“Concerto soloists need applause. Though virtue is said to be its own reward, no one ever said that about virtuosity.”
“If God permits virtue to be persecuted on earth, it is not for us to question his intentions. It may be that his rewards are held over for another life, for is it not true as written in Holy Scripture that the Lord chastenenth only the righteous! And after all, is not virtue it's own reward?”
“A man must be both stupid and uncharitable who believes there is no virtue or truth but on his own side.”
“I believe that virtue shows quite as well in rags and patches as she does in purple and fine linen,... even if Gargery and Boffin did not speak like gentlemen, they were gentlemen.”
“Blessedness is not the reward of virtue, but virtue itself.”