Virtue
Excellence
A virtue is a good disposition that has been deliberately cultivated into a reliable moral excellence. Where a disposition can be good or bad, a virtue is a disposition intentionally shaped toward the good.
When you work at a good pattern until it becomes second nature — like patience or courage — that cultivated strength is a virtue.
Duration
Enduring — built and maintained over a lifetime
Origin
Deliberate cultivation of good dispositions
Purpose
To reliably enable good action, so that doing the right thing becomes natural rather than effortful.
Characteristics
Examples
Real-life situations
Cultivating patience
Repeatedly choosing calm responses under pressure gradually builds patience until it becomes a dependable virtue rather than a rare effort.
Common confusion
Everyday language
“Some people are just born virtuous.”
More precisely
“Virtues are cultivated dispositions, built through repeated choice.”
Virtue is not innate temperament — it is a good disposition deliberately developed over time through practice.
Relationships
Produced by
Leads to
Frequently confused with
Related
Opposites
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