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Robert Christy, comp. Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages. 1887.

Virtue

A happy life consists in virtue.Latin.

A man that hath no virtue in himself ever envieth virtue in others.Bacon.

A man who is wise and learned, but without virtue, shall be despised.Sri Lankan.

All human virtue to its latest breath,
Finds envy never conquered but by death.Pope.

All the praise of inward virtue consists in outward action.

All the virtues are in peril when filial piety is attacked.Chinese.

All virtue lies in a power of denying our own desires when reason does not authorize them.Locke.

An exterior grave and majestic announces a palace where virtue resides.Chinese.

As virtue is its own reward, so vice is its own punishment.

Be a father to virtue, but a father-in-law to vice.

Courage and resolution are the spirit and soul of virtue.

Each must in virtue strive to excel,
That man lives twice who lives the first life well.Herrick.

Even virtue is fairer when it appears in a handsome person.Virgil.

Every virtue is but half way between two vices.Latin.

Few are virtuous when the reward’s away.Dr. Johnson.

From our ancestors come our names, but from our virtues our honors.

He cannot go wrong when virtue guides.

He has no mean portion of virtue that loveth it in another.

He that thinks too much of his virtues, bids others think of his vices.

He who aspires to be virtuous resembles a man who climbs up a steep mountain.Chinese.

He who dies for virtue does not perish.Plautus.

He whose mind is virtuous is alone of noble kind.Dryden.

I have seen many men not adapted to the sciences; not one incapable of a virtue.

If virtue keep court within, honor will attend without.

If you can be well without health, you may be happy without virtue.

It is difficult to persuade mankind that the love of virtue is the love of themselves.Cicero.

It is easier to run from virtue to vice than from vice to virtue.

It is impossible for fortune to conquer virtue.Plutarch.

It is in hating vice that we strengthen ourselves in the love of virtue.French.

It is the will of heaven that virtue be proved by trials.Arabian.

It is virtue to fly vice.Horace.

It needs great virtues to be known and admired, or perhaps great vices.La Bruyère.

Kindred without friends, friends without power, power without will, will without effect, effect without profit, profit without virtue, are not worth a rush.French.

Let them call it mischief,
When it is past and prosper’d ’twill be virtue.Ben Jonson.

Make a virtue of necessity.

Mankind are all stamped equal at their birth,
Virtue alone the difference makes on earth.

Men’s evil manners live in brass,
Their virtues we write in water.Shakespeare.

Most men are more willing to indulge in easy vices, than to practise laborious virtues.Dr. Johnson.

Nobody hath too much prudence or virtue.

Not to go forward in the way of virtue is to go backwards.

O’ need make virtue.

Our virtues will be often discredited with the appearance of evil.Rogers.

Our virtues would be proud if our vices whipped them not.

Poverty does not destroy virtue nor wealth bestow it.Spanish.

Room can never be wanting for virtue.Seneca.

Some rise by sin and some by virtue fall.Shakespeare.

Steadiness is the foundation of all virtue.Motto of Viscount Hereford.

Sweet are the slumbers of the virtuous man.Addison.

The first step to virtue is to love virtue in another.

The first step to virtue is to abstain from vice.

The man who is always fortunate cannot easily have a great reverence for virtue.Cicero.

The virtue that was received from heaven was as great as a mountain.Chinese.

The virtues and vices are put in motion by interest.Rochefoucauld.

The virtuous nothing fear but life with shame,
And death’s a pleasant road that leads to fame.Geo. Granville.

There is some virtue or other to be exercised whatever happens.

There must ever be a place for virtue.Seneca.

To subdue the proud and spare the suppliant has ever been a Roman virtue.Tacitus.

Virtue alone can procure that independence which is the end of human wishes.Petrarch.

Virtue alone has majesty in death.Young.

Virtue alone is happiness below.Crabbe.

Virtue alone is invincible.Latin.

Virtue alone with lasting grace
Embalms the virtues of the face.Trumbull.

Virtue alone outbuilds the pyramids:
Her monuments shall last when Egypt’s fall.Young.

Virtue and happiness are mother and daughter.

Virtue and truth are respected everywhere.Turkish Spy.

