Music is the only sensual pleasure without vice

Music is the only sensual pleasure without vice

This is the essential evil of vice, that it debases man.

This is the essential evil of vice, that it debases man.

Saint Augustine! well hast thou said,
That of our vices we can frame
A ladder, if we read more

Saint Augustine! well hast thou said,
That of our vices we can frame
A ladder, if we will but tread
Beneath our feet each deed of shame.

Those vices [luxury and neglect of decent manners] are vices of
men, not of the times.
[Lat., Hominum read more

Those vices [luxury and neglect of decent manners] are vices of
men, not of the times.
[Lat., Hominum sunt ista [vitia], non temporum.

I prefer an interesting vice to a virtue that bores

I prefer an interesting vice to a virtue that bores

Vice knows she's ugly, so puts on her mask

Vice knows she's ugly, so puts on her mask

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

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

Our faith comes in moments; our vice is habitual.

Our faith comes in moments; our vice is habitual.

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.