Who wickedly is wise, or madly brave, Is but the more a fool, the more a knave.
 Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man (1734). copy citation

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Author Alexander Pope
Source An Essay on Man
Topic
Date 1734
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2428/2428-h/2428-h.htm

Context

“All sly slow things, with circumspective eyes; Men in their loose unguarded hours they take, Not that themselves are wise, but others weak. But grant that those can conquer, these can cheat; 'Tis phrase absurd to call a villain great: Who wickedly is wise, or madly brave, Is but the more a fool, the more a knave. Who noble ends by noble means obtains, Or failing, smiles in exile or in chains, Like good Aurelius let him reign, or bleed Like Socrates, that man is great indeed. What's fame? a fancied life in others' breath, A thing beyond us, even before our death.” source