Vice Quotes

What a heavy word, vice. It reminds me of long nights, of decisions I thought were reckless, only to discover they were just human weakness, a temptation that wraps around you until you lose everything. It's not necessarily a great evil; often, it starts as a small habit or an attempt to escape, then turns into a chain. A chain whose links you only see when it's too late, after you've paid the hefty price with your health, your relationships, your soul.

The following quotes are honest testimonies to these mistakes, how to deal with the temptations of vice, its consequences, and perhaps the path to liberation from it.

Quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: Five great enemies of peace inhabit us: avarice, ambition, envy, anger and pride....
Five great enemies of peace inhabit us: avarice, ambition, envy, anger and pride.
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— Ralph Waldo Emerson
PeaceEmotionsHuman NatureViceSelf Control
Quote by Thomas Jefferson: Error is to be pitied and pardoned: it is the weakness of human nature. But vice is a foul blemish, ...
Error is to be pitied and pardoned: it is the weakness of human nature. But vice is a foul blemish, not pardonable in any character.
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— Thomas Jefferson
MoralityErrorViceForgivenessCharacter
Quote by Plato: What the expression is intended to mean, I think, is that there is a better and a worse element in t...
What the expression is intended to mean, I think, is that there is a better and a worse element in the character of each individual, and that when the naturally better element controls the worse then the man is said to be "master of himself", as a term of praise. But when - as a result of bad upbringing or bad company one s better element is overpowered by the numerical superiority of one s worse impulses, then one is criticized for not being master of oneself and for lack of self control.
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— Plato
Self ControlCharacterVirtueViceUpbringingInfluence
Quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: The peril of every fine faculty is the delight of playing with it for pride. Talent is commonly deve...
The peril of every fine faculty is the delight of playing with it for pride. Talent is commonly developed at the expense of character, and the greater it grows, the more is the mischief. Talent is mistaken for genius, a dogma or system for truth, ambition for greatness, ingenuity for poetry, sensuality for art.
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— Ralph Waldo Emerson
TalentCharacterPrideGeniusTruthAmbitionArtVirtueVice
Quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: There is a capacity of virtue in us, and there is a capacity of vice to make your blood creep....
There is a capacity of virtue in us, and there is a capacity of vice to make your blood creep.
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— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Human NatureVirtueViceMorality
Quote by Niccolo Machiavelli: He who has once begun to live by rapine always finds reasons for taking what is not his....
He who has once begun to live by rapine always finds reasons for taking what is not his.
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— Niccolo Machiavelli
GreedHuman NatureVice
Quote by Victor Hugo: Every good quality runs into a defect; economy borders on avarice, the generous are not far from the...
Every good quality runs into a defect; economy borders on avarice, the generous are not far from the prodigal, the brave man is close to the bully; he who is very pious is slightly sanctimonious; there are just as many vices to virtue as there are holes in the mantle of Diogenes.
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— Victor Hugo
VirtueViceDualityHuman NatureMoralityExtremesCharacter
Quote by George Bernard Shaw: Bourgeois morality is largely a system of making cheap virtues a cloak for expensive vices....
Bourgeois morality is largely a system of making cheap virtues a cloak for expensive vices.
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— George Bernard Shaw
MoralityClassHypocrisySocietyVirtueVice