Many without punishment, none without sin.

Many without punishment, none without sin.

We make a ladder for ourselves of our vices, if we trample those
same vices underfoot.
[Lat., De read more

We make a ladder for ourselves of our vices, if we trample those
same vices underfoot.
[Lat., De vitiis nostris scalam nobis facimus, si vitia ipsa
calcamus.]

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

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

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?

Men wish to be saved from the mischiefs of their vices, but not from their vices.

Men wish to be saved from the mischiefs of their vices, but not from their vices.

The vices we scoff at in others, laugh at us within ourselves.

The vices we scoff at in others, laugh at us within ourselves.

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.

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.

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

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