Abigail Adams Quotes

It is not enough merely possess virtue, as if it were an art; it should be practiced.

Let no pleasure tempt thee, no profit allure thee, no persuasion move thee, to do anything which thou knowest to be evil; so shalt thou always live jollity; for a good conscience is a continual Christmas.

Without virtue, happiness cannot be.

Virtue and integrity are necessary for genuine happiness. Guard your integrity with care.

If you do not know the laws of right conduct, you cannot form your character.

You don't luck into integrity. You work at it.

Character is in turn the enduring source of virtue. It stands by itself and excites admiration in others. It is not obedience to authority, and while it is often consistent with and reinforced by religious belief, it is not piety.

[T]here is no truth more thoroughly established, than that there exists . . . an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness.

He cannot be vertuous that is not rigorous.

Integrity, like humility, is a quality which vanishes the moment we are conscious of it in ourselves. We see it only in others.

There is no greater wealth than Virtue,And no greater loss than to forget it.

What is the real relation between happiness and goodness? It is only within a few generations that men have found courage to say that there is none.

To be good and disagreeable is high treason against the royalty of virtue.

Take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.

Life is the reward of virtue. And happiness is the goal and reward of life.

Fundamentally, the force that rules the world is conduct, whether it be moral or immoral. If it is moral, at least there may be hope for the world. If immoral, there is not only no hope, but no prospect of anything but destruction of all that has been accomplished during the last 5,000 years.

Is virtue a thing remote? I wish to be virtuous, and lo! Virtue is at hand.

A man is not to aim at innocence, any more than he is to aim at hair, but he is to keep it.

I think that ethical behaviour is another feature of the kind of inner discipline that leads to a happier existence.

Every man prefers virtue, when there is not some strong incitement to transgress its precepts.

There is no royal road or ready way to virtue.

Virtue is not an end in itself. Virtue is not its own reward or sacrificial fodder for the reward of evil. Life is the reward of virtue-and happiness is the goal and the reward of life.

As to virtue . . . it is an act of the will, a habit which increases the quantity, intensity and quality of life. It builds up, strengthens and vivifies personality.

Man is born for uprightness. If a man lose his uprightness and yet live, his escape from death is mere good fortune.