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VIRTUE
Innocence and Purity
1. Essence
5478 Virtue is a kind of health, beauty and good habit
of the soul.
Plato (B.C. 427?-347?)
5479 Virtue is the golden mean between two vices,
the one of excess and the other of deficiency.
Aristotle (B.C. 384-322)
5480 Virtue is a habit of the mind,
consistent with nature and moderation and reason.
Cicero (B.C. 106-43)
5481 Virtue consists in avoiding vice, and is the highest wisdom.
Horace (B.C. 65-8)
5482 Virtue is beauty.
Shakespeare (1564-1616)
5483 Virtue, like health, is the harmony of the whole man.
Carlyle (1795-1881)
5484 Virtue is but heroic bravery, to do the thing thought to be
true, in spite of all enemies of flesh or spirit, in despite
of all temptations or menaces.
Albert Pike (1809-1891)
2. Opposites
5485 The man of superior virtue is not conscious of his virtue,
and in this way he really possesses virtue.
The man of inferior virtue never loses sight of his virtue,
and in this way he loses his virtue.
Lao-Tzu (fl. B.C. 600)
5486 The superior man thinks always of virtue;
the common man thinks of comfort.
Confucius (B.C. 551-479)
5487 Virtue is the beauty, and vice the deformity, of the soul.
Socrates (B.C. 469-399)
5488 Holiness is what is loved by all the gods. It is loved
because it is holy, and not holy because it is loved.
Plato (B.C. 427?-347?)
5489 He who dies for virtue, does not perish.
Plautus (B.C. 254-184)
5490 The high-spirited man may indeed die, but he will not stoop
to meanness. Fire, though it may be quenched, will not
become cool.
The Hitopadesa (600?-1100? A.D.)
5491 Virtue is health, vice is sickness.
Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374)
5492 Virtue is persecuted more by the wicked
than it is loved by the good.
Cervantes (1547-1616)
5493 Certainly, virtue is like precious odors,
most fragrant when they are incensed or crushed,
for prosperity doth best discover vice,
but adversity doth best discover virtue.
Bacon (1561-1626)
5494 Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.
Shakespeare (1564-1616)
5495 Some people with great virtues are disagreeable,
while others with great vices are delightful.
La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680)
5496 He's armed without that's innocent within.
Pope (1688-1744)
5497 Our virtues and vices spring from one root.
Goethe (1749-1832)
5498 Virtue by calculation is the virtue of vice.
Joubert (1754-1824)
5499 Virtue: Climbing a hill
Vice: Running down.
Chinese Proverb
5500 To produce things and to rear them,
To produce, but not to take possession of them,
To act, but not to rely on one's own ability.
To lead them, but not to master them -
This is called profound and secret virtue.
Lao-Tzu (fl. B.C. 600)
3. Insight
5501 This is the law of God, that virtue only is firm,
and cannot be shaken by a tempest.
Pythagoras (B.C. 582-507)
5502 Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth,
so virtue appears from good deeds,
and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind.
To walk safely through the maze of human life,
one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.
Buddha (B.C. 568-488)
5503 Virtue is more to man than either water or fire. I have
seen men die from treading on water and fire, but I have
never seen a man die from treading the course of virtue.
Confucius (B.C. 551-479)
5504 Purity engenders Wisdom, Passion avarice, and Ignorance
folly, infatuation and darkness.
Bhagavad Gita (c. B.C. 400)
5505 Virtue consisteth of three parts, -
temperance, fortitude, and justice.
Epicurus (B.C. 341-270)
5506 Although a man may wear fine clothing, if he lives
peacefully; and is good, self-possessed, has faith
and is pure; and if he does not hurt any living being,
he is a holy man...
The Dhammapada (c. B.C. 300)
5507 Fewer possess virtue, than those who wish us to believe
that they possess it.
Cicero (B.C. 106-43)
5508 God looks with favor at pure, not full, hands.
Publilius Syrus (fl. B.C. 42)
5509 Nature does not bestow virtue; to be good is an art.
Seneca (B.C. 3-65 A.D.)
5510 The holy man, though he be distressed,
Does not eat food mixed with wickedness.
The lion, though hungry,
Will not eat what is unclean.
Saskya Pandita (1182-1251)
5511 I find that the best virtue I have
has in it some tincture of vice.
Montaigne (1533-1592)
5512 Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set.
Bacon (1561-1626)
5513 Virtue and genuine graces in themselves speak what no words
can utter.
Shakespeare (1564-1616)
5514 We need greater virtues to sustain good fortune than bad.
La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680)
5515 To be innocent is to be not guilty;
but to be virtuous is to overcome our evil inclinations.
William Penn (1614-1718)
5516 There is nothing that is meritorious but virtue and
friendship; and indeed friendship itself is only a part
of virtue.
Pope (1688-1744)
5517 Virtue is everywhere the same, because it comes from God,
while everything else is of men.
Voltaire (1694-1778)
5518 Virtue is the state of war, and to live in it
we have always to combat with ourselves.
Rousseau (1712-1778)
5519 The virtues, like the Muses, are always seen in groups.
A good principle was never found solitary in any breast.
