ACTING AGAINST THE VIRTUES

"The conduct which disclaims the ordinary maxims of reason excites our suspicion and eludes our enquiry. Whenever the spirit of fanaticism, at once so credulous and so crafty, has insinuated itself into a noble mind, it insensibly corrodes the vital principles of virtue and veracity." — Edward Gibbon

See also Alasdair McIntyre's important book Dependent Rational Animals: Why Human Beings Need the Virtues (Chicago, USA: Open Court, 1999).

(Hat-tip to Howard Ingham for the Gibbon quote)