Piety and corruption go together like hot dogs and mustard. They have to. No one can fulfill the demands of piety; as a daily demand, it is inhuman. So it inspires the opposite—just for the sheer health of the body, if not the soul. – Norman Mailer, “Primitive Man, Art and Science, Evil and Judgment,” The Spooky A

Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something. – Henry David Thoreau

Beware of making your moral staple consist of the negative virtues. – Oliver Wendell Holmes,Jr.

Seek virtue rather than riches. You may be sure to acquire the first; but cannot promise for the latter. No one can rob you of the first without your consent; you may be deprived of the latter a hundred ways. – James Burgh, The Dignity of Human Nature: Book III. Of Virtue, 1754