Aphorism 44
Les Caractères (1688), Du mérite personnel
Context: That man is good who does good to others; if he suffers on account of the good he does, he is very good; if he suffers at the hands of those to whom he has done good, then his goodness is so great that it could be enhanced only by greater sufferings; and if he should die at their hands, his virtue can go no further: it is heroic, it is perfect.
“If he was a good man, how could he leave me? So he must not be a good man. But if he isn't good, then why does it hurt so much to lose him? Is it just my pride that's wounded?”
Enchantment (1999)
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Orson Scott Card 586
American science fiction novelist 1951Related quotes
On Glen Campbell, as quoted in "Lisa LaFlamme talks to Canadian music legend Anne Murray", Lisa LaFlamme (interviewer), CTV News Canada, 6 November 2017 https://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/lisa-laflamme-talks-to-canadian-music-legend-anne-murray-1.3666387
Gautama Buddha, as quoted in the Dhammapada.
Misattributed
Source: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Red Prophet (1988), Chapter 2.
“Not every man is so great a coward as he thinks he is — nor yet so good a Christian.”
The Master of Ballantrae. Mr. Mackellar's Journey (1889).
“.. he [= Michelangelo] was a good man, but he did not know how to paint.”
Marina Lambraki-Plaka, El Greco - The Greek, p. 47–49; as cited on Wikipedia/El Greco
Quote of El Greco's response, when he was later asked what he thought about the Italian artist Michelangelo