Jane Porter (1776-1850)
5520 Innocence is always unsuspicious.
Haliburton (1796-1865)
5521 The only reward of virtue is virtue.
Emerson (1803-1882)
5522 It has ever been my experience that folks who have no vices
have very few virtues.
Lincoln (1809-1865)
5523 The truly innocent are those who not only are guiltless
themselves, but who think others are.
Josh Billings (1815-1885)
5524 They who disbelieve in virtue because man has never been
found perfect, might as reasonably deny the sun because
it is not always noon.
Hare & Charles (c. 1830)
5525 With virtue you cannot be entirely poor...
Without it you cannot be really rich.
Chinese Proverb
5526 Virtue cannot live in solitude: neighbors are sure to
grow up around it.
Confucius (B.C. 551-479)
4. Positive
5527 The fragrance of the flower is never borne against the
breeze; but the fragrance of human virtue diffuses
itself everywhere.
The Ramayana (B.C. 500?-50?)
5528 The most virtuous of all men is he that contents himself
with being virtuous without seeking to appear so.
Plato (B.C. 427?-347?)
5529 Honor is the reward of virtue.
Cicero (B.C. 106-43)
5530 The glory of riches and of beauty is frail and transitory;
virtue remains bright and eternal.
Sallust (B.C. 86-34)
5531 Virtue knowing no base repulse, shines with untarnished
honour; nor does she assume or resign her emblems of
honour by the will of some popular breeze.
Horace (B.C. 65-8)
5532 Virtue is that perfect good which is the complement of a
happy life; the only immortal thing that belongs to
mortality.
Seneca (B.C. 3-65 A.D.)
5533 Nature has placed nothing so high that virtue can not
reach it.
Curtius-Rufus (fl. 100 A.D.)
5534 Virtue is sufficient of herself for happiness.
Diogenes Laertius (c. 250 A.D.)
5535 For virtue only finds eternal Fame.
Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374)
5536 Of all the benefits that virtue confers upon us,
the contempt of death is one of the greatest.
Montaigne (1533-1592)
5537 Our life is short, but to expand that span to vast eternity
is virtue's work.
Shakespeare (1564-1616)
5538 A heart unspotted is not easily daunted.
Shakespeare (1564-1616)
5539 Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt,
Surprised by unjust force, but not enthralled;
Yea, even that which mischief meant most harm
Shall in the happy trial prove most glory.
Milton (1608-1674)
5540 Innocence is like polished armor; it adorns and defends.
Robert South (1634-1716)
5541 Virtue alone is the unerring sign of a noble soul.
Nicholas Boileau (1636-1711)
5542 Sweet are the slumbers of the virtuous man!
Addison (1672-1719)
5543 Virtue alone outbuilds the pyramids:
Her monuments shall last, when Egypt's fall.
Young (1683-1765)
5544 Innocence is its own Defence.
Franklin (1706-1790)
5545 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
Exalts great Nature's favourites: a wealth
That never encumbers, nor can be transferred.
John Armstrong (1709-1779)
5546 Riches adorn the dwelling; virtue adorns the person.
Chinese Proverb
5547 Those who have virtue always in their mouths, and neglect it
in practice, are like a harp, which emits a sound pleasing
to others, while itself is insensible of the music.
Diogenes (B.C. 412-323)
5. Negative
5548 There are some jobs in which it is impossible for a man to
be virtuous.
Aristotle (B.C. 384-322)
5549 The man who is not virtuous can never be happy.
Epicurus (B.C. 341-270)
5550 That which leads us to the performance of duty by offering
pleasure as its reward, is not virtue, but a deceptive
copy and imitation of virtue.
Cicero (B.C. 106-43)
5551 Although a cloth be washed a hundred times,
How can it be rendered clean and pure
If it be washed in water which is dirty?
Nagarjuna (c. 100-200 A.D.)
5552 To purify the heart is like the person ordered to uproot a
tree. However much he reflects and struggles to do so, he
is unable. So he says to himself, "I'll wait until I'm
more powerful and then uproot it." But the longer he waits
and leaves the tree to grow, the larger and stronger it
becomes while he only becomes weaker.
Abu 'Uthman Al-Maghribi (fl. c. 975 A.D.)
5553 Our virtues are most frequently but vices disguised.
La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680)
5554 The smallest speck is seen on snow.
Gay (1688-1732)
5555 Virtue has need of limits.
Montesquieu (1689-1755)
5556 Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.
George Washington (1732-1799)
5557 Virtue is not hereditary.
Paine (1737-1809)
5558 The absence of temptation is the absence of virtue.
Goethe (1749-1832)
5559 Innocence is but a poor substitute for experience.
Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873)
5560 Most people are so constituted that they can only be
virtuous in a certain routine; an irregular course of life
demoralizes them.
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)
5561 Virtue often trips and falls on the sharp-edged rock
of poverty.
Marie Sue (1804-1857)
5562 Virtue is insufficient temptation.
G. B. Shaw (1856-1950)
5563 The door to virtue...
Heavy and hard to push.
Chinese Proverb
5564 A noble spirit disdaineth the malice of fortune;
his greatness of Soul is not to be cast down.
