the Thoreau Log.
16 May 1839. Concord, Mass.
Thoreau writes in his journal:

  Virtue is the very heart and lungs of vice: it cannot stand up but it lean on virtue.

  Who hay not admired the twelve labors? And yet nobody thinks if Hercules had sufficient motive for racking his bones to that degree. Men are not so much virtuous as patrons of virtue, and every one knows that it is easier to deal with the real possessor of a thing than the temporary guardian of it.

(Journal, 1:78-79)

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