Virtue and truth are two of heaven’s most beautiful and lovely daughters.Bacon.

Virtue and understanding cannot be bought with gold.German.

Virtue and vice cannot dwell under the same roof.German.

Virtue and vice, wisdom and folly, are not hereditary.Chinese.

Virtue alone is true nobility.Stepney.

Virtue brings honor.German.

Virtue conquers envy.Motto of Marquis of Cornwallis.

Virtue consists in action.Dutch.

Virtue consists in avoiding vice and is the highest wisdom.Horace.

Virtue dwells not in the tongue but in the heart.

Virtue even in rags will keep warm.Horace.

Virtue flourishes from a wound.Motto of Scotch Earl of Galloway.

Virtue flourishes in misfortune.German.

Virtue goes before, nobility follows after.German.

Virtue hath not a greater enemy than wealth.Petrarch.

Virtue grows under every weight.Latin.

Virtue in poverty is better than sinful wealth.German.

Virtue is a friend ever true.German.

Virtue is a jewel of great price.

Virtue is always amiable.Petrarch.

Virtue is always flourishing.Motto of Irish Viscount Belmore.

Virtue is as good as a thousand shields.Latin.

Virtue is a sheet anchor.Latin.

Virtue is between two extremes; he who has passed the middle has not done better than he who has reached it.Chinese.

Virtue is bold and goodness never fearful.Shakespeare.

Virtue is choked with foul ambition.Shakespeare.

Virtue is the best patrimony for a child to inherit.

Virtue is the only nobility.

Virtue is increased by the smile of approval.Ovid.

Virtue is its own reward.

Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set.Bacon.

Virtue is like precious odors, most fragrant when they are crushed.Bacon.

Virtue is more persecuted by the wicked than encouraged by the good.

Virtue is never aided by a vice.Ben Jonson.

Virtue is of noble birth, but riches take the wall of her.

Virtue is not allowed to go backward.Seneca.

Virtue is praised and starves.Juvenal.

Virtue is the base of the prosperity of an empire.Chinese.

Virtue is the most beautiful apparel.German.

Virtue is the only true nobility.Juvenal.

Virtue is the path of praise.Homer.

Virtue is the reward of virtue.German.

Virtue is the safest helmet.Latin.

Virtue is tied to no degrees of men.

Virtue is without alloy.German.

Virtue itself offends when coupled with forbidden manners.Middleton.

Virtue itself ’scapes not calumnious strokes.

Virtue itself turns vice being misapplied.

Virtue kindles strength.Motto of the Irish Viscount of Strangford.

Virtue, like a strong and hardy plant will root where it can find an ingenuous nature and a mind not averse to labor.Plutarch.

Virtue maketh men on the earth famous, in their grave illustrious, in the heavens immortal.Chilo.

Virtue may be overclouded for awhile, but will shine at last.

Virtue, not pedigree, should characterize nobility.Latin.

Virtue often trips and falls on the sharp-edged rocks of poverty.Eugene Sue.

Virtue only finds eternal fame.Petrarch.

Virtue overcomes envy.Latin.

Virtue rejoices in temptation.Motto of the Earl of Dartmouth.

Virtue remains when all else has passed away.German.

Virtue shines grandest in misfortune.German.

Virtue sometimes starves while vice is fed.Pope.

Virtue subdues power.German.

Virtue survives the grave.Motto of the Irish Earl of Shannon.

Virtue though momentarily shamed cannot be extinguished.Publius Syrus.

Virtue unites man with God.Latin.

Virtue when concealed is a worthless thing.Claudianus.

Virtue which parleys is near surrender.

Virtue would not go far, if a little vanity walked not with her.

Virtues all agree, but vices fight one another.

Wealth and beauty less than virtue please.Homer.

What can the virtues of our ancestors profit us if we do not imitate them.

What’s vice to-day may be virtue to-morrow.Fielding.

Where virtue resides not, liberty can no longer subsist.Arabian.

Wherever virtue is found in an eminent degree, it is sure to be persecuted.Don Quixote.

Whether I am praised or blamed, it enables me to advance in virtue.Chinese Philosopher.