Quotations and Literature Forum

Churchill once expressed that his favorite virtue is courage because all other virtues stem from it. To be honest, you must be courageous. To be humble, you must be courageous.

Do you have a favorite virtue? Is there, perhaps, one that you most admire in a person?

Mine is honesty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue

Take your pick.

The first thread i made here was entitled "are you honest?" Funny how many were drawn to it and said they were honest sometimes and there are those who simply said yes or no. It was a thread of revelation of human nature. Again i say that honesty is a tall order because the bible itself concedes to the fact that everyone falls short of the glory of God.

If it is fully possible, i guess one must live in seclusion and absolute sacrifice.

My virtue would be loyalty.

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Life is a lesson. Learn from it.

Sacrifice, I agree with. Seclusion, I do not. There are many who have proved to live virtuous lives, or do virtuous things, without being hermits or contemplatives. I would also suggest that a part of growing in virtue is attaching oneself to the yoke of other men.

Loyalty, I appreciate. But I do believe that there is a fierce extreme, and that a limit can and should be put on loyalty when necessary. Nevertheless, no one quite says "I love you" like man's best friend or two faithful spouses.

my favourite virtue can be translated to English as "Nobility" or "Royality", which makes one different from the rest. so, the noble one's courage, honesty, loyalty etc will be really different than the ordinary's, so those lesser virtues can inspire poem because of the noble nature of its performer.

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"God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."
Voltaire

What makes a man noble?

Hmmm what makes... in order to be a noble one, i believe that a "code" is needed, such as samurai code, code of knighthood, or code of Turkic "Alp"s. If one accepts a code to design and rule his/her entire life, and if that one's deeds are suitable with that code, he/she's noble. That means, nobility is a "relative" term which depends on individual notions and beliefs. I am noble, according to my own code, and Julio Ceasar isn't noble according to it, but rest of the world may think different than me. But, both of us may inspire poems etc, coz our "codes" (sometimes created by ourselves, sometimes by others) made us different from the "ordinary". There are many "courageous","honest","loyal" people but only a few managed to ensure that he/she will be remembered centuries after. so, perhaps my ideas about nobility is similiar with Nietzche's "übermench"

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"God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."
Voltaire

I believe Tony, you've got it just right. Nobility is also in how one acts when no one sees and how one follows one's beliefs when it's hard.

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السلام عليكم

I've had some problems that landed me in the hospital a number of times. My lover has stood by me and it is his loyalty and love that I value most. So I most value the virtue of being a good friend to someone who needs you.

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Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.
~Bertrand Russell