Were there no desire there would be no virtue, and because one man desires what another does not, who shall say whether the child of his desire be Vice or Virtue?
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Though ambition in itself is a vice, it often is also the parent of virtue.
Often devotion to virtue arises from sated desire.
When virtue is at liberty, so to some extent is vice.
In order to know virtue, we must first acquaint ourselves with vice.
Virtue is defined to be mediocrity, of which either extreme is vice.
It will always be considered a praiseworthy undertaking to urge the most obstinate and incredulous to abide by the principles that impel men to live in society. There are, therefore, three distinct classes of vice and virtue: the religious, the natural, and the political. These three classes should never be in contradiction with one another.
Virtue is insufficient temptation.
Virtue knows to a farthing what it has lost by not having been vice.
Virtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience.
Virtue consists, not in abstaining from vice, but in not desiring it.