At court, far from regarding ambition as a sin, people regard it as a virtue, or if it passes for a vice, then it is regarded as the vice of great souls, and the vices of great souls are preferred to the virtues of the simple and the small.
Every other vice hath some pleasure annexed to it, or will admit of some excuse, but envy wants both.
The vices of which we are full we carefully hide from others, and we flatter ourselves with the notion that they are small and trivial; we sometimes even embrace them as virtues.
Study to sever pleasure from vice.
There are no vices more dangerous than those which simulate virtue.
To flee vice is the beginning of virtue, and to have got rid of folly is the beginning of wisdom.
We must carefully teach children to detest vices for what they consist in; we must teach them their natural ugliness, so that they flee them not only in their deeds but in their minds: the very thought of them should be hateful, whatever mask they hide behind.
The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues.
I haven't a particle of confidence in a man who has no redeeming petty vices whatsoever.
God commands (people) to maintain justice, kindness, and proper relations with their relatives. He forbids them to commit indecency, sin, and rebellion.