Philosopher Quotes on Virtue

“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.

“In the constitution of that rational animal I see no virtue which is opposed to justice, but I see a virtue which is opposed to love of pleasure, and that is temperance .”

Meditations, Book VIII | VIII, 39

“We should never take pleasure in causing pain to others, even to those who have wronged us, but rather strive to do good to all.”

Wikiquote

“That which is most excellent, and is most to be desired by all happy, honest and healthy-minded men, is dignified leisure.”

Pro Publio Sestio ; Chapter XLV

“A grateful mind is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the other virtues.”

As quoted in Great Thoughts from Latin Authors (1884), by Craufurd Tait Ramage, p. 32

“And what can be more divine than the exhalations of the earth, which affect the human soul so as to enable her to predict the future ? And could the hand of time evaporate such a virtue? Do you suppose you are talking of some kind of wine or salted meat ?”

De Divinatione–On Divination(44 BC) | Book I, Chapter III

Attributed to Cicero:

“Justice consists in doing no injury to men; decency in giving them no offence.”

“Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself.”

p. 41

“I am not virtuous. Our sons will be if we shed enough blood to give them the right to be.”

The Devil and the Good Lord(1951) | Act 3, sc. 5

“He chooses the most feared, most hated man in order to worship him as a god, feeling sure that he is alone in perceiving the god's secret virtues.”

Saint Genet, Actor and Martyr(1952) | p. 165

Attributed to Jean-Paul Sartre:

“We are our choices.”

Attributed to Jean-Paul Sartre:

“Commitment is an act, not a word.”

“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.

“You can tell the character of every man when you see how he gives and receives praise .”

Letter LII: On choosing our teachers | Line 12.

“The best is the enemy of the good.”

Il est triste que souvent, pour être bon patriote, on soit l'ennemi du reste des hommes.

“Let us cultivate our garden.”

Candide, closing line

“It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue.”

1750s | Notebooks (c.1735-c.1750) Note: This quotation and the three that follow directly below are from the so-called Leningrad Notebook, also known as Le Sottisier; it is one of several posthumously publish

Attributed to Voltaire:

“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”

Attributed to Voltaire:

“All people are good except those who are idle.”

“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

“If there is something more excellent than the truth , then that is God ; if not, then truth itself is God.”

De Libero Arbitrio(388 - 395)

“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。

“When we see men of worth, we should think of equaling them; when we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.”

Analects | James Legge , translation (1893)

“The superior man thinks of virtue ; the small man thinks of comfort . The superior man thinks of the sanctions of law ; the small man thinks of favors which he may receive.”

Analects | James Legge , translation (1893)

“Hitch your wagon to a star.”

Civilization

“Character is higher than intellect...A great soul will be strong to live, as well as strong to think.”

The American Scholar(1837) | par. 27

“I think no virtue goes with size; The reason of all cowardice Is, that men are overgrown, And, to be valiant, must come down To the titmouse dimension.”

May-Day and Other Pieces(1867) | The Titmouse , st. 5

“Wit makes its own welcome, and levels all distinctions. No dignity, no learning, and no force of character can make any stand against good wit.”

Letters and Social Aims(1876) | The Comic

Attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson:

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

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

When bad men combine , the good must associate ; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle . It is not enough in a situation of trust in the commonwealth, that a man means well to his country ; it is not enough that in his single person he never did an evil act , but always voted according to his conscience , and even harangued against every design which he a

“People must be governed in a manner agreeable to their temper and disposition; and men of free character and spirit must be ruled with, at least, some condescension to this spirit and this character.”

1760s | Observations on a Late Publication on the Present State of the Nation (1769), page 76.

“Boldness formerly was not the character of Atheists as such. ... But of late they are grown active, designing, turbulent, and seditious.”

1790s | "Thoughts on French Affairs" (December 1791), in Three Memorials on French Affairs (1797), p. 53

“But what is liberty without wisdom, and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint.”

Reflections on the Revolution in France(1790)

Attributed to Edmund Burke:

“All that is necessary for evil to flourish is for the wise to remain silent.”

“The thing I fear most is fear.”

C'est ce de quoi j'ai le plus de peur que la peur.

“Lend yourself to others, but give yourself to yourself.”

Ch. 10. Of Managing the Will

“On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.”

Si, avons nous beau monter sur des échasses, car sur des échasses encore faut-il marcher de nos jambes. Et au plus élevé trône du monde, si ne sommes assis que sur notre cul.

“There is no man so good, who, were he to submit all his thoughts and actions to the laws, would not deserve hanging ten times in his life.”

Book III, Ch. 9. Of Vanity

“Plato says, "'Tis to no purpose for a sober man to knock at the door of the Muses;" and Aristotle says "that no excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of folly."”

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919) | Book II, Ch. 2. Of Drunkenness

“He said not, 'Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed, thou shalt not be afflicted'; but He said, 'Thou shalt not be overcome.'”

Revelations of Divine Love, Chapter 68

“We are kept all as securely in Love in woe as in weal, by the Goodness of God.”

Wikiquote

“Our Lord is the Ground of our Prayer. Herein were seen two properties: the one is rightful prayer, the other is steadfast trust; which He willeth should both be alike large; and thus our prayer pleaseth Him and He of His Goodness fulfilleth it.”

Wikiquote

“We shall suddenly be taken from all our pain and from all our woe, and of His Goodness we shall come up above, where we shall have our Lord Jesus for our meed and be fulfilled with joy and bliss in Heaven.”

Wikiquote

“These two desires of the Passion and the sickness I desired with a condition, saying thus: Lord, Thou knowest what I would, — if it be Thy will that I have it — and if it be not Thy will, good Lord, be not displeased: for I will nought but as Thou wilt.”

