Mahavatar Babaji Hindu Yogi
Source: Autobiography of a Yogi (1946), Ch. 36 : Babaji's Interest in the West
La fourmi n'est pas prêteuse;
C'est là son moindre défaut.
Book I (1668), fable 1.
Fables (1668–1679)
Mahavatar Babaji Hindu Yogi
Source: Autobiography of a Yogi (1946), Ch. 36 : Babaji's Interest in the West
“There's not the least thing can be said or done, but people will talk and find fault.”
Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright
Source: Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605–1615), Part I, Book II, Ch. 4.
“To find out a girl's faults, praise her to her girl friends.”
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, …
This has been widely attributed to Franklin since the 1940s, but is not found in any of his works. The language is not Franklin's, nor that of his time. It does paraphrase a portion of something he wrote in 1732 under the name Alice Addertongue:
If I have never heard Ill of some Person, I always impute it to defective Intelligence; for there are none without their Faults, no, not one. If she be a Woman, I take the first Opportunity to let all her Acquaintance know I have heard that one of the handsomest or best Men in Town has said something in Praise either of her Beauty, her Wit, her Virtue, or her good Management. If you know any thing of Humane Nature, you perceive that this naturally introduces a Conversation turning upon all her Failings, past, present, and to come.
Misattributed
“Good and bad, strengths and faults, he was hers forever.”
Nicholas Sparks book The Lucky One
Source: The Lucky One
Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856–1920) Indian independence activist
His Criticism and opposition to the Agriculturist Relief Act 1879 and the reformist movement launched by others. Bal Gangadhar Tilak: Popular Readings, Page=15.
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) Indian lawyer, statesman, and writer, first Prime Minister of India
Autobiography (1936; 1949; 1958)
Context: I turned inevitably with goodwill towards communism, for, whatever its faults, it was at least not hypocritical and not imperialistic. It was not a doctrinal adherence, as I did not know much about the fine points of Communism, my acquaintance being limited at the time to its broad features. There attracted me, as also the tremendous changes taking place in Russia. But Communists often irritated me by their dictatorial ways, their aggressive and rather vulgar methods, their habit of denouncing everybody who did not agree with them. This reaction was no doubt due, as they would say, to my own bourgeois education and up-bringing. <!-- p. 163