Alas, human vices, however horrible one might imagine them to be, contain the proof (were it only in their infinite expansion) of man's longing for the infinite; but it is a longing that often takes the wrong route. It is my belief that the reason behind all culpable excesses lies in this depravation of the sense of the infinite.
There are men so incorrigibly lazy that no inducement that you can offer will tempt them to work; so eaten up by vice that virtue is abhorrent to them, and so inveterately dishonest that theft is to them a master passion. When a human being has reached that stage, there is only one course that can be rationally pursued. Sorrowfully, but remorselessly, it must be recognized that he has become lunatic, morally demented, incapable of self-government, and that upon him, therefore, must be passed the sentence of permanent seclusion from a world in which he is not fit to be at large.
The vices we scoff at in others, laugh at us within ourselves.
Tobacco and alcohol, delicious fathers of abiding friendships and fertile reveries.
The function of vice is to keep virtue within reasonable bounds.
Half the vices which the world condemns most loudly have seeds of good in them and require moderated use rather than total abstinence.
Every day confirms my opinion on the superiority of a vicious life -- and if Virtue is not its own reward I don't know any other stipend annexed to it.
Let them show me a cottage where there are not the same vices of which they accuse the courts.
Vice, in its true light, is so deformed, that it shocks us at first sight; and would hardly ever seduce us, if it did not at first wear the mask of some virtue.
Think no vice so small that you may commit it, and no virtue so small that you may over look it.
So much of our lives is given over to the consideration of our imperfections that there is no time to improve our imaginary virtues. The truth is we only perfect our vices, and man is a worse creature when he dies than he was when he was born.
Vices are sometimes only virtues carried to excess!
Vice is a creature of such hideous mien... that the more you see it the better you like it.
What's vice today may be virtue, tomorrow.
Vice knows that she is ugly, so she puts on her mask.
A portion of mankind take pride in their vices and pursue their purpose; many more waver between doing what is right and complying with what is wrong.
— Horace
The disgrace of others often keeps tender minds from vice.
— Horace
Most vices demand considerable self-sacrifices. There is no greater mistake than to suppose that a vicious life is a life of uninterrupted pleasure. It is a life almost as wearisome and painful -- if strenuously led -- as Christian's in The Pilgrim's Progress.
We do not despise all those who have vices, but we do despise those that have no virtue.
The vices of some men are magnificent.
It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.
A prince must be prudent enough to know how to escape the bad reputation of those vices that would lose the state for him, and must protect himself from those that will not lose it for him, if this is possible; but if he cannot, he need not concern himself unduly if he ignores these less serious vices.
He who hates vice hates men.
Life is extraordinarily suave and sweet with certain natural, witty, affectionate people who have unusual distinction and are capable of every vice, but who make a display of none in public and about whom no one can affirm they have a single one. There is something supple and secret about them. Besides, their perversity gives spice to their most innocent occupations, such as taking a walk in the garden at night.
No exile at the South Pole or on the summit of Mont Blanc separates us more effectively from others than the practice of a hidden vice.
Here am I: at one stroke incestuous, adulteress, sodomite, and all that in a girl who only lost her maidenhead today! What progress, my friends... with what rapidity I advance along the thorny road of vice!
The virtue of some people consists wholly in condemning the vices in others.
What were once vices are the fashion of the day.
— Seneca
Why do people not confess vices? It is because they have not yet laid them aside. It is a waking person only who can tell their dreams.
— Seneca
Every vice has its excuse ready.
I have not a particle of confidence in a man who has no redeeming vices.
Vice stirs up war, virtue fights.
Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable.
— Voltaire
Never support two weaknesses at the same time. It's your combination sinners -- your lecherous liars and your miserly drunkards -- who dishonor the vices and bring them into bad repute.