--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I take it to be from the greatest…" description: "\"I take it to be from the greatest extremes, both in virtue and in vice, that the uniformly virtuous and reformed in life can derive the greatest and mo..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac5/deborah-sampson-30806_character_i-take-it-to-be-from-the-greatest-extrem_2279135.png" --- # I take it to be from the greatest extremes, both in virtue… ![“I take it to be from the greatest extremes, both in virtue and in vice, that the uniformly virtuous and reformed in life can derive the greatest and most salutary truths and impressions.” quote by Deborah Sampson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac5/deborah-sampson-30806_character_i-take-it-to-be-from-the-greatest-extrem_2279135.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac5/deborah-sampson-30806_character_i-take-it-to-be-from-the-greatest-extrem_2279135.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac5/deborah-sampson-30806_character_i-take-it-to-be-from-the-greatest-extrem_2279135.png) > “I take it to be from the greatest extremes, both in virtue and in vice, that the uniformly virtuous and reformed in life can derive the greatest and most salutary truths and impressions.” [Deborah Sampson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-sampson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Great extremes in virtue and vice reveal deep truths and lasting impressions for those who strive to improve. **In simple terms:** Extreme experiences teach valuable lessons. Key Takeaway Seek growth through contrast. Themes virtue vice truth self‑improvement Mood reflective inspirational Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - personal development - leadership - ethical decision making Key Concepts philosophy human nature learning Questions to Reflect On - How can you balance virtue and vice in daily life? - What lessons arise from your own extremes? A Different Perspective Extreme cases may not represent everyday reality. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Extremes Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extremes-virtue-5312747/) [Greatest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatest/) [Greatest Salutary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatest-salutary-5312750/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Most](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/most/) [Salutary Truths](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/salutary-truths-5312749/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) [Uniformly Virtuous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/uniformly-virtuous-5312748/) [Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtue/) [Virtuous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtuous/) ## Related quotes > [In my idea General Washington is the greatest man; for I look upon him as the most virtuous.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-lafayette/in-my-idea-general-washington-is-the-greatest-man-for-i-look-upon-him/) [Marquis de Lafayette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-lafayette/) > [A Pharisee is someone who is virtuous out of obedience to the Great Beast.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/a-pharisee-is-someone-who-is-virtuous-out-of-obedience-to-the-great/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [In this world, either you're virtuous or you enjoy yourself. Not both, lady, not both.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/in-this-world-either-you-re-virtuous-or-you-enjoy-yourself-not-both/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [One can imagine the look the two lovers exchanged; it was like a flame, for virtuous lovers have not a shred of hypocrisy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/one-can-imagine-the-look-the-two-lovers-exchanged-it-was-like-a-flame/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [Men who have slandered the opposite sex have usually known women who were cleverer and more virtuous than they are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christine-de-pizan/men-who-have-slandered-the-opposite-sex-have-usually-known-women-who/) [Christine de Pizan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christine-de-pizan/) > [“It’s so easy to lose faith and become lost in all of the politics of the world. That’s why we need the arts. To…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kamand-kojouri/it-s-so-easy-to-lose-faith-and-become-lost-in-all-of-the-politics-of/) [Kamand Kojouri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kamand-kojouri/) > [It is a great mistake to think that the extremist is a better man than the moderate. Usually the difference is not that he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roosevelt/it-is-a-great-mistake-to-think-that-the-extremist-is-a-better-man/) [Theodore Roosevelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roosevelt/) > [The world is ashamed of being virtuous.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/the-world-is-ashamed-of-being-virtuous/) [Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/) > [Every virtuous man is free.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philo/every-virtuous-man-is-free/) [Philo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philo/) > [No matter how well-born, how intelligent, how highly educated, how virtuous, how rich, how refined, the women of to-day constitutea political class below that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-corinna-putnam-jacobi/no-matter-how-well-born-how-intelligent-how-highly-educated-how/) [Mary Corinna Putnam Jacobi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-corinna-putnam-jacobi/) > [Happiness does not consist in pastimes and amusements but in virtuous activities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/happiness-does-not-consist-in-pastimes-and-amusements-but-in-virtuous/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Show me a person without prejudice of any kind on any subject and I'll show you someone who may be admirably virtuous but is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-lacy/show-me-a-person-without-prejudice-of-any-kind-on-any-subject-and-i/) [Allen Lacy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-lacy/) > [All morality depends upon our sentiments; and when any action or quality of the mind pleases us after a certain manner we say it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hume/all-morality-depends-upon-our-sentiments-and-when-any-action-or/) [David Hume](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hume/) > [Virtue is as little to be acquired by learning as genius; nay, the idea is barren, and is only to be employed as