History Quote by Thomas Paine

Satire, though it may exaggerate the vice it lashes, is not justified in creating it in order that it may be lashed.

— Anthony Trollope

Vice is man's nature: virtue is a habit -- or a mask. . . . The foregoing maxim shows the difference between truth and sarcasm.

— William Hazlitt

“In order to know virtue, we must acquaint ourselves with vice. Only then can we know the true measure of a man.”

— Marquis de Sade

“People hate to see their vices depicted, but vice is terrible and it should be depicted.”

— Aubrey Beardsley

“Satire may be mad and anarchic, but it presupposes an admitted superiority in certain things over others; it presupposes a standard.”

— G.K. Chesterton

“Might not certain vices have the same relation to character that the rigidity of a fixed idea as to intellect? Whether as a moral…

— Henri Bergson

Satire is a kind of poetry in which human vices are reprehended.

— John Dryden

Every virtue is a mean between two extremes, each of which is a vice.

— Aristotle

“Satire is enjoyable compensation for being forced to think.”

— Edgar Johnson

“A vice is a thing which may be applauded in moderation but becomes horrific in overuse.”

— Graham Moore

“It is by giving fair names to foul actions that those who would start at real vice are led to practise its lessons, under…

— Walter Scott

“Why should there be some sort of virtue always attributed to a frank admission of vice?”

— Gordon R. Dickson