Virtue is everywhere the same, because it comes from God, while everything else is of men.—Voltaire.
O let us still the secret joy partake,
To follow virtue even for virtue's sake.
—Pope.
Well may your heart believe the truths I tell;
'Tis virtue makes the bliss where'er we dwell.
—Collins.
The only impregnable citadel of virtue is religion; for there is no bulwark of mere morality which some temptation may not overtop, or undermine and destroy.—Sir P. Sidney.
Virtue is not to be considered in the light of mere innocence, or abstaining from harm; but as the exertion of our faculties in doing good.—Bishop Butler.
What nothing earthly gives, or can destroy,
The soul's calm sunshine, and the heart-felt joy,
Is virtue's prize.
—Pope.
Live virtuously, my lord, and you cannot die too soon, nor live too long.—Lady Rachel Russell.
If you can be well without health, you can be happy without virtue.—Burke.
Recommend to your children virtue; that alone can make happy, not gold.—Beethoven.
I would be virtuous for my own sake, though nobody were to know it; as I would be clean for my own sake, though nobody were to see me.—Shaftesbury.