So again
Shakespeare writes, "They say, best men are moulded out of faults;
And, for the most, become much more the better For being a little
bad."
ii
The extremes of vice and virtue are alike detestable; absolute virtue
is as sure to kill a man as absolute vice is, let alone the
dullnesses of it and the pomposities of it.
iii
God does not intend people, and does not like people, to be too good.
He likes them neither too good nor too bad, but a little too bad is
more venial with him than a little too good.
iv
As there is less difference than we generally think between the
happiness of men who seem to differ widely in fortune, so is there
also less between their moral natures; the best are not so much
better than the worst, nor the worst so much below the best as we
suppose; and the bad are just as important an element in the general
progress as the good, or perhaps more so. It is in strife that life
lies, and were there no opposing forces there would be neither moral
nor immoral, neither victory nor defeat.
v
If virtue had everything her own way she would be as insufferable as
dominant factions generally are. It is the function of vice to keep
virtue within reasonable bounds.
vi
Virtue has never yet been adequately represented by any who have had
any claim to be considered virtuous. It is the sub-vicious who best
understand virtue.
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