Edmund Morris Quotes
Actually Roosevelt was identifying with Euripides—like himself, an upper-class celebrant of middle-class virtues.
Quotes to Explore
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Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues.
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Ninoy Aquino was a friend; I knew his faults, which were outweighed by his virtues.
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We think that we are generous because we credit our neighbor with those virtues that are likely to benefit ourselves. We praise the banker that we may overdraw our account, and find good qualities in the highwayman in the hope that he may spare our pockets.
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Those possest of the greatest Virtues are always least pleas'd with the repetition of them.
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The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons.
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Courage is the first virtue that makes all other virtues possible.
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Courage is the mother of all virtues because without it, you cannot consistently perform the others.
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Neither by nature, then, nor contrary to nature do the virtues arise in us; rather we are adapted by nature to receive them, and are made perfect by habit.
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Now the soul of man is divided into two parts, one of which has a rational principle in itself, and the other, not having a rational principle in itself, is able to obey such a principle. And we call a man in any way good because he has the virtues of these two parts.
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One is punished best for one's virtues.
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It is a distinction to have many virtues, but a hard lot.
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As far as the education of children is concerned I think they should be taught not the little virtues but the great ones. Not thrift but generosity and an indifference to money; not caution but courage and a contempt for danger; not shrewdness but frankness and a love of truth; not tact but love for one's neighbor and self-denial; not a desire for success but a desire to be and to know.
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When women love us, they forgive us everything, even our crimes; when they do not love us, they give us credit for nothing, not even our virtues.
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You don't love if you don't take the beloved's faults for virtues.
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Self-love exaggerates our faults as well as our virtues.
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Simple ignorance has in its time been complimented by the names of most of the vices, and of all the virtues.
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Virtues cannot exist without Prudence. A proof of this is that everyone, even at the present day, in defining Virtue, after saying what disposition it is and specifying the things with which it is concerned, adds that it is a disposition determined by the right principle; and the right principle is the principle determined by Prudence.
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The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues.
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Honesty is the foundation of a sound character and the keystone of all other virtues. It is the cement without which all other redeeming features are fractured and without anchor. A dishonest person may be kind, witty, and very capable, but the strength of character simply isn't there. Honesty does not come by degrees. A person is either all honest or he is dishonest. You can be true or you can be false, but you can't be both at the same time.
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The world breaks everyone or nearly everyone, of their childish illusions, assumptions and wishes, often painfully and afterwards due to the personal growth in practical experience, insight and the resulting wisdom many are strong at the broken places just like mended broken bones often are, and some people even have the great insight to be grateful for the purifying fire.
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Instead of trying to specify a system in full detail, specify it only somewhat. You can then ride on the dynamics of the system in the direction you want to go.
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Actually Roosevelt was identifying with Euripides—like himself, an upper-class celebrant of middle-class virtues.
