Definition of "virtues" []

• Plural form of virtue. (noun)

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• "Indeed, we seem to be reading a description no longer of the virtues of the bay laurel, but of the _virtues_ of all beautiful sights and sounds, of all beautiful thoughts and emotions, in reading the following quaint and charming words of an old herbal: --"
• "But vices are necessary to his existence as well as virtues: he is at war with a tribe that may destroy his own; and treachery without scruple, cruelty without remorse, are essential to him; he feels their necessity, and calls them _virtues_!"
• "We may then sum up by saying that Lord Byron generally established on an impregnable rock, guarded by unbending principles, those great virtues to which principles are essential; but that, after making these treasures secure -- for treasures they are to the man of honor and worth -- once having placed them beyond the reach of sensibility and sentiment, he may sometimes have allowed the _lesser virtues_ (within ordinary bonds) such indulgence as flowed from his kindly nature, and such as his youth rendered natural to a feeling heart and ardent imagination."