Roger Scruton Quotes

So many people say, "I'm a good person!" Like, why are you a good person? To be a good person you have to actively be good.

Be thou good thyself, and let people speak evil of thee; it is better than to be wicked, and that they should consider thee as good.

People are either good or they're not. Religion doesn't make anybody good, I don't think.

Being good is just a matter of temperament in the end.

Being a 'good man' is something you do, not something you are.

Excellence or virtue in a man will be the disposition which renders him a good man and also which will cause him to perform his function well.

Good people are good people; religion has nothing to do with it.

Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.

I choose goodness... I will go without a dollar before I take a dishonest one. I will be overlooked before I will boast. I will confess before I will accuse. I choose goodness.

There has never been a man mean and at the same time virtuous.

Purpose ... is held to be most closely connected with virtue, and to be a better token of our character than are even our acts.

A good man will certainly also possess courage; but a brave man is not necessarily good.

There never was a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous.

Rarely do great beauty and great virtue dwell together.

A man should be upright, not be kept upright.

The integrity of men is to be measured by their conduct, not by their professions.

No one can be good for long if goodness is not in demand.

Unfortunately, goodness and honor are rather the exception than the rule among exceptional men, not to speak of geniuses.

When you're righteous, you don't have to tell people that you're righteous.

Virtue, perhaps, is nothing more than politeness of soul.

The just man walks in his integrity

I do not believe with the Rochefoucaults and the Montaignes that fourteen out of fifteen men are rogues. I believe a great abatement from that proportion may be made in favor of general honesty.

Being against evil doesn't make you good.

No man deserves to be praised for his goodness, who has it not in his power to be wicked. Goodness without that power is generally nothing more than sloth, or an impotence of will.

In today's society, looking good and feeling good often trumps doing good and being good. And some people don't know the difference anymore.