# Fun with virtues! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 20, 2002, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-virtues/99193 "2002-03-20T11:33:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jenner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@Jenner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenner)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-virtues/99193/1 "2002-03-20T11:33:09Z")
What virtues do you consider most important? Least important? Overrated? Which virtue(s) do you wish you possessed more of? Here’s a list of virtues: Ambition Assertiveness Bravery Caution Charisma Chastity :rolleyes: Cleanliness Confidence Contentment Cooperativeness Creativity Dignity Empathy Fairness Faith Forgiveness Friendliness Frugality Generosity Gentleness Honesty Hope Humor Idealism Intelligence Kindness Logic Love Loyalty Modesty Obedience Open-Mindedness Optimism Organization Patience Perseverance Politeness Prudence Self-Discipline Serenity Skepticism Stoicism Tactfulness Temperance Thoughtfulness Tolerance (If I left out your favorite virtue, feel free to add it to the list.) If you’re really bored, you can rank each virtue on a scale of importance from one to ten. I’m skeptical that anyone would have the patience or self-discipline to do this. But there’s always hope! 😉 –DP ---
**Author:** ![MrO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@MrO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrO)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-virtues/99193/2 "2002-03-20T13:42:56Z")
I think this is the first thread to which I’ve been the first to reply. Not that that’s a virtue. For starters, I don’t necessarily consider all those things in the list to be virtues. Ambition and confidence, for example–I think they are responsible for much of the damage that people do to each other. A touch of them may be good to have, but I try to stay away from people who have more than their share of either of these “virtues.” Caution could be the opposite of excessive ambition and confidence. Excessive caution is cowardice. I’m thinking that without a balance of virtues, we don’t have any virtue. Then again, I like the Nietzsche quote, from Zarathustra: “I love him who does not want too many virtues. One virtue is more virtue than two, because it is more of a knot for fate to cling to.” Faith and obedience, in certain situations, can be virtues, I guess. Depends on the object of the faith and obedience. I see a lot of faith and obedience that I think is ill-considered and misplaced, and that doesn’t seem virtuous at all to me. I hope I’m not messing up your thread here right at the start. I’d say the ones that are most important to me are generosity, open-mindedness, and politeness, in alphabetical order. ---
**Author:** ![jharding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@jharding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jharding)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-virtues/99193/3 "2002-03-20T15:32:26Z")
Well to answer MrO, according to Aristotle, all virtues, by definition are themselves the middle ground. So while ambition and confidence may seem misplaced. One could simply argue that too much or too little of either is bad, but in moderation both lead us towards a higher place. To answer the OP though, I’d chime in with Compassion (as different from empathy or kindness), Humility, and Forgiveness. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2002, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-virtues/99193/4 "2002-03-21T14:14:49Z")
Why the :rolleyes: next to chastity? You’re exercising chastity when you refuse to cheat on your spouse or when you refrain from engaging in sexual activities that you or your partner consider demeaning. What’s so :rolleyes: -worthy about that? My lists – Overrated Ambition Charisma Organization Most Important Love Humility Forgiveness Kindness Fairness What I wish I had more of Generosity Temperance Bravery You could add **Self-Sacrifice** to your list. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2002, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-virtues/99193/5 "2002-03-21T14:56:13Z")
I would add “a sense of relativity” to the list (I’m sure it would be more popular if it could be boiled down to a single word, and even those four words don’t capture my meaning particularly well). Of the OP’s list, I’ve little use for Stoicism or Chastity. ---
**Author:** ![Jenner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@Jenner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenner)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2002, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-virtues/99193/6 "2002-03-22T00:42:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gallows fodder \* > **Why the :rolleyes: next to chastity? You’re exercising chastity when you refuse to cheat on your spouse or when you refrain from engaging in sexual activities that you or your partner consider demeaning. What’s so :rolleyes: -worthy about that?** I’ve always assumed chastity to mean “abstaining from sexual intercourse for purposes other than reproduction” – something most people don’t consider a virtue nowadays. But if you take it to mean marital fidelity, then it certainly is a virtue. ---
**Author:** ![tesseract](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@tesseract](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tesseract)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2002, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-virtues/99193/7 "2002-03-22T08:34:29Z")
These are my favorites. As **Mr. O** pointed out, some of those on the master list are best had in small quantities. I think that within reason and with a few exceptions, you can’t have too much of the below. Forgiveness Friendliness Gentleness Honesty Kindness Love Loyalty Patience Self-Discipline