"It is good to be without vices, but it is not good to be without temptations"
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Moral spotless-ness is easy when your life is airless. Bagehot’s line flatters virtue for half a second, then yanks the rug: being “without vices” might be admirable, but being “without temptations” is a kind of human diminishment. The wit is in the pivot. “Good” shifts from ethical praise to something closer to vitality, suggesting that a morality never tested is less morality than mere circumstance.
Bagehot wrote in a Victorian Britain that loved its proprieties and policed its appetites, especially for the respectable middle class that claimed moral authority. In that setting, “temptation” isn’t simply an invitation to sin; it’s evidence you’re engaged with the world - desire, ambition, risk, pleasure - the messy forces that make character legible. If no temptation reaches you, you may be sheltered, complacent, or socially anesthetized. The subtext is almost political: a society that organizes itself to eliminate temptation doesn’t produce saints; it produces compliant subjects who mistake limited options for righteousness.
The sentence also carries a sly warning about the performance of purity. “Without vices” can be a genuine achievement, but it can also be the result of fear, lack of access, or a carefully curated image. Temptation functions here like a stress test for integrity: the point isn’t to indulge, it’s to have something to resist. Bagehot’s real target is moral vanity - virtue that hasn’t met desire and still wants credit.
Bagehot wrote in a Victorian Britain that loved its proprieties and policed its appetites, especially for the respectable middle class that claimed moral authority. In that setting, “temptation” isn’t simply an invitation to sin; it’s evidence you’re engaged with the world - desire, ambition, risk, pleasure - the messy forces that make character legible. If no temptation reaches you, you may be sheltered, complacent, or socially anesthetized. The subtext is almost political: a society that organizes itself to eliminate temptation doesn’t produce saints; it produces compliant subjects who mistake limited options for righteousness.
The sentence also carries a sly warning about the performance of purity. “Without vices” can be a genuine achievement, but it can also be the result of fear, lack of access, or a carefully curated image. Temptation functions here like a stress test for integrity: the point isn’t to indulge, it’s to have something to resist. Bagehot’s real target is moral vanity - virtue that hasn’t met desire and still wants credit.
Quote Details
| Topic | Ethics & Morality |
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