vice Quotes

Both Self-restraint and Unrestraint are a matter of extremes as compared with the character of the mass of mankind; the restrained man shows more and the unrestrained man less steadfastness than most men are capable of.

The demon of intemperance ever seems to have delighted in sucking the blood of genius and of generosity.

Virtue is the golden mean between two vices, the one of excess and the other of deficiency.

So virtue is a purposive disposition, lying in a mean that is relative to us and determined by a rational principle, and by that which a prudent man would use to determine it. It is a mean between two kinds... ...

"As far as I'm concerned, I prefer silent vice to ostentatious virtue."

Again, it is possible to fail in many ways (for evil belongs to the class of the unlimited and good to that of the limited), while to succeed is possible only in one way (for which reason also one is... ...

Virtue also depends on ourselves. And so also does vice. For where we are free to act we are also free to refrain from acting, and where we are able to say No we are also able to say Yes;... ...

Every virtue is a mean between two extremes, each of which is a vice.

He who takes his fill of every pleasure ... becomes depraved; while he who avoids all pleasures alike ... becomes insensible.

Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses and avoids.

Wickedness is nourished by lust.

The avarice of mankind is insatiable; at one time two obols was pay enough; but now, when this sum has become customary, men always want more and more without end.