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Vice quotes

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“You can't have a lasting civilization without plenty of pleasant vices.” Aldous Huxley, “Brave New World” - 1932

“It is the function of vice to keep virtue within reasonable bounds.” Samuel Butler, “The Note-Books of Samuel Butler” - 1912

“our labour preserves us from three great evils—weariness, vice, and want.” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“Vice has always a new fresh young face, while virtue is venerable as nothing else in the world is.” John Steinbeck, “East of Eden” - 1952

“Men's evil manners live in brass: their virtues we write in water.” William Shakespeare, “Henry VIII” - 1623

“I'd rather be myself . . . Myself and nasty. Not somebody else, however jolly.” Aldous Huxley, “Brave New World” - 1932

“A friend should bear his friend's infirmities, But Brutus makes mine greater than they are.” William Shakespeare, “Julius Caesar” - 1623

“I hate ingratitude more in a man than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness, or any taint of vice whose strong corruption inhabits our frail blood.” William Shakespeare, “Twelfth Night” - 1623

“But you, that are polluted with your lusts, stain'd with the guiltless blood of innocents, corrupt and tainted with a thousand vices, because you want the grace that others have, you judge it straight a thing impossible to compass wonders but by...” William Shakespeare, “Henry VI, Part 1” - 1623

“Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea bites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.” C. S. Lewis, “Mere Christianity” - 1952

“Certainly virtue is like precious odors, most fragrant when they are incensed, or crushed: for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.” Francis Bacon, “The Essays of Francis Bacon” - 1597

“They had generally acquired some of the vices of civilization, but none of the virtues, except in individual cases.” Ulysses S. Grant, “Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant” - 1885

“In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers of frailty men want to be good and want to be loved. Indeed, most of their vices are attempted short cuts to love.” John Steinbeck, “East of Eden” - 1952

“Was man, indeed, at once so powerful, so virtuous and magnificent, yet so vicious and base? He appeared at one time a mere scion of the evil principle and at another as all that can be conceived of noble and godlike.” Mary Shelley, “Frankenstein” - 1818

“This is the way human beings contrive to feed their self-destructive vices: trying not to see them, trying not to acknowledge them, delaying the important decisions and pretending that nothing will happen.” Pope Francis, “Laudato si'” - 24 May 2015

“And having no respect he ceases to love, and in order to occupy and distract himself without love he gives way to passions and coarse pleasures, and sinks to bestiality in his vices, all from continual lying to other men and to himself.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “The Brothers Karamazov” - 1880

“Birds . . . are the last of the dinosaurs. Tiny velociraptors with wings. Devouring defenseless wiggly things and, and nuts, and fish, and, and other birds. They get the early worms. And have you ever watched a chicken eat? They may look...” Neil Gaiman, “Anansi Boys” - 2005

“the moral world . . . has, perhaps, no particular objection to vice, but an insuperable repugnance to hearing vice called by its proper name.” William Makepeace Thackeray, “Vanity Fair” - 1847

Related topics

virtue evil civilization love friendship pleasure man pride kindness lies ingratitude corruption lust devil respect work morality birds adversity self

Related authors

William Shakespeare (4)
Aldous Huxley (2)
John Steinbeck (2)
William Makepeace Thackeray (1)
C. S. Lewis (1)
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1)
Francis Bacon (1)
Ulysses S. Grant (1)
Samuel Butler (1)
Voltaire (1)
Neil Gaiman (1)
Mary Shelley (1)
Pope Francis (1)

Related sources

Brave New World (2)
East of Eden (2)
Twelfth Night (1)
Julius Caesar (1)
Vanity Fair (1)
Henry VIII (1)
Henry VI, Part 1 (1)
Mere Christianity (1)
The Brothers Karamazov (1)
The Essays of Francis Bacon (1)
Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant (1)
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1)
Candide (1)
Frankenstein (1)
Laudato si' (1)
Anansi Boys (1)