“ Virtue is a very vain and frivolous thing if it derive its recommendation from glory ”
Michel de Montaigne, The Essays of Michel de Montaigne (1580). copy citation
| Author | Michel de Montaigne |
|---|---|
| Source | The Essays of Michel de Montaigne |
| Topic | virtue glory |
| Date | 1580 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by Charles Cotton |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3600/3600-h/3600-h.htm |
Context
““Meminerint Deum se habere testem, id est (ut ego arbitror) mentem suam.” [“Let them consider they have God to witness, that is (as I interpret it) , their own consciences.”—Cicero, De Offic., iii. 10.]
Virtue is a very vain and frivolous thing if it derive its recommendation from glory; and ‘tis to no purpose that we endeavour to give it a station by itself, and separate it from fortune; for what is more accidental than reputation?
“Profecto fortuna in omni re dominatur: ea res cunctas ex libidine magis, quhm ex vero, celebrat, obscuratque.””
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