The Colour White

"...the chief assertion of religious morality is that white is a colour. Virtue is not the absence of vices or the avoidance of moral dangers; virtue is a vivid and separate thing, like pain or a particular smell. Mercy does not mean not being cruel or sparing people revenge or punishment; it means a plain and positive thing like the sun.... God paints in many colours; but He never paints so gorgeously..., as when He paints in white."

--G.K. Chesterton, "A Piece of Chalk" in Tremendous Trifles