Virtuous Quotes

• The aim of every political Constitution, is or ought to be first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust.

  James Madison

  Trust, Men, Political

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2003). “The Federalist: With Letters of Brutus”, p.277, Cambridge University Press

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• Knowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous.

  Plato

  Plato, Knowledge, Evil

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• Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we are saved by love.

  Reinhold Niebuhr

  Love, Accomplishment, Accomplished

  Reinhold Niebuhr (2010). “The Irony of American History”, p.63, University of Chicago Press

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• Be in general virtuous, and you will be happy.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Happiness, Virtue, Frugal

  Benjamin Franklin, Henry Stueber, Benjamin Franklin Collection (Library of Congress) (1794). “Works of the late Dr. Benjamin Franklin: consisting of his life, written by himself : together with essays, humourous, moral & literary, chiefly in the manner of the Spectator : in two volumes”

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• It is a grand mistake to think of being great without goodness and I pronounce it as certain that there was never a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Leadership, Mistake, Men

  Benjamin Franklin, William-Temple Franklin (1818). “Memoirs of the Life and Writings of (the Same), Continued to the Time of His Death by William Temple Franklin. - London, H. Colburn 1818”, p.206

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• No people can be great who have ceased to be virtuous.

  Samuel Johnson

  People, Liberty, Virtue

  "An Introduction to the Political State of Great Britain" (1756)

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  Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

  John Adams

  Bible, God, Religious

  John Adams, Charles Francis Adams (1854). “Works: with a life of the author”, p.229

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• 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.

  Confucius

  Dignity, Confucianism, Virtue

  Confucius (2016). “The Analects”, p.18, Open Road Media

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• Be virtuous and you will be vicious.

  Samuel Butler

  Vicious

  Samuel Butler (1951). “Samuel Butler's notebooks”

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• Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Freedom, Character, People

  Benjamin Franklin (1840). “The Works of Benjamin Franklin: Containing Several Political and Historical Tracts Not Included in Any Former Edition, and Many Letters, Official and Private, Not Hitherto Published; with Notes and a Life of the Author”, p.297

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• Is virtue a thing remote? I wish to be virtuous, and lo! Virtue is at hand.

  Confucius

  Hands, Wish, Confucianism

  Confucius (2012). “The Analects of Confucius In Plain and Simple English: BookCaps Study Guide”, p.57, BookCaps Study Guides

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• The most virtuous are those who content themselves with being virtuous without seeking to appear so.

  Plato

  Inspirational, Plato, Philosophical

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• Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can exist apart from religious principle.

  George Washington

  Religious, Truth, Freedom

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• He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man.

  Samuel Adams

  Trust, Wise, Country

  "Loyalty and Sedition". Essay published in The Advertiser, 1748.

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• The person who talks most of his own virtue is often the least virtuous.

  Jawaharlal Nehru

  Virtue, Persons

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• To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.

  James Madison

  Government, Ideas, People

  James Madison, David B. Mattern (1997). “James Madison's "Advice to My Country"”, p.24, University of Virginia Press

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• The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Grief, Men, Want

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• Courage is the form of every virtue at the testing point.

  Lynn G. Robbins

  Courage, Bravery, Heroic

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• Modesty may make a fool seem a man of sense.

  Jonathan Swift

  Men, May, Fool

  Jonathan Swift (1843). “Works: Containing Interesting and Valuable Papers Not Hitherto Published”, p.836

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• Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites.

  Edmund Burke

  Men, Liberty, Moral

  Edmund Burke (1828). “The Beauties of Burke: Consisting of Selections from His Works”, p.86

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• Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity of opportunity to be otherwise.

  Maya Angelou

  Beauty, Girl, Opportunity

  1970 I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, ch.35

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• Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.

  Samuel Adams

  Law, Government, People

  The Advertiser, 1748.

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• He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of all regard for his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country, who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections.

  Samuel Adams

  Country, Men, Feelings

  Samuel Adams (1968). “The Writings of Samuel Adams: 1773-1777: 1773-1777”

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• Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics.

  John Adams

  Government, Liberty, Foundation

  Massachusetts Historical Society, John Adams, Samuel Adams, James Warren (1917). “Warren-Adams Letters: Being Chiefly a Correspondence Among John Adams, Samuel Adams, and James Warren ... 1743-1814”

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• It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.

  Edmund Burke

  Passion, Character, Men

  Edmund Burke (1803). “The Works of ... Edmund Burke”, p.64

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