddha:

“Hatred does not cease through hatred at any time. Hatred ceases through love. This is an unalterable law.”

Attributed to Buddha:

“If a man speaks or acts with a pure mind, joy follows him as his shadow that never leaves him.”

Attributed to Buddha:

“Conquer anger by love. Conquer evil by good. Conquer the stingy by giving. Conquer the liar by truth.”

Attributed to Buddha:

“There is no fire like passion, no shark like hatred, no snare like folly, no torrent like greed.”

Attributed to Buddha:

“All conditioned things are impermanent. Strive on with diligence.”

“The brave man is he who overcomes not only his enemies but his pleasures.”

The brave man is not only he who overcomes the enemy, but he who is stronger than pleasures. Some men are masters of cities, but are enslaved to women.

“Beautiful objects are wrought by study through effort, but ugly things are reaped automatically without toil.”

Freeman (1948) [ 1 ] , p. 161 | Variant: The good things of life are produced by learning with hard work; the bad are reaped of their own accord, without hard work. [ citation needed ]

Attributed to Democritus:

“Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold; happiness dwells in the soul.”

Attributed to Democritus:

“He who joyfully does not many things in private and in public is at peace.”

Attributed to Democritus:

“The best way to bring up children is by gentleness and persuasion, not by anger and threats.”

“I am looking for an honest man.”

He lit a lamp in broad daylight and said, as he went about, "I am looking for a human .

“Aristotle dines when it seems good to King Philip , but Diogenes when he himself pleases.”

Plutarch , On Exile , 12 ( Moralia , 604D)

“If you are to be kept right , you must possess either good friends or red-hot enemies . The one will warn you, the other will expose you.”

Plutarch , Moralia , 74C

“Being asked where in Greece he saw good men , he replied, "Good men nowhere, but good boys at Sparta.”

Diogenes Laërtius , vi. 27

Attributed to Diogenes of Sinope:

“It takes a wise man to discover a wise man.”

“We can only learn to love by loving.”

The Bell (1958), ch. 19; 2001, p. 219.

“Anything that consoles is fake.”

The Sovereignty of Good (1970) p. 59.

“The chief requirement of the good life... is to live without any image of oneself.”

The Bell (1958), ch. 9; 2001, p. 119.

“The Sublime and the Good", in the Chicago Review , Vol. 13 Issue 3 (Autumn 1959) p. 51.”

Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real. Love, and so art and morals, is the discovery of reality.

Attributed to Iris Murdoch:

“Love is the perception of individuals.”