November 24, 2016

Folly consists not in committing Folly, but in not hiding it when committed.

Folly consists not in committing Folly, but in not hiding it when committed. You should keep your desires sealed up, still more your defects. All go wrong sometimes, but the wise try to hide the errors, but fools boast of them. Reputation depends more on what is hidden than on what is done; if a man does not live chastely, he must live cautiously. The errors of great men are like the eclipses of the greater lights. Even in friendship it is rare to expose one’s failingsto one’s friend. Nay, one should conceal them from oneself if one can. But here one can help with that other great rule of life: learn to forget.

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