QuoteProject
You can't have virtue without sin. What I'm after is having my characters' virtues defined by how they operate in a very sinful environment. That's how you test people.
Frank Miller
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Virtue is defined by the context of sin, and true character emerges in challenging environments.

Frank Miller's quote suggests that virtues are only meaningful when they are tested against the presence of sin or wrongdoing. In a morally complex environment, individuals reveal their true character by how they respond to temptation and adversity, highlighting the idea that challenges can strengthen and define moral values.

Themes

VirtueSinCharacterMoralityAdversity

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about the complexities of human nature, this quote can be used to highlight the importance of challenge in forming moral character.

More from Frank Miller

I don't do a comic book thinking there is a movie. I just want it to be as good a comic book as it can be.
Frank MillerRead
My feeling is that the hero has now been defined by phrases like the odious one that we were all raised with - crimes does not pay. Of course it pays, you schmuck. That's not why we don't do it. We don't do it because it is wrong.
Frank MillerRead
Hell's waking up every goddamn day and not even knowing why you're here.
Frank MillerRead
As a cartoonist, I'm a caricaturist. First you find out what somebody really looks like, and then you find out what they 'really' look like.
Frank MillerRead
The larger-than-life thing is definitely what I'm after. I've always drawn dark stories. Occasionally, I'll try a perfect hero, but it's a real stretch for me. I like 'em warts and all, and obsessive and weird.
Frank MillerRead
Comic-book pages are vertical, and movie screens are relentlessly horizontal. But it's all the same form. We use different tools, but we get the job done. I'm completely in love with CGI. It's great for conveying a cartoonist's sense of reality.
Frank MillerRead

Similar quotes

We have time to grow old. The air is full of our cries. But habit is a great deadener.
Samuel BeckettRead
But what we can do, as flawed as we are, is still see God in other people, and do our best to help them find their own grace. That's what I strive to do, that's what I pray to do every day.
Barack ObamaRead
I have never given adoration to any body except myself.
Oscar WildeRead
In Jesus Christ, God took on a human face and became our friend and brother.
Pope Benedict XviRead
And the Raven, never flitting, Still is sitting, still is sitting On the pallid bust of Pallas Just above my chamber door; And his eyes have all the seeming Of a demon's that is dreaming, And the lamplight o'er him streaming Throws his shadow on the floor, And my soul from out that shadow, That lies floating on the floor, Shall be lifted - nevermore.
Edgar Allan PoeRead
To 'choose' dogma and faith over doubt and experience is to throw out the ripening vintage and to reach greedily for the Kool-Aid.
Christopher HitchensRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.