Max Heindel Quotes

Blessed is he who has never been tempted; for he knows not the frailty of his rectitude.

Virtues, like essences, lose their fragrance when exposed.

The ordeal of virtue is to resist all temptation to evil.

Great and good are seldom the same man.

It is good to be without vices, but it is not good to be without temptations.

Virtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience.

Virtue is a habit of the mind, consistent with nature and moderation and reason.

Virtue is something you have to get good at, like playing the trombone or tolerating bores at parties. Being a virtuous human being takes practice; and those who are brilliant at being human (what Christians call the saints) are the virtuosi of the moral sphere - the Pavarottis and Maradonas of virtue.

I believe that ideal character in its perfection is potentially in every man who is born into the world.

Prosperity is a more refined and severer test of character than adversity as one hour of summer sunshine produces greater corruption than the longest winter day.

Innocence is not virtue. Virtue demands the active employment of an ardent mind in the promotion of the general good. No man can be eminently virtuous who is not accustomed to an extensive range of reflection.

Innocence alone dares commit certain acts of audacity. Virtue, when tutored, is as calculating as vice.

Where there is no temptation, there is no virtue.

Honesty: The ability to resist small temptations.

High moral character is not a precondition for great moral accomplishments.

Virtue is an inner strength. It expands your nature.

The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous.

The walls of that grand edifice called a good character have to be worked at during life.

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.

Even in decline, a virtuous man increases the beauty of his behavior. A burning stick, though turned to the ground, has its flame drawn upwards.

Nobody should trust their virtue with necessity, the force of which is never known till it is felt, and it is therefore one of the first duties to avoid the temptation of it.

Nothing in our times has become so unattractive as virtue.

The superior man does not, even for the space of a single meal, act contrary to virtue. In moments of haste, he cleaves to it. In seasons of danger, he cleaves to it.

My pet peeve and my goal in life is to somehow get an adjective for 'integrity' in the dictionary. 'Truthful' doesn't really cover it, or 'genuine.' It should be like 'integritus.'

Character, to me, is the life's blood of fiction.