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Full Idea
Because of their profounder ethical and metaphysical insight, the Buddhists start not with the cardinal virtues but with cardinal vices, …which are lust, sloth, wrath and avarice (and maybe hatred).
Gist of Idea
Buddhists wisely start with the cardinal vices
Source
Arthur Schopenhauer (Parerga and Paralipomena [1851], VIII:110)
Book Ref
Schopenhauer,Arthur: 'Essays and Aphorisms [from Pand P]', ed/tr. Hollingdale,R.J. [Penguin 1970], p.133
A Reaction
This may be right. Our lives are affected much more by the vices of others than by their virtues, and most virtuous behaviour aims at rectifying the bad effects of other people's vices.