Virtues are great things to have, but they can also be a burden. They can get in the way of meeting our goals and aspirations. Sometimes having too many virtues can actually be a bad thing. That’s why it’s so important to take a step back and ask ourselves whether we should dump a few of our virtues in favor of doing something else
This is especially true when it comes to civic virtue, which is a virtue that involves doing your part for your society. In order to live up to the expectations of civic virtue, it sometimes takes doing things that go against our own interests or even against our morals. These quotes from the past about civic-virtue will help you evaluate whether you should keep holding on to your civic virtue or ditch it for something else.
Democracy is not simply a license to indulge individual whims and proclivities. It is also holding oneself accountable to some reasonable degree for the conditions of peace and chaos that impact the lives of those who inhabit one’s beloved extended community.Aberjhani
The good polis is made by the good person, his moral character intact, and the good polis, in turn, helps turn out good persons, their moral character intact.Rebecca Goldstein
