George MacDonald Quotes

To many people virtue consists chiefly in repenting faults, not in avoiding them.

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.

To be good, we must do good; and by doing good we take a sure means of being good, as the use and exercise of the muscles increase their power.

What, pray, does it profit a man to teach others, and to be prating always about virtue, in high-sounding words, if he fails to give heed to his own instructions?

It is never too early to try and plant [good principles] in a child, and never too late to cultivate them in the most neglected person.

One mustn't criticize other people on grounds where he can't stand perpendicular himself

The Bible improved my ethical IQ. I started to act like a good person. I tried not to gossip, and lie, and covet, and just by pretending I was a good person, I think I actually became a little bit better of a person. I'm not Gandhi or Angelina Jolie, but it was a baby step.

Every man takes care that his neighbor shall not cheat him. But a day comes when he begins to care that he does not cheat his neighbor. Then all goes well. He has changed his market cart into a chariot of the sun.

So from then on, he looked at all his choices and said, What would a good person do, and then did it. But he has now learned something very important about human nature. If you spend your whole life pretending to be good, then you are indistinguishable from a good person. Relentless hypocrisy eventually becomes the truth.

The sum of all is, if we would most truly enjoy this gift of Heaven, let us become a virtuous people.

Moralism doesn't produce morality; it produces immorality.

That we occasionally violate our own stated moral code does not imply that we are insincere in espousing that code.

Let no man give advice to others that he has not first given himself.

Am I getting nobler, better, more helpful, more humble, as I get older? Am I exhibiting the life that men take knowledge of as having been with Jesus, or am I getting more self-assertive, more deliberately determined to have my own way? It is a great thing to tell yourself the truth.

Those who preached faith, or in other words a pure mind, have always produced more popular virtue than those who preached good acts, or the mere regulation of outward works.

Virtue, though she gets her beginning from nature, yet receives her finishing touches from learning.

Tis weak and vicious people who cast the blame on Fate. The right use of Fate is to bring up our conduct to the loftiness of nature.

It would be a great thing if people could be brought to realize that they can never add to the sum of their happiness by doing wrong.

Knowing how bad you could be is a great encouragement to being good.

People should not worry as much about what they do but rather about what they are. If they and their ways are good, then their deeds are radiant... it is not our works which sanctify us but we who sanctify our works.

Real religion is about, developing real character; character of compassion, character of humility, the character of determination to grow in all circumstances.

You will not become a saint through other people's sins.

Let a man try faithfully, manfully to be right; he will grow daily more and more right. It is at bottom the condition on which all men have to cultivate themselves.

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

I try my best to be a good person and be the best I can be.