The phrase "a special virtue" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe a particular quality or trait that is considered admirable or beneficial in a person or situation.
Example: "Honesty is a special virtue that fosters trust in relationships."
Alternatives: "a unique quality" or "an admirable trait."
During the campaign, Mr. Obama spoke of his admiration of former Chief Justice Earl M. Warren, citing as a special virtue his practical political experience as a former governor of California.
Whether it's the parable of the good Samaritan in Christianity, Judaism's "13 attributes of compassion" or the Buddha's statement that "loving kindness and compassion is all of our practice," empathy with the suffering of others is seen as a special virtue that has the power to change the world.
"For several years now," Willkie warned, "we have been listening to a bedtime story, telling us that the men who hold office in Washington are, by their very positions, endowed with a special virtue".
Moreover, the idea of coherence as a special virtue of interpretation in legal reasoning plays an important role in the work of several major continental legal philosophers (see e.g. Peczenik 1989; Alexy 1989; Aarnio 1987; Alexy & Peczenik 1990).
"For several years now," Willkie warned, "we have been listening to a bedtime story, telling us that the men who hold office in Washington are, by their very positions, endowed with a special virtue". Hearing Willkie, the country snapped awake.
Well, I don't see any special virtue in making my private emotions the quarry for the statue I'm carving.
I don't think there's any special virtue to patience in the kitchen, so I'm not here to lecture on the ostensible merits of slow cooking over fast food.
Just as the region's rise wasn't due to any special virtue of its people, its fall wasn't due to any special blindness on their part.
The main target has been Rawls description of the original position as an 'Archimedean point' from which the structure of a social system can be appraised, a position whose special virtue is that it allows us to regard the human condition 'from the perspective of eternity',[3] from all social and temporal points of view.
Put it all together and you have a product with no special virtue to recommend it, certainly no virtue that warrants a billion or so dollars a year in tax breaks and subsidies.
At sea in a small boat, many a man has been up without special virtue to watch the black night split along the horizon, an hour before the sun rose glowing from its cold bath.
