To lapse in fullness is sorer than to lie for need: and falsehood is worse in king than beggar.—Shakespeare.
A liar would be brave toward God, while he is a coward toward men; for a lie faces God, and shrinks from man.—Montaigne.
The dull flat falsehood serves for policy, and in the cunning, truth's itself a lie.—Pope.
No falsehood can endure touch of celestial temper but returns of force to its own likeness.—Milton.
Figures themselves, in their symmetrical and inexorable order, have their mistakes like words and speeches. An hour of pleasure and an hour of pain are alike only on the dial in their numerical arrangement. Outside the dial they lie sixty times.—Méry.
Fame.—Fame, as a river, is narrowest where it is bred, and broadest afar off; so exemplary writers depend not upon the gratitude of the world.—Davenant.
Grant me honest fame, or grant me none.—Pope.
Much of reputation depends on the period in which it rises. The Italians proverbially observe that one half of fame depends on that cