A man who parades his piety is one who, under an atheist king, would be an atheist.
[Un dévot est celui qui, sous un roi athée, serait athée.]
Jean de La Bruyère (1645-1696) French essayist, moralist
The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 13 “Of the Fashion [De la Mode],” § 21 (13.21) (1688)
(Source)
La Bruyère notes in the original this refers to a "faux dévot."
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:
An Hypocrite is one that will be an Atheist under a King that is so.
[Bullord ed. (1696)]
A Devote is one, that under a King who was an Atheist, would be a Devote.
[Curll ed. (1713)]
A Devoto is one, that under an atheistical King wouild be an Atheist.
[Browne ed. (1752)]
A pious person is one who, under an atheistical king, would be an atheist.
[tr. Van Laun (1885)]
A pious hypocrite is one who, under an atheistic king, would be an atheist.
[tr. Stewart (1970)]
Quotations about:
conformist
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A man must consider what a rich realm he abdicates when he becomes a conformist.
