Profoundly inspirational virtue quotes will encourage you to think a little deeper than you usually would and broaden your perspective.
Famous Virtue Quotes
The virtues of moderation are better than the vices of excess.
Very often what God first helps us towards is not the virtue itself but just this power of always trying again. C.S. Lewis
Moderation is better than decadence.
Virtue even attempted virtue brings light; indulgence brings fog. C.S. Lewis
Temperance is better than excess.
Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues. Brother Lawrence
Contentment is better than greed.
Men are not made religious by performing certain actions which are externally good, but they must first have righteous principles, and then they will not fail to perform virtuous actions. Martin Luther
The bitterness of moderation is better than the venom of excess.
The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing is a vice so mean and low that every person of sense and character detests and despises it. George Washington
It is easier to multiply vices than to accumulate virtue.
Beauty without virtue is like a flower without fragrance. Woodrow Kroll
Conquering an army of vices is easier than conquering a single virtue.
These then are the marks of the ideal Church love, suffering, holiness, sound doctrine, genuineness, evangelism and humility. They are what Christ desires to find in His churches as He walks among them. John Stott
Appeasing your vices is easier than appeasing your virtues.
Do not fear the conflict, and do not flee from it; where there is no struggle, there is no virtue. John of Kronstadt
Falling into vice is easier than rising into virtue.
The most virtuous of all men, says Plato, is he that contents himself with being virtuous without seeking to appear so Francois Fenelon
It is easier to survive a blow from virtue than a kiss from vice.
Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder. George Washington
It is easier to appease saints than to defy sinners.
What the world calls virtue is a name and a dream without Christ. The foundation of all human excellence must be laid deep in the blood of the Redeemer’s cross and in the power of his resurrection. Frederick W. Robertson
Virtue is better than vice.
Consider how impossible nobility of character would be if our goodness were untried innocence instead of victorious virtue. Harry Emerson Fosdick
It is better to practice moderation than excess.
Humility is a virtue all preach, none practice, and yet everybody is content to hear. The master thinks it good doctrine for his servant, the laity for the clergy, and the clergy for the laity. John Selden
The wisdom of moderation is better than the foolishness of excess.
Of all virtues and dignities of the mind, goodness is the greatest, being the character of the Deity; and without it, man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing. Francis Bacon
The fear of excess is the beginning of moderation.
Sordid and infamous sensuality, the most dreadful evil that issued from the box of Pandora, corrupts the entire heart and eradicates every virtue. Francois Fenelon
Decadence is the beginning of excess.
Being forced to work, and forced to do your best, will breed in you temperance and self control, diligence and strength of will, cheerfulness and content, and a hundred virtues which the idle will never know. Charles Kingsley
Moderation is the mother of virtue.
Because of the diverse conditions of humans, it happens that some acts are virtuous to some people, as appropriate and suitable to them, while the same acts are immoral for others, as inappropriate to them Thomas Aquinas
Moderation is the fountain of wisdom.
Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.
The wisdom of moderation is foolishness to the decadent.
Gratitude is the mother of all the virtues. G.K. Chesterton
The love of virtue is the beginning of wisdom.
Adulation is the death of virtue. Who flatters, is, of all mankind, the lowest, save he who courts the flattery. Hannah More
Moderation is a tenant in the house of virtue.
We need to teach our kids that misconduct bears or at least should bear a cost. Our personal ethics should not be attached to who is affected by what we believe. Jonathan Falwell
Moderation is an alter in the temple of wisdom.
God seeth different abilities and frailties of men, which may move His goodness to be merciful to their different improvements in virtue. William Law
Integrity is an alter in the temple of prudence.
Vice and virtue chiefly imply the relation of our actions to men in this world; sin and holiness rather imply their relation to God and the other world. Isaac Watts
Innocence is an alter in the temple of virtue.
Throw away thy rod, throw away thy wrath; O my God, take the gentle path. George Herbert
Benefiting from moderation is easier than benefiting from excess.
Even to earnest minds the difficulty of grasping the truth at all has always proved extreme. Philosophically, one scarcely sees either the necessity or the possibility of being born again. Why a virtuous man should not simply grow better and better until in his own right he enter the Kingdom of God is what thousands honestly and seriously fail to understand. Henry Drummond
Benefiting from contentment is easier than benefiting from desire.
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. Edmund Burke
Benefiting from needs is easier than benefiting from wants.
God never approves sexual union outside of marriage. Max Lucado
The vices of contentment are better than the virtues of pleasure.
I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man. George Washington
The vices of patience are better than the virtues of haste.
Influence never dies; every act, emotion, look and word makes influence tell for good or evil, happiness or woe, through the long future of eternity. Thomas a Kempis
The vices of ambition are better than the virtues of complacency.
Virtue is its own reward, and brings with it the truest and highest pleasure; but if we cultivate it only for pleasure’s sake, we are selfish, not religious, and will never gain the pleasure, because we can never have the virtue. John Henry Newman
True vices are better than false virtues.
Virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone that renders us invincible. These are the tactics we should study. If we lose these, we are conquered, fallen indeed, so long as our manners and principles remain sound, there is no danger. Assorted Authors
The lowest virtue is greater than the highest vice.
Being virtuous is no feat once temptation ceases Assorted Authors
The lowest saint is greater than the highest sinner.
If we are to have values at all we must accept the ultimate platitudes of Practical Reason as having absolute validity. C.S. Lewis
The bitterest virtue is better than the sweetest vice.
Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Henry Ward Beecher
Virtue at its weakest is still greater than vice at its strongest.
