virtue is its own reward

English

Alternative forms

• Virtue is her own reward (with virtue personified)

Phrase

virtue is its own reward

1. a good deed is its own reward
   • 1726, William De Britaine, Human Prudence; or, The Art by Which a Man May Raiſe Himſelf and His Fortune to Grandeur, 12th edition (Dublin: Samuel Fairbrother), § XII: “Of Virtue”, page 73

     The Wages of Sin is Death; it’s poor Wages that will not make a Man live; as Virtue is its own Reward, ſo Sin is its own Executioner.