Wendy McElroy Quotes
Quotes to Explore
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A ruler makes use of the majority and neglects the minority, and so he does not devote himself to virtue but to law.
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A virtue to be serviceable must, like gold, be alloyed with some commoner, but more durable alloy.
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Skepticism is a virtue in history as well as in philosophy.
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Virtue has a veil, vice a mask.
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Happiness is a virtue, not its reward.
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Virtue consists, not in abstaining from vice, but in not desiring it.
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Self-denial is not a virtue: it is only the effect of prudence on rascality.
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Virtue has her heroes tooAs well as Fame and Fortune.
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Virtue consists in doing our duty in the several relations we sustain, in respect to ourselves, to our fellowmen, and to God, as known from reason, conscience, and revelation.
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There is that in the soul of man which must respond to the highest in virtue. It may not respond at once. Human nature can easily be over-faced by examples too remote and austere. Moreover, human nature can easily deny God because the whole race has long been in rebellion against Him. Yet there is that in human nature which calls out to the supreme examples of virtue: owns, as it were, the intention of God who made it, and feels the unmistakable homesickness of the soul.
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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!
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Chastity is the most unpopular of the Christian virtues. There is no getting away from it; the old Christian rule is, "Either marriage, with completely faithfulness to your partner, or else total abstinence."
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There are two restraints which God has laid upon human nature, shame and fear; shame is the weaker, and has place only in those in whom there are some reminders of virtue.
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Piety and virtue are not only delightful for the present, but they leave peace and contentment behind them.
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Happiness does not consist in amusement. In fact, it would be strange if our end were amusement, and if we were to labor and suffer hardships all our life long merely to amuse ourselves.... The happy life is regarded as a life in conformity with virtue. It is a life which involves effort and is not spent in amusement.
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Rightness in our choice of an end is secured by Moral Virtue.
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The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.
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Let us be well persuaded that everyone of us possesses happiness in proportion to his virtue and wisdom, and according as he acts in obedience to their suggestion.
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On the whole, men are more good than bad; that, however, isn't the real point. But they are more or less ignorant, and it is this that we call vice or virtue; the most incorrigible vice being that of an ignorance that fancies it knows everything and therefore claims for itself the right to kill. The soul of the murderer is blind; and there can be no true goodness nor true love without the utmost clear-sightedness.
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Be thorough in all you do; and remember that although ignorance often may be innocent, pretension is always despicable.
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A huge insight was the power of simply telling employees the truth. If things aren’t going well, tell them.
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A coerced "choice" does not reflect virtue, only compliance.
