Never get a reputation for a small perfection, if you are trying for fame in a loftier area; the world can only judge by generals, and it sees that those who pay considerable attention to minutiæ, seldom have their minds occupied with great things. There are, it is true, exceptions; but to exceptions the world does not attend.

Edward George Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873) English novelist and politician

The Disowned, ch. 2 [Talbot] (1828)
    (Source)

See La Rochefoucauld.