vanity and ambition ..., The Mechanics of Virtue, quote 339

339 

Most say that vanity and ambition are incompatible with virtue. On the contrary, it appears rather that they are at times the impetus to virtue and that at other times they are its natural consequence. To say that virtue is its own reward is to assign a real value to virtue. And if virtue really is more valuable than any alternative aim, as our moralists say, then the more intelligent one’s approach to virtue, the more virtue becomes one’s vanity and ambition. To say otherwise is to say that genuine virtue has less value than at least one alternative. In fact, when we take ambition and vanity out of our equation, the consequence of a priceless virtue now appears to be dishonesty.

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