Walter Bagehot Quotes

We gain the strength of the temptation we resist.

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.

Why comes temptation but for man to meet And master and make crouch beneath his foot, And so be pedestaled in triumph?

You oughtn't to yield to temptation. Well, somebody must, or the thing becomes absurd.

'Tis one thing to be tempted, another thing to fall.

There are several good protections against temptation, but the surest is cowardice.

Most virtue is a demand for greater seduction.

Honesty: The ability to resist small temptations.

Temptation is the devil looking through the keyhole. Yielding is opening the door and inviting him in.

No evil propensity of the human heart is so powerful that it may not be subdued by discipline.

Virtue is an inner strength. It expands your nature.

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

Patience is a virtue, and I'm learning patience. It's a tough lesson.

Lead me not into temptation; I can find the way myself.

Virtue is a state of war, and to live in it we have always to combat with ourselves.

There is good and there is bad in every human heart, and it is the struggle of life to conquer the bad with the good.

There is not any memory with less satisfaction than the memory of some temptation we resisted.

Character is the impulse reined down into steady continuance.

Virtue consists, not in abstaining from vice, but in not desiring it.

Virtue is insufficient temptation.

Virtue is a positive quality developed by taking a firm stand for the right in temptation, or by the suffering endured in consequence of wrongdoing.

Every conquering temptation represents a new fund of moral energy. Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.

Do you really think it is weakness that yields to temptation? I tell you that there are terrible temptations which it requires strength, strength and courage to yield to.

About the only time losing is more fun than winning is when you're fighting temptation.

Folks who have no vices have very few virtues.