#virtue

Then the soul, freed from vice, purged by studies of true philosophy, versed in spiritual life, and practised in matters of the intellect, devoted to the contemplation of her own substance, as if awakened from deepest sleep, opens those eyes which all possess but few use, and sees in herself a ray of that light which is the true image of the angelic beauty communicated to her, and of which she then communicates a faint shadow to the body. ↗

— Baldassare Castiglione

#courtier #light #philosophy #religion #vice

It is my wish that you may have at better and freer life than I have had. Recommend virtue to your children; it alone, not money, can make them happy. I speak from experience; this was what upheld me in time of misery. ↗

— Ludwig van Beethoven

#children #heiligenstadt-testmanent #virtue #will #experience

Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God. ↗

— Joseph Smith Jr.

#happiness #inspirational #mormonism #religion #virtue

Perhaps it takes a purer faith to praise God for unrealized blessings than for those we once enjoyed or those we enjoy now. ↗

— A.W. Tozer

#hope #life #thankfulness #virtue #faith

We value virtue but do not discuss it. The honest bookkeeper, the faithful wife, the earnest scholar get little of our attention compared to the embezzler, the tramp, the cheat. ↗

— John Steinbeck

#honor #virtue #faith

Joy is love exalted; peace is love in repose; long-suffering is love enduring; gentleness is love in society; goodness is love in action; faith is love on the battlefield; meekness is love in school; and temperance is love in training. ↗

— D.L. Moody

#faith

It all seemed a hollow sham now - that strict code, that conscientious virtue that condemned her to the sterile joys of pious women! No, no, she'd had enough of that; she wanted to live! ↗

— Émile Zola

#piety #virtue #freedom

He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." [On British Labour politician Stafford Cripps.] ↗

— Winston Churchill

#classic-insult #vice #virtue #leadership

To expose our hearts to truth and consistently refuse or neglect to obey the impulses it arouses is to stymie the motions of life within us and, if persisted in, to grieve the Holy Spirit into silence. ↗

— A.W. Tozer

#life

And it is you, spirit--with will and energy, and virtue and purity--that I want, not alone with your brittle frame. ↗

— Charlotte Brontë

#purity #romance #soul #spirit #virtue