It is but a step from companionship to slavery when one associates with vice.

It is but a step from companionship to slavery when one associates with vice.

Virtue, I grant you, is an empty boast;
But shall the dignity of vice be lost?

Virtue, I grant you, is an empty boast;
But shall the dignity of vice be lost?

We make a ladder for ourselves of our vices, if we trample those
same vices underfoot.
[Lat., De read more

We make a ladder for ourselves of our vices, if we trample those
same vices underfoot.
[Lat., De vitiis nostris scalam nobis facimus, si vitia ipsa
calcamus.]

The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they're going to have read more

The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues.

This is the essential evil of vice, that it debases man.

This is the essential evil of vice, that it debases man.

The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to plague us.

The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to plague us.

Vices are often habits rather than passions.

Vices are often habits rather than passions.

Nurse one vice in your bosom. Give it the attention it deserves and let your virtues spring p modestly around read more

Nurse one vice in your bosom. Give it the attention it deserves and let your virtues spring p modestly around it. Then you'll have the miser who's no liar; and the drunkard who's the benefactor of the whole city.

Men wish to be saved from the mischiefs of their vices, but not from their vices.

Men wish to be saved from the mischiefs of their vices, but not from their vices.