To sanction Vice, and hunt Decorum down.

To sanction Vice, and hunt Decorum down.

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.

Saint Augustine! well hast thou said,
That of our vices we can frame
A ladder, if we read more

Saint Augustine! well hast thou said,
That of our vices we can frame
A ladder, if we will but tread
Beneath our feet each deed of shame.

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.

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.

What maintains one vice would bring up two children.

What maintains one vice would bring up two children.

Every vice makes its guilt the more conspicuous in proportion to
the rank of the offender.
[Lat., Omne read more

Every vice makes its guilt the more conspicuous in proportion to
the rank of the offender.
[Lat., Omne animi vitium tanto conspectius in se
Crimen habet, quanto major qui peccat habetur.]

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?