cardinal virtues

British  

plural noun

1. the most important moral qualities, traditionally justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude

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Example Sentences

Belying his stern image, his first encyclical, the most authoritative form of papal writing, centered on love, one of three treatises he planned to write on the cardinal virtues of love, hope and faith.

From Los Angeles Times

Among the cardinal virtues, according to the Stoics, are courage and wisdom.

From Washington Post

It’s a tribute to sloth, slacking, impossible yearnings — the cardinal virtues.

From New York Times

Here, he comes to see the cardinal virtues of loyalty and self-sacrifice through a different lens, as a group of “lost toys” show him the liberated advantages of the single life.

From Washington Post

But thoroughness and transparency, in lesser matters as well as these of life and death, are cardinal virtues regardless.

From Washington Times