Secondary Virtues: Virtuous, Humble and Honest

Graphic of secondary virtues
Secondary Virtues: Virtuous, Humble and Honest

If loving, hopeful and faithful are the primary virtues, then what would constitute their complements? Like complementary colors, secondary virtues would need to balance the primary virtues, be an “opposite” in some way.  In the same way mercy should not rob justice, the primary virtues cannot rob their complementary virtues.  Thus,

  • Love cannot rob the need to remain true to basic principles, to be Virtuous
  • Faith, or confidence, cannot rob Humility, making us over-confident, and
  • Hopefulness cannot rob Honesty. It does no good to hope for something that will never happen.

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