Famous quotes containing the word virtues:
“My feelings about my work are, on the whole, not unfriendly. Boundless modesty and what people call “humility” are virtues scarcely conducive to one’s complacently dwelling upon one’s own work—particularly when one lacks them.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“Among the virtues and vices that make up the British character, we have one vice, at least, that Americans ought to view with sympathy. For they appear to be the only people who share it with us. I mean our worship of the antique. I do not refer to beauty or even historical association. I refer to age, to a quantity of years.”
—William Golding (b. 1911)
“The genius of American culture and its integrity comes from fidelity to the light. Plain as day, we say. Happy as the day is long. Early to bed, early to rise. American virtues are daylight virtues: honesty, integrity, plain speech. We say yes when we mean yes and no when we mean no, and all else comes from the evil one. America presumes innocence and even the right to happiness.”
—Richard Rodriguez (b. 1944)