Akhenaton? (c. B.C. 1375)
6. Advice
5565 INNOCENCE. Supreme success.
Perseverance furthers.
If someone is not as he should be,
He has misfortune,
And it does not further him
To undertake anything.
I Ching (B.C. 1150?)
5566 Turn yourself not away from three best things:
Good Thought, Good Word, and Good Deed.
Zoroaster (B.C. 628?-551?)
5567 If he applies The Eternal to himself his virtue will be
genuine;
If he applies it to his family his virtue will be abundant;
If he applies it to his village his virtue will be lasting;
If he applies it to his country his virtue will be full;
If he applies it to the world his virtue will be universal.
Lao-Tzu (fl. B.C. 600)
5568 To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes
perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul,
sincerity, earnestness, and kindness.
Confucius (B.C. 551-479)
5569 The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world,
is to be in reality what we would appear to be; all human
virtues increase and strengthen themselves by the practice
and experience of them.
Socrates (B.C. 469-399)
5570 One should seek virtue for its own sake and not from hope
or fear, or any external motive. It is in virtue that
happiness consists, for virtue is the state of mind which
tends to make the whole of life harmonious.
Zeno (B.C. 335?-264)
5571 A thankful heart is the parent of all virtues.
Cicero (B.C. 106-43)
5572 Every man has his appointed day; life is brief and
irrevocable; but it is the work of virtue to extend
our fame by our deeds.
Vergil (B.C. 70-19)
5573 The only path to a tranquil life is through virtue.
Juvenal (40-125 A.D.)
5574 Virtues are acquired through endeavor,
Which rests wholly upon yourself.
So, to praise others for their virtues
Can but encourage one's own efforts.
Nagarjuna (c. 100-200 A.D.)
5575 Recommend to your children virtue; that alone can make
happy, not gold.
Beethoven (1770-1827)
5576 No man can purchase his virtue too dear, for it is the only
thing whose value must ever increase with the price it has
cost us. Our integrity is never worth so much as when we
have parted with our all to keep it.
Colton (1780-1832)
5577 He that has energy enough to root out a vice, should go
further, and try to plant a virtue in its place; otherwise
he will have his labor to renew. A strong soil that has
produced weeds may be made to produce wheat.
Colton (1780-1832)
5578 The Lamp burns bright when wick and oil are clean.
H. P. Blavatsky (1831-1891)
5579 Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window
through which you must see the world.
G. B. Shaw (1856-1950)
7. Potpourri
5580 One who is to enjoy the purity of both body and mind walks
the path to enlightenment, breaking the net of selfish,
impure thoughts and evil desires. He who is calm in mind
acquires peacefulness and thus is able to cultivate his
mind day and night with more diligence.
Buddha (B.C. 568-488)
5581 Virtue, dear friend, needs no defence,
The surest guard is innocence:
None knew, till guilt created fear,
What darts or poison'd arrows were.
Horace (B.C. 65-8)
5582 It is the edge and temper of the blade that make a good
sword, not the richness of the scabbard; and so it is
not money or possessions that make man considerable, but
his virtue.
Seneca (B.C. 3-65 A.D.)
5583 There is no ornament like virtue,
There is no misery like worry,
There is no protection like patience,
There is no friend equal to generosity.
Nagarjuna (c. 100-200 A.D.)
5584 Food, sleep, fear, propagation; each is the common property
of men with brutes. Virtue is really their additional
distinction; devoid of virtue, they are equal with brutes.
The Hitopadesa (600?-1100? A.D.)
5585 They fulfill their vows and fear the day whose calamity
shall be far-reaching; and in spite of their own want,
they give food to the poor, and the orphan and the prisoner.
Koran (c. 651 A.D.)
5586 True merit, like a river, the deeper it is,
the less noise it makes.
Halifax (1633-1695)
5587 Shall ignorance of good and ill
Dare to direct the eternal will?
Seek virtue, and of that possest,
To Providence resign the rest.
Gay (1688-1732)
5588 Against the head which innocence secures,
Insidious malice aims her dart in vain;
Turned backwards by the powerful breath of heaven.
Johnson (1709-1784)
5589 And he by no uncommon lot
Was famed for virtues he had not.
Cowper (1731-1800)
5590 One whose heart the holy forms
Of young imagination have kept pure.
Wordsworth (1770-1850)
5591 Blessed is the memory of those
who have kept themselves unspotted from the world!
Yet more blessed and more dear the memory of those
who have kept themselves unspotted in the world.
Anna Jameson (1794-1860)
5592 There is virtue in country houses, in gardens and orchards,
in fields, streams and groves, in rustic recreations and
plain manners, that neither cities nor universities enjoy.
Amos B. Alcott (1799-1888)
5593 Of all the virtues necessary to the completion of the
perfect man, there is none to be more delicately implied
and less ostentatiously vaunted than that of exquisite
feeling or universal benevolence.
Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873)
5595 The Saints are the Sinners who keep on trying.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1895)
5594 Ascetic: one who makes a necessity of virtue.
Nietzsche (1844-1900)
================================== END ======================================
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