Persona sin vicios

07:54 Oct 15, 2016 

Obviously, based on the variety of answers proposed, this is not merely a linguistic issue but also a philosophical one, since there is more than one single expression in Spanish which could unequivocally express the precise meaning and/or the intention of the writer, in the mind of whom - at the time the recommendation was written - "sin vicios" could have meant any one or several of the answers proposed . To my mind, Andrea Valencias's own answer is an excellent interpretation of the source.

21:19 Oct 14, 2016 

And by the way, as it shouldn't be necessary to mention, the ideal answer has to fulfil two conditions: it must sound convincing in the context and it must be accurate. "Beyond reproach", for example, which Phil likes, sounds very convincing but is not accurate.

21:17 Oct 14, 2016 

I think it's important not to make the statement broader in English than it is in Spanish. To say that a person is "sin vicios" is certainly not to say that they have no faults or are beyond reproach; a person can be habitually late, unreliable, have dirty finger nails, pick their nose and all sorts of other things and yet be "sin vicios". "Vicios" are specifically immoral habits, according to conventional standards, especially addictions: mainly, in practice, smoking, drinking, drug-taking, gambling or sexual misconduct. In US English the word "vice" covers just about the same territory (remember Miami Vice?) but in UK English it tends to apply specifically to pornography and prostitution, so I think it's too narrow.