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MALCOLM: Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell.
Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace,
Yet grace must still look so.

Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Macbeth, Act 4, sc. 3, l. 27ff (4.3.27-30) (1606)
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Added on 9-Dec-24 | Last updated 9-Dec-24
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Our virtues are usually only vices in disguise.

[Nos vertus ne sont le plus souvent que des vices déguisés]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], Epigraph (1675 ed.) [tr. Tancock (1959)]
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Added as an epigraph to the entire work in the 4th (1675) edition. A common theme in La Rochefoucauld's work, and variations of this maxim (and related thoughts) had been in the preceding editions and even this and later (see also ¶442).

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

Our Vertues are oftentimes in Reality no better than Vices disguised.
[tr. Stanhope (1694)]

Our virtues are most frequently but vices disguised.
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871)]

Our virtues are mostly but vices in disguise.
[tr. FitzGibbon (1957)]

Our virtues, most often, are only vices disguised.
[tr. Whichello (2016)]

 
Added on 16-Feb-24 | Last updated 16-Feb-24
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More quotes by La Rochefoucauld, Francois

You daub your face and think I shall not see
Your wrinkles. You deceive yourself, not me.
A small defect is nothing when revealed;
But greater seems the blemish ill concealed.

[Lomento rugas uteri quod condere temptas,
Polla, tibi ventrem, non mihi labra linis.
Simpliciter pateat vitium fortasse pusillum:
Quod tegitur, magnum creditur esse malum.]

Marcus Valerius Martial
Martial (AD c.39-c.103) Spanish Roman poet, satirist, epigrammatist [Marcus Valerius Martialis]
Epigrams [Epigrammata], Book 3, epigram 42 (3.42) (AD 87-88) [tr. Pott & Wright (1921)]
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"To Polla." (Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

Thou seek'st with lard to smooth thy wrinkled skin,
Bedaub'st thyself, and dost no lover win.
Simple decays men easily pass by,
But, hid, suspect some great deformity.
[tr. Killigrew (1695)]

Leave off thy Paint, Perfumes, and youthful Dress,
And Nature's failing honesty confess;
Double we see those Faults which Art wou'd mend,
Plain downright Ugliness would less offend.
[tr. Sedley (1702), "To Cloe"]

With lotion some wrinkles you labor to hide.
No policy, Polla, you show; but some pride.
A small fault perhaps might more safely appear:
Whatever is hid, draws construction severe.
[tr. Elphinston (1782), Book 6, Part 3, ep. 20]

When you try to conceal your wrinkles, Polla, with paste made from beans, you deceive yourself, not me. Let a defect, which is possibly but small, appear undisguised. A fault concealed is presumed to be great.
[tr. Bohn's Classical (1859)]

Seek not to hide a blemish that's but small.
The fault that's hidden ofttimes greater seems.
[ed. Harbottle (1897)]

You try to conceal your wrinkles by the use of bean-meal, but you plaster your skin, Polla, not my lips. Let a blemish, which perhaps is small, simply show. The flaw which is hidden is deemed greater than it is.
[tr. Ker (1919)]

Applying paste to smooth out the folds in your fat belly only means you are rouging your belly for yourself instead of your lips for me. It wouild be more natural to let that minor flaw stand. The hidden evil is considered worse.
[tr. Bovie (1970)]

You try to hide your belly's wrinkles with bean meal, Polla, but you smear your stomach, not my lips. Better that the blemish, perhaps a trifling one, be frankly shown. Trouble concealed is believed to be greater than it is.
[tr. Shackleton Bailey (1993)]

You use a cream your wrinkles to disguise,
But you're just pulling wool over our eyes.
The wrinkles, left alone, would draw no mention,
But, covered up, they draw closest attention.
[tr. Wills (2007)]

Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst.
[Source]

 
Added on 1-Nov-17 | Last updated 27-Nov-23
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Are all men in disguise except those crying?

Abse - all men in disguise - wist_info quote

Daniel "Dannie" Abse (1923-2014) Welsh poet
Poem (1986), “Encounter at a greyhound bus station,” Ask the Bloody Horse
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Added on 19-Aug-16 | Last updated 15-Jan-25
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Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles?

The Bible (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture
Matthew 7:15-16 [NRSV]

Alt. trans.:
  • "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" [KJV]
  • "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?" [NIV]
  • "Be on your guard against false prophets; they come to you looking like sheep on the outside, but on the inside they are really like wild wolves. You will know them by what they do. Thorn bushes do not bear grapes, and briers do not bear figs." [GNT]
 
Added on 9-Oct-12 | Last updated 13-Apr-15
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More quotes by Bible, vol. 2, New Testament

Another belief of mine: that everyone else my age is an adult, whereas I am merely in disguise.

Margaret Atwood (b. 1939) Canadian writer, literary critic, environmental activist
Cat’s Eye, Part 2 (1988)
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Added on 3-Mar-11 | Last updated 16-Aug-19
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We become so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that at last we are disguised to ourselves.

[Nous sommes si accoutumés à nous déguiser aux autres qu’enfin nous nous déguisons à nous-mêmes.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶119 (1665-1678) [tr. Bund/Friswell (1871)]
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Appeared in the 1st edition (1665). Another 1665 variant began "La coutume que nous avons de nous déguiser aux autres, pour acquérir leur estime, fait qu’enfin … [The custom we have of disguising ourselves to others, in order to gain their esteem, means that finally…]"

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

We are so used to dissemble with other People, that in time we come to Deceive and Dissemble with our selves.
[tr. Stanhope (1694), ¶120]

We were so used to disguise ourselves to others, that at last we become disguised even to ourselves.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶102; ed. Lepoittevin-Lacroix (1797), ¶116]

We are so used to disguise ourselves to others, that at last we become disguised to ourselves.
[ed. Carvill (1835), ¶91]

We are so much accustomed to disguise ourselves to others, that at length we disguise ourselves to ourselves
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶122]

We spend so much time deceiving others that we end by deceiving ourselves.
[tr. Heard (1917), ¶119]

We are so accustomed to adopting a mask before others that we end by being unable to recognize ourselves.
[tr. FitzGibbon (1957), ¶119]

We get so much in the habit of wearing a disguise before others that we finally appear disguised before ourselves.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶119]

We are so used to disguising ourselves from others that we end by disguising ourselves from ourselves.
[tr. Tancock (1959), ¶119]

So accustomed do we become to disguising ourselves from others that, at length, we disguise ourselves from ourselves.
[tr. Whichello (2016) ¶119]

Compare this to ¶373:

We sometimes shed tears which at first deceive only others, but in the end deceive ourselves also. [tr. Stevens (1939), ¶373]

 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 4-Jan-25
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No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.

hawthorne wear one face to himself bewildered as to which may be the true wist.info quote

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) American writer
The Scarlet Letter, ch. 20 “The Minister in a Maze” (1850)
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Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 4-Jan-25
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