A Virtue (Latin: virtus) is a trait of excellence that may be moral or intellectual. The cultivation and refinement of virtue is held to be the "good of humanity" and thus is valued as an end purpose of life or foundational principle of being. In human practical ethics, a virtue is a disposition to choose words and actions that are successful by showing high moral standards: doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong in a given field of endeavour. By taking pleasure in doing what is right, even when it is difficult or initially unpleasant, virtue becomes habitual. Such a person is said to be Virtuous through having cultivated the disposition. The opposite of virtue is vice, and the vicious person takes pleasure in habitual wrong-doing until it destroys him or her.

Other examples of this notion include the concept of merit in Asian traditions as well as De (Chinese 德). Buddhism's four brahmavihara ("Divine States") can be regarded as virtues in the European sense.