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?

Vice itself lost half its evil, by losing all its grossness.

Vice itself lost half its evil, by losing all its grossness.

The willing contemplation of vice is vice.

The willing contemplation of vice is vice.

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.

Vice may be learnt, even without a teacher.

Vice may be learnt, even without a teacher.

Times change. The vices of your age are stylish today.

Times change. The vices of your age are stylish today.

Every vice is only an exaggeration of a necessary and virtuous function.

Every vice is only an exaggeration of a necessary and virtuous function.

I prefer an interesting vice to a virtue that bores

I prefer an interesting vice to a virtue that bores

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.]