To be innocent is to be not guilty; but to be virtuous is to overcome our evil inclinations. William Penn
An infinite vice is inferior to a finite virtue.
I will tell you what to hate. Hate hypocrisy; hate cant; hate intolerance, oppression, injustice, Pharisaism; hate them as Christ hated them with a deep, abiding, God like hatred. Frederick W. Robertson
Virtue is a jewel God created to adorn the soul.
Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation. Augustine
Vice is a masterpiece of vanity.
In what light soever we regard the Bible, whether with reference to revelation, to history, or to morality, it is an invaluable and inexhaustible mine of knowledge and virtue. John Quincy Adams
It is better to live in a hut with a saint than in a palace with a sinner.
There is a set of religious, or rather moral, writings which teach that virtue is the certain road to happiness, and vice to misery in this world. A very wholesome and comfortable doctrine, and to which we have but one objection, namely, that it is not true Francois Fenelon
It is better to be hated for truth than to be loved for lies.
Every act of virtue is an ingredient unto reward. Jeremy Taylor
It is better to be hated for your honor than to be loved for your shame.
Perfection of moral virtue does not wholly take away the passions, but regulates them. Thomas Aquinas
The virtues of the wise are greater than the vices of the foolish.
All places where women are excluded tend downward to barbarism; but the moment she is introduced, there come in with her courtesy, cleanliness, sobriety, and order. Harriet Beecher Stowe
The depths of your vices are no match for the heights of your virtues.
Expedients are for the hour, but principles are for the ages. Henry Ward Beecher
Evil is finite, but good is infinite.
It still remains true that no justification of virtue will enable a man to be virtuous. C.S. Lewis
Virtue is the eternal master of vice.
When we pray for any virtue, we should cultivate the virtue as well as pray for it; the form of your prayer should be the rule of your life; every petition to God is a precept to man. Look not, therefore, upon your prayers as a method of good and salvation only, but as a perpetual monition of duty. By what we require of God we see what he requires of us. Jeremy Taylor
Virtue is the eternal enemy of vice.
The aggregate happiness of society, which is best promoted by the practice of a virtuous policy, is, or ought to be, the end of all government. George Washington
Intelligent vices are inferior to foolish virtues.
Judge of thine improvement, not by what thou speakest or writest, but by the firmness of thy mind, and the government of thy passions and affections. Thomas Fuller
A thousand real vices are better than a single false virtue.
The virtue of a coward is suspicion. George Herbert
I think it’s odd that we find the torturing of animals to be a sign of major mental illness and a link between it and serial killers, but no one ever thinks of the indirect torture of eating animal flesh.
Virtues that pull you down are superior to vices that lift you up.
The fat acceptance movement as enough to worry about without concern trolls poking about.
Virtues at their worst are better than vices at their best.
It is against the principles of human rights to bully another human being.
A virtuous failure is better than a successful devil.
There’s an old adage about walking a mile in someone else’s shoes it’s something we say to make people more empathetic to the plights of others. What’s the animal rights equivalent? Walk a mile in another creature’s fur, and then imagine what it’s like to be skinned alive?
Bread with God is better than cake with the devil.
It’s a sick irony that the top elite conservatives of the United States expect every single school child to recite a pledge that boasts freedom and justice for all, when they really only want it for themselves.
An intelligent sinner is better than a foolish saint.
When you worry, messages get muddied and stops the creation. That is why one must be clear in their intent, specific and then must let it go, and go on living their life. One must learn to trust; it will come into creation.
A sinners virtues are more valuable than a saints vices.
Free food is healthy food and good for your pocket book.
Innocence is the world’s oldest saint; guilt is the world’s oldest sinner.
The superior man honors his virtuous nature, and maintains constant inquiry and study, seeking to carry it out to its breadth and greatness, so as to omit none of the more exquisite and minute points which it embraces, and to raise it to its greatest height and brilliancy.
Virtue is the world’s oldest saint; vice is the world’s oldest sinner.
I have not seen a person who loved virtue, or one who hated what was not virtuous. He who loved virtue would esteem nothing above it.
Ignorance is the ugliest devil, virtue is the loveliest angel.
Go before the people with your example, and be laborious in their affairs.
It is better for our virtues to bloom late than to wither early.
Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue.
To see a man’s virtues, observe him when he is poor. To see a man’s vices, observe him when he is rich.
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.
Desire reveals our vices; contentment reveals our virtues.
The determined scholar and the man of virtue will not seek to live at the expense of injuring their virtue. They will even sacrifice their lives to preserve their virtue complete.
Evil hides in darkness, good rests in light.
What the great learning teaches, is to illustrate illustrious virtue; to renovate the people; and to rest in the highest excellence.
One virtue can defeat an army of vices.
The firm, the enduring, the simple, and the modest are near to virtue.
Our vices are mortal, our virtues are divine.
The superior man thinks always of virtue; the common man thinks of comfort.
It is better to have a thousand real vices than a single false virtue.
Virtuous people often revenge themselves for the constraints to which they submit by the boredom which they inspire.
The pain that comes with virtue is better than the pleasure that comes vice.
Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practices it will have neighbors.
Meaningful vices are inferior to meaningless virtues.
When a man’s knowledge is sufficient to attain, and his virtue is not sufficient to enable him to hold, whatever he may have gained, he will lose again.
Reason is better than ignorance.
Humility is the foundation of all virtues.
Gratitude is better than bitterness.
Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practices it will have neighbors.
Compassion is better than vengeance.
Things that are done, it is needless to speak about things that are past, it is needless to blame.
Overusing your virtues is better than underusing them.
Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness.
Virtue has greater power than vice.
The power of virtue is infinitely greater than the power of vice.
