“There is no virtue in curiosity. In fact, it might be the most immoral desire a man can possess.”
Source: Confessions of a Mask (1949), p. 222.
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Yukio Mishima 60
Japanese author 1925–1970Related quotes
 
                            
                        
                        
                        
                                        
                                         Letter to Alexander Hamilton (28 August 1788) http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/04-06-02-0432 
1780s 
Context: I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain (what I consider the most enviable of all titles) the character of an honest man, as well as prove (what I desire to be considered in reality) that I am, with great sincerity & esteem, Dear Sir Your friend and Most obedient Hble Ser⟨vt⟩
                                    
 
                            
                        
                        
                        “The good citizen need not of necessity possess the virtue which makes a good man.”
                                        
                                        Book III, 1276b.34 
Politics
                                    
 
                            
                        
                        
                        
                                        
                                        The Analects, The Doctrine of the Mean 
Context: It is only the individual possessed of the most entire sincerity that can exist under Heaven, who can adjust the great invariable relations of mankind, establish the great fundamental virtues of humanity, and know the transforming and nurturing operations of Heaven and Earth; — shall this individual have any being or anything beyond himself on which he depends? Call him man in his ideal, how earnest is he! Call him an abyss, how deep is he! Call him Heaven, how vast is he! Who can know him, but he who is indeed quick in apprehension, clear in discernment, of far-reaching intelligence, and all-embracing knowledge, possessing all Heavenly virtue?
                                    
 
                            
                        
                        
                        “In matters of science, curiosity gratified begets not indolence, but new desires.”
Source: Ages in Chaos (2003), Chapter 15, “The world was tired out with geological theories” (p. 153)
 
                            
                        
                        
                        
                                        
                                        [2012, Echoes of Perennial Wisdom, World Wisdom, 65, 978-1-93659700-0] 
Spiritual path, Virtue
                                    
 
                            
                        
                        
                        'This Business of Exploring' pub, 1935
 
        
     
                             
                             
                            