Great minds had rather deserve contemporaneous applause, without obtaining it, than obtain, without deserving it; if it follow them, it is well, but they will not deviate to follow it. With inferior minds the reverse is observable; so that they can command the flattery of knaves while living, they care not for the execrations of honest men, when dead.

Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780–1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist

Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 6 (1820)
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