David Brooks Quotes

Unbounded courage and compassion join'd, Tempering each other in the victor's mind, Alternately proclaim him good and great, And make the hero and the man complete.

It is more difficult to be an honorable man for a week than to be a hero for fifteen minutes.

It is much easier to be a hero than a gentleman.

The more men value money the less they value virtue.

These days to be great is to exceed on prosperity; greatness today has nothing to do with moral magnanimity.

It is impossible to deny that dishonest men often grow rich and famous, becoming powerful in their parish or in parliament. Their portraits grace shop windows; and they live and die respected. This success is theirs; yet it is not the success which a noble soul will envy.

Virtue cannot dwell with wealth either in a city or in a house.

To be without silver is better than to be without honor.

I love that Barry Seal is working for the CIA, and he's an awful liar. It just goes to how honest this character is at the end of the day, even as he rips off the country and the world to the tune of becoming one of the wealthiest men in America. There's an innate honesty, a purity to him.

You can be dressed the best and have a wicked heart.

Chris Kyle was a human being, a Texan, Navy SEAL, father, husband, brother, friends to many, and a hero to many; this, at a time when we need all the heroes we can get. I knew him to be a good person, regardless of all the hype floating around in the media.

If my tale has to revolve around a protagonist and there is action around him, I can only imagine him to be someone from the police or the Army.

The virtuous will be sure to speak uprightly; but those whose speech is upright may not be virtuous.

Rebellion per se is not a virtue. If it were, we would have some heroes on very low levels.

There is hardly that person to be found who is not more concerned for the reputation of wit and sense, than honesty and virtue.

Courage cannot be counterfeited. It is one virtue that escapes hypocrisy.

If we lived in a State where virtue was profitable, common sense would make us good, and greed would make us saintly. And we'd live like animals or angels in the happy land that /needs/ no heroes. But since in fact we see that avarice, anger, envy, pride, sloth, lust and stupidity commonly profit far beyond humility, chastity, fortitude, justice and thought, and have to choose, to be human at all... why then perhaps we /must/ stand fast a little --even at the risk of being heroes.

One cannot always be a hero, but one can always be a man.

All the gold upon the earth and all the gold beneath it, does not compensate for lack of virtue.

A man may be very sincere in good principles, without having good practice.

Well, I think there are no villains in this world. There are just misunderstood heroes.

Heroism does not require spiritual maturity.

Experience shows us Wealth unchaperoned by Virtue is never an innocuous neighbor.

Oh, 'tis not my qualities they object to! 'Tis my lack of vice.

It is goodness that gives to a neighborhood its beauty. One who is free to choose, yet does not prefer to dwell among the good - how can he be accorded the name of wise?