True virtue is life under the direction of reason.
Baruch Spinoza

Blessedness is not the reward of virtue but virtue itself.
Baruch Spinoza

Peace is not the absence of war, but a virtue based on strength of character.
Baruch Spinoza

It is dangerous for mortal beauty, or terrestrial virtue, to be examined by too strong a light. The torch of Truth shows much that we cannot, and all that we would not, see.
Samuel Johnson

Prosperity is the measure or touchstone of virtue, for it is less difficult to bear misfortune than to remain uncorrupted by pleasure.
Tacitus

Morality is a venereal disease. Its primary stage is called virtue; its secondary stage, boredom; its tertiary stage, syphilis.
Karl Kraus

Elegance is inferior to virtue.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

According to the new ethics, virtue is not restrictive but expansive, a sentiment and even an intoxication.
Irving Babbitt

Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Man may aspire to virtue, but he cannot reasonably aspire to truth.
Nicolas de Chamfort

It is often laziness and timidity that keep us within our duty while virtue gets all the credit.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Women's virtue is frequently nothing but a regard to their own quiet and a tenderness for their reputation.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld

The word virtue is as useful to self-interest as the vices.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld

We do not despise all those who have vices, but we do despise those that have no virtue.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld

The name and pretense of virtue is as serviceable to self-interest as are real vices.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Virtue would go far if vanity did not keep it company.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Confidentiality is a virtue of the loyal, as loyalty is the virtue of faithfulness.
Edwin Louis Cole

Faith is the virtue by which, clinging-to the faithfulness of God, we lean upon him, so that we may obtain what he gives to us.
William Ames

Some of the most famous books are the least worth reading. Their fame was due to their having done something that needed to be doing in their day. The work is done and the virtue of the book has expired.
Moliere

I prefer a pleasant vice to an annoying virtue.
Moliere