Its not that skill does not or should not have a place and function in our lives; rather, greater emphasis should be placed on the things that are more enduring - like virtues.
It is certain that skill is no stranger to virtue though, as it requires discipline, patience and perseverance, and if we were to simply lax our minds and hands at the anticipation of what virtue may do for us, surely virtue would be vain!
As for inspiration, it is not necessarily any more virtuous than skill; for who will condemn a man for his decision to wait earnestly with desire for that which is more heavenly in nature, except he who has found virtue in immediate labour? Surely the prerogative is every individual's, and it is not a matter to be predisposed with wisdom - great or small.
Nevertheless, if we should participate in this life with virtuosity at the helm of our deeds, either by labour and skill or inspiration, there still remains - it seems - a recurring phenomenon; that is, that individual deeds conceived in virtue can still manifest as a collective evil. It is as though people can be like parts of a well-oiled engine, with all its parts functioning to a precise and virtuous sequence of motion, and then - as if without mercy - it is used to power a car in a drive-by shooting. The engine can hardly be held responsible for the fate of the victim/s, but clearly it was an accessory to the crime - even a necessity! So likewise, it seems that some deeds are not done through malice, but rather through means of virtue, and yet they still necessitate an outcome that emerges as evil.
An excellent example of this may be portrayed in Hitler: "I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator" (Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Vol. 1 Chapter 2). And certainly a similar ideology was employed in the Christian crusades.
Therefore, I surmise that the manifestation of a virtuous deed is necessarily reliant on the deed's virtuous affect on others. It is the welfare of people (plural) that virtue is inseparably concerned with.
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