MacIntyre, Alasdair

"Courage is not the absence of fear but the standing firm against it for the sake of the good."

"Friendship is one of the goods that makes human life worth living."

"We cannot know ourselves apart from our roles in community."

"The narrative of a human life is not something imposed from without but discovered within."

"Tradition is the keeper of wisdom that the individual mind cannot fully generate."

"Moral disagreement reflects disagreement about what constitutes human flourishing."

"The virtuous person understands how their particular actions fit into a larger narrative."

"To abandon tradition is to be left with only the arbitrary choices of the will."

"Education ought to form character, not merely transmit information."

"The loss of the concept of virtue has impoverished our moral language."

"We become virtuous by practicing virtue until it becomes second nature."

"The human good is not a matter of subjective preference but of objective reality."

"A practice without standards of excellence ceases to be a practice."

"Modernity severed us from the traditions that gave life meaning."

"The family is the primary school of moral education."

"Justice requires not just abstract principles but practical wisdom."

"We inherit narratives before we are able to choose our own narrative."

"The goods internal to a practice can only be discovered by practicing."

"Human beings are the sort of creatures who have a telos, a purpose or end."

"Virtue ethics is concerned with becoming a certain kind of person."

"The self is not transparent to itself but only understands itself through narrative."

"Communities sustain the practices and virtues that individuals need to flourish."

"Moral philosophy has lost sight of the concept of human flourishing."

"The virtues are interconnected; you cannot have one without the others."

"To act morally is to act in a way that expresses our best understanding of the human good."

"We cannot evaluate modern society without invoking standards from outside itself."

"The narrative unity of a life is the key to moral understanding."

"Practical wisdom is not theory but the capacity to act well in particular circumstances."

"A tradition remains living only as long as it remains capable of development."

"The loss of shared conceptions of virtue has fractured our moral language."