The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to plague us.

The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to plague us.

If you don't want anyone to know it, don't do it.

If you don't want anyone to know it, don't do it.

The heart resolves this matter in a trice,
"Men only feel the smart, but not the vice."

The heart resolves this matter in a trice,
"Men only feel the smart, but not the vice."

A vice is a failure of desire.

A vice is a failure of desire.

He hadn't a single redeeming vice.

He hadn't a single redeeming vice.

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?

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.

And last the Vice and Follies of the Age.

And last the Vice and Follies of the Age.

There is no vice so simple but assumes
Some mark of virtue on his outward parts.

There is no vice so simple but assumes
Some mark of virtue on his outward parts.