Virtue Quote by Hesiod
““I mean you well, Perses, you great idiot, and I will tell you. Look, badness is easy to have, you can take it by handfuls without effort. The road that way is smooth and starts here beside you. But between us and virtue the immortals have put what will make us sweat. The road to virtue is long and goes steep up hill, hard climbing at first, but the last of it, when you get to the summit (if you get there) is easy going after the hard part.””
About This Quote
Source Poem: Works and Days, Hesiod, c. 700 BC
Virtue requires hard work and perseverance, while wrongdoing is easy and effortless.
In simple terms: Hard work builds virtue; laziness leads to badness.
Key Takeaway
Embrace effort to grow virtuous.
Themes
virtue
effort
perseverance
challenge
reward
Mood
determined
reflective
Type
advice
philosophical
When to use this quote
- Personal development
- education
- ethical decisions
- overcoming temptation
Key Concepts
Moral philosophy
Greek myth
human nature
Questions to Reflect On
- What obstacles do you avoid because they seem easy?
- How can you make the hard path more appealing?
A Different Perspective
Virtue also demands sustained commitment, not just a single climb.
![“For her [Françoise], wealth was like a necessary condition without which virtue would lack both merit and charm. She made so little distinction between the two that she came to see their qualities as interchangeable, expecting material comfort from virtue and moral edification from wealth.” quote by Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/573/marcel-proust-114_character_for-her-fran-oise-wealth-was-like-a-nece_2687.jpg)
