“The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one.”
1840s, Essays: First Series (1841), Friendship
Variant: The only way to have a friend is to be one.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson 727
American philosopher, essayist, and poet 1803–1882Related quotes
“Virtue is the one and only nobility.”
Nobilitas sola est atque unica virtus.
VIII, line 20.
Compare : We'll shine in more substantial honours, And to be noble we'll be good.
Thomas Percy, Winifreda (1720).
Satires, Satire VI
Variant: Nobility is the one only virtue.
“Crimes, like Virtues, are their own Rewards.”
The Inconstant (1702), Ori, Act iv, Sc. 2.
“It is not only a right; it is a virtue.”
Light (1919), Ch. XVI - De Profundis Clamavi
Context: Men have gone towards each other because of that ray of light which each of them contains; and light resembles light. It reveals that the isolated man, too free in the open expanses, is doomed to adversity as if he were a captive, in spite of appearances; and that men must come together that they may be stronger, that they may be more peaceful, and even that they may be able to live.
For men are made to live their life in its depth, and also in all its length. Stronger than the elements and keener than all terrors are the hunger to last long, the passion to possess one's days to the very end and to make the best of them. It is not only a right; it is a virtue.
“The only way to have a friend is to be one.”
Source: After Virtue (1981), p. 149.
“Your "if" is the only peacemaker; much virtue in "if.”
“Virtue always meets reward,
But quicker when it wears a sword;”
East and West Poems, Part II, The Legends of the Rhine.
The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem (1994)
“The endeavor to understand is the first and only basis of virtue.”