Without favour none will know you, and with it you will not know your selfe.
George Herbert (1593-1633) Welsh priest, orator, poet.
Jacula Prudentum, or Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, &c. (compiler), # 159 (1640 ed.)
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curry favor
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Talking of the danger of being mortified by rejection, when making approaches to the acquaintance of the great, I observed, “I am, however, generally for trying, ‘Nothing venture, nothing have.'” JOHNSON. “Very true, sir; but I have always been more afraid of failing, than hopeful of success.”
A slave has but one master; an ambitious man has as many masters as there are people who may be useful in bettering his position.
[L’esclave n’a qu’un maître; l’ambitieux en a autant qu’il y a de gens utiles à sa fortune.]
Jean de La Bruyère (1645-1696) French essayist, moralist
The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 8 “Of the Court [De la Cour],” § 70 (8.70) (1688) [tr. Van Laun (1885)]
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(Source (French)). Alternate translations:A Slave has but one Master, an ambitious Man a great many, all those who are useful to him in making his fortune.
[Bullord ed. (1696)]A Slave has but one Master; an ambitious Man has as many as there are People useful to him in making his Fortune.
[Curll ed. (1713)]A purchased Slave has but one Master: An ambitious Man must be a Slave to all who may conduce to his Aggrandizement.
[Browne ed. (1752)]A slave has only one master; an ambitious man is enslaved to all those who may help to further his advancement.
[tr. Stewart (1970)]
