The honor we receive from those who fear us is not honor.
[L’honneur que nous recevons de ceux qui nous craignent, ce n’est pas honneur.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 42 (1.42), “Of the Inequality among Us [De l’inequalité qui est entre nous]” (1572) [tr. Frame (1943)]
(Source)
This essay and passage were in the first (1580) edition.
(Source (French)). Other translations:The honour we receive of those which feare and stand in awe of us, is no true honour.
[tr. Florio (1603)]The honour we receive from those that fear us, is not honour
[tr. Cotton (1686)]The honor we receive from those that fear us is not honor.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]The honour that we receive from those who fear us is not honour.
[tr. Ives (1925)]The honour we receive from those who fear us is not honour at all.
[tr. Screech (1987)]
