Who has a book of all that monarchs do,
He's more secure to keep it shut than shown;
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Who has a book of all that monarchs do,
He's more secure to keep it shut than shown;
For vice repeated is like the wand'ring wind,
Blows dust in others' eye, to spread itself;
And yet the end of all is bought thus dear,
The breath is gone, and the sore eyes see clear
To stop the air would hurt them.

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.

Ill habits gather by unseen degrees,As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas.

Ill habits gather by unseen degrees,As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas.

We are double-edged blades, and every time we whet our virtue the return stroke straps our vice.

We are double-edged blades, and every time we whet our virtue the return stroke straps our vice.

Those vices [luxury and neglect of decent manners] are vices of
men, not of the times.
[Lat., Hominum read more

Those vices [luxury and neglect of decent manners] are vices of
men, not of the times.
[Lat., Hominum sunt ista [vitia], non temporum.

There will be vice as long as there are men.

There will be vice as long as there are men.

He possessed beauty without vanity, strength without insolence; courage without ferocity; and all the virtues of man without his vices

He possessed beauty without vanity, strength without insolence; courage without ferocity; and all the virtues of man without his vices

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.

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.]