What does this quote mean?

“To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage.”

Recognizing the right course is incomplete if fear or convenience prevents a person from acting on that judgment.

Source note: The Analects of Confucius, James Legge’s public-domain English translation; Book II connects moral recognition with the courage required for action.

“For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.”

Anger is not automatically justified by intensity; the verse separates human wrath from the moral outcome a person may claim to be pursuing.

Source note: James 1:20 in the King James Version, immediately following the instruction to be slow to wrath.

“Then we must do no wrong?”

The brief question tests whether the previously accepted principle against wrongdoing still holds when obedience to it becomes personally costly.

Source note: Crito, Benjamin Jowett translation; Socrates is testing the moral premises that will govern his decision about escaping prison.

“Law is reason without desire.”

Good law is idealized as judgment governed by reason rather than by the changing appetites or personal passions of an individual ruler.

Source note: Politics, Book III, William Ellis translation; the line appears in a discussion of law and political rule.

“Well done is better than well said.”

Franklin gives execution priority over impressive promises or intentions.

Source note: Poor Richard’s Almanack.

“Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.”

Speed without judgment can undermine the very goal a person is pursuing, so patience becomes part of effective action.

Source note: Act 2, Scene 3; Friar Laurence urges Romeo to move with greater care.