Wikiquote

“Arise, awake, and stop not until the goal is reached.”

Public Addresses

“You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself.”

Lectures from Colombo to Almora

“The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature.”

Karma Yoga

“It is the patient building of character, the intense struggle to realize the truth, which alone will tell in the future of humanity.”

Pearls of Wisdom

“What the world wants is character. The world is in need of those whose life is one burning love, selfless. That love will make every word tell like a thunderbolt.”

Pearls of Wisdom

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”

We but mirror the world . All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body . If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change.

“Seven social sins: politics without principles , wealth without work , pleasure without conscience , knowledge without character , commerce without morality , science without humanity , and worship without sacrifice .”

1920s | A list closing an article in Young India (22 October 1925); Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi Vol. 33 (PDF) p. 135 Variant: The seven blunders that human society commits and cause all the violence: we

“"Politics without principle, wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, and worship without sacrifice — are the seven social sins."”

1920s | Originally published in Young India , 22 October 1925, in The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi , Vol. 33, p. 135.

Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi:

“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi:

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

“The history of the world is but the biography of great men.”

On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History

“Work alone is noble.”

Bk. III, ch. 4.

“These are the two vices that beset Government Offices; both of them originating in insufficient Intellect,—that sad insufficiency from which, directly or indirectly, all evil whatsoever springs!”

Downing Street (April 1, 1850)

“In every man's writings, the character of the writer must lie recorded.”

Critical and Miscellaneous Essays(1827–1855) | Goethe (1828).

Attributed to Thomas Carlyle:

“Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves.”

“There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.”

Es ist nichts schrecklicher als eine tätige Unwissenheit.

“Behavior is a mirror in which everyone shows his image.”

Maxim 39, trans. Stopp | Variant translation: A man's manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait.

Attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”

Attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”

Attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:

“We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.”

“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.

“Nearly allied to justice are the virtues of beneficence, compassion, gratitude, piety, and friendship.”

Ancient and Modern Celebrated Freethinkers(Half-Hours with the Freethinkers)

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.”

“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

“Virtue cannot dwell with wealth either in a city or in a house.”

Quoted by Stobaeus | Stobaeus , iv. 31c. 88

“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)

“Independence I have long considered as the grand blessing of life, the basis of every virtue; and independence I will ever secure by contracting my wants, though I were to live on a barren heath.”

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman(1792) | Dedication

“Till women are more rationally educated, the progress in human virtue and improvement in knowledge must receive continual checks.”

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman(1792) | Ch. 3

“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.”

“Resolved, never to lose one moment of time.”

No. 5.

“Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.”

No. 6.

“To mark all that I say in conversation, merely to beget in others, a good opinion of myself, and examine it.”

Diary (10 November 1724).

“Whatever in Christ had the nature of satisfaction, was by virtue of His suffering or humiliation; whatever had the nature of merit, was by virtue of His obedience or righteousness.”

Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers(1895) | p. 489.

Attributed to Jonathan Edwards:

“True virtue consists in benevolence to being in general.”

“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

“The virtues are not poured into us, they are natural. Seek, and you will find them: neglect, and you will lose them.”

Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient(1882) | "Uses and Sanctions", no. 22

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.”

“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.

“Liberally rendered in A Natural History of Peace (1996) by Thomas Gregor as: "Peace is not an absence of war; it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice."”

Political Treatise(1677)

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.”

“Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily.”

Hagakure

“Once there was a certain man who was very clever, but it was his character to always see the negative points of his jobs. In such a way, one will be useless.”

Hagakure(c. 1716)

“The heart of a virtuous person has settled down and he does not rush about at things. A person of little merit is not at peace but walks about making trouble and is in conflict with all.”

Hagakure(c. 1716)

Attributed to Yamamoto Tsunetomo:

“The way of the samurai is found in death.”

Attributed to Yamamoto Tsunetomo:

“There is something to be learned from a rainstorm; if one has no umbrella, one is going to get wet, and that is that.”

“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.

“Serious reflexion about one's own character will often induce a curious sense of emptiness; and if one knows another person well, one may sometimes intuit a similar void in him. (This is one of the strange privileges of friendship.)”

Sartre: Romantic Rationalist(1953) | Ch. 8, p. 119

“All art is the struggle to be, in a particular sort of way, virtuous.”

The Black Prince (1973); 2003, p. 181.

“No tyranny is more cruel than the one practiced in the shadow of the laws and under color of justice — when, so to speak, one proceeds to drown the unfortunate on the very plank by which they had saved themselves. See Chap. XIV of Considérations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur décadence . Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline (1734), p. 89. Quoted in Steve Sheppard, I Do Solemnly Swear: The Moral Obligations of Legal Officials (2009), preface - xxiv.”

Il n’y a point de plus cruelle tyrannie que celle que l’on exerce à l’ombre des lois et avec les couleurs de la justice, lorsqu’on va, pour ainsi dire, noyer des malheureux sur la planche même sur laquelle ils s’étaient sauvés.

“Horace et Aristote nous ont déjà parlé des vertus de leurs pères, et des vices de leur temps, et les auteurs de siècle en siècle nous en ont parlé de même. S'ils avaient dit vrai, les hommes seraient à présent des ours.”

Pensées Diverses | Translation: Horace and Aristotle told us of the virtues of their fathers, and the vices of their own time, and authors down through the centuries have told us the same. If they were right, men would

Attributed to Montesquieu:

“The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded.”

Attributed to Montesquieu:

“Constant happiness is the sign of a man who has learned to be self-sufficient.”

Attributed to Montesquieu:

“Mankind has been corrupted, and an admirable lesson is given by the law that obliges the rulers themselves to obey it.”