Alexandra Petri Quotes

Be virtuous and you will be vicious.

One must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being.

Successful and fortunate crime is called virtue.

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

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

Hypocrisy is not a way of getting back to the moral high ground. Pretending you're moral, saying your moral is not the same as acting morally.

Being a good person and fair person is very important in life, I think.

We need to have a purpose in this life. I'm pleading with you, I'm begging with you to do the right thing. And do it not for the sake of how it will impact your own lives, but only for the sake of doing the right thing.

Virtue is harmony.

If the Great Way perishes there will morality and duty. When cleverness and knowledge arise great lies will flourish. When relatives fall out with one another there will be filial duty and love. When states are in confusion there will be faithful servants.

It is by doing good that we become good.

A superior man thinks of what is right. A small man thinks of profit.

Reason perhaps teaches certain bourgeois virtues, but it does not make either heroes or saints.

Civilization depends on morality.

I just try to live my life every day by doing the right thing.

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

I'm not sure anything makes you an outright good person or bad person - that we're all capable of doing good or bad things. And if you want to know how much good you can do, and how much hurt you can do, just ask somebody you love.

The virtue involved in helping those one loves is not 'selflessness' or 'sacrifice,' but integrity.

He, who practices right, but in the hope of acquiring great renown, is very near to vice.

It's time for greatness - not for greed. It's a time for idealism - not ideology. It is a time not just for compassionate words, but compassionate action.

It must be a good thing to be good or ivrybody wudden't be pretendin' he was.

Good deeds are many, but good lives are few.

The true basis of morality is utility; that is, the adaptation of our actions to the promotion of the general welfare and happiness; the endeavour so to rule our lives that we may serve and bless mankind.

To do no evil is good, to intend none better.

In plain Texas talk, it's 'do the right thing'