an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-schopenhauer/virtue-is-as-little-to-be-acquired-by-learning-as-genius-nay-the-idea/) [Arthur Schopenhauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-schopenhauer/) > [Discipline is not a virtue, but the solicitor of virtuous character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colby-tatem/discipline-is-not-a-virtue-but-the-solicitor-of-virtuous-character/) [Colby Tatem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colby-tatem/) ## More by Deborah Sampson > [November 11, 1802, I arrived at Judge Patterson's at Lisle. This respectable family treated me with every mark of distinction and friendship, and likewise…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-sampson/november-11-1802-i-arrived-at-judge-patterson-s-at-lisle-this/) [Deborah Sampson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-sampson/) > [What shall I say further? Shall I not stop short and leave to your imaginations to portray the tragic deeds of war? Is it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-sampson/what-shall-i-say-further-shall-i-not-stop-short-and-leave-to-your/) [Deborah Sampson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-sampson/) > [I became an actor in that important drama with an inflexible resolution to persevere through the last scene, when we might be permitted and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-sampson/i-became-an-actor-in-that-important-drama-with-an-inflexible/) [Deborah Sampson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-sampson/) > [As I was born to be unfortunate, my sun soon clouded.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-sampson/as-i-was-born-to-be-unfortunate-my-sun-soon-clouded/) [Deborah Sampson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-sampson/) > [In whatever I may be thought to have been unnatural, unwise and indelicate, it is now my most fervent desire it may have a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-sampson/in-whatever-i-may-be-thought-to-have-been-unnatural-unwise-and/) [Deborah Sampson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-sampson/) > [As an overruling providence may succeed our wishes, let us rear an offspring in every respect worthy to fill the most illustrious stations of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-sampson/as-an-overruling-providence-may-succeed-our-wishes-let-us-rear-an/) [Deborah Sampson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-sampson/) > [My mind became agitated with the enquiry - why a nation, separated from us by an ocean more than three thousand miles in extent,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-sampson/my-mind-became-agitated-with-the-enquiry-why-a-nation-separated-from/) [Deborah Sampson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-sampson/) > [I am indeed willing to acknowledge what I have done, an error and presumption. I will call it an error and presumption because I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-sampson/i-am-indeed-willing-to-acknowledge-what-i-have-done-an-error-and/) [Deborah Sampson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-sampson/) > [Happy for America, happy for Europe, perhaps for the world when, on the delivery of Cornwallis's sword to the illustrious, the immortal Washington, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-sampson/happy-for-america-happy-for-europe-perhaps-for-the-world-when-on-the/) [Deborah Sampson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-sampson/) > [I am indeed willing to acknowledge what I have done, an error and presumption. I will call it an error and presumption because I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-sampson/i-am-indeed-willing-to-acknowledge-what-i-have-done-an-error-and-2/) [Deborah Sampson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-sampson/) > [Why can I not fight for my country too?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-sampson/why-can-i-not-fight-for-my-country-too/) [Deborah Sampson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-sampson/) > [Repentance is a sweet solace to conscience as well as the most complete atonement to the Supreme Judge of our offenses; notwithstanding, the tongue…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-sampson/repentance-is-a-sweet-solace-to-conscience-as-well-as-the-most/) [Deborah Sampson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-sampson/) > [Wrought upon at length, you may say, by an enthusiasm and frenzy that could brook no control - I burst the tyrant bands, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-sampson/wrought-upon-at-length-you-may-say-by-an-enthusiasm-and-frenzy-that/) [Deborah Sampson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-sampson/) > [On the whole, as we readily acquiesce in the acknowledgment that the field and the cabinet are the proper spheres assigned to our Masters…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-sampson/on-the-whole-as-we-readily-acquiesce-in-the-acknowledgment-that-the/) [Deborah Sampson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-sampson/) > [Such is my experience - not that I ever mourned the loss of a child, but that I consider myself as lost!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-sampson/such-is-my-experience-not-that-i-ever-mourned-the-loss-of-a-child-but/) [Deborah Sampson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-sampson/) [Explore all 17 Deborah Sampson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-sampson/) ## More Character quotes > [This may sound strange, but although I feel like I know everything about my characters, the brand of shampoo they use, how many cavities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-honeyman/this-may-sound-strange-but-although-i-feel-like-i-know-everything/) [Gail Honeyman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-honeyman/) > [I always like a character who makes me laugh.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachael-stirling/i-always-like-a-character-who-makes-me-laugh/) [Rachael Stirling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachael-stirling/) > [Social responsibility above the level of family, or at most of tribe, requires imagination-- devotion, loyalty, all the higher virtues -- which a man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/social-responsibility-above-the-level-of-family-or-at-most-of-tribe/) [Robert A. 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But, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-are-well-mannered-towards-those-whose-views-are-similar-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-s-truman/democracy-is-based-on-the-conviction-that-man-has-the-moral-and/) [Harry S. 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