“I believe Beauty is the condition of the perfect life, just as important as Virtue and Truth.”
"Credo"
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Stuart Merrill 4
American poet, who wrote mostly in the French language 1863–1915Related quotes

Source: The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (1877), V
Context: I have seen the truth; I have seen and I know that people can be beautiful and happy without losing the power of living on earth. I will not and cannot believe that evil is the normal condition of mankind. And it is just this faith of mine that they laugh at. But how can I help believing it? I have seen the truth — it is not as though I had invented it with my mind, I have seen it, seen it, and the living image of it has filled my soul for ever. I have seen it in such full perfection that I cannot believe that it is impossible for people to have it.

“A mathematician is only perfect insofar as he is a perfect man, sensitive to the beauty of truth.”
Maxim 609, trans. Stopp
Maxims and Reflections (1833)

Letter to Anthony Collins (29 October 1703) http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/1726#lf0128-09_head_098

1920s, The Prospects of Industrial Civilization (1923)
Context: The governors of the world believe, and have always believed, that virtue can only be taught by teaching falsehood, and that any man who knew the truth would be wicked. I disbelieve this, absolutely and entirely. I believe that love of truth is the basis of all real virtue, and that virtues based upon lies can only do harm.

"Quotes", The Educated Imagination (1963), Talk 6: The Vocation of Eloquence

“There is something beautiful about virtue, Captain. But I am just a poor guy.”
Scene VI.
Woyzeck (1879)

Source: Milennial Dawn, Vol. III: Thy Kingdom Come (1891), pp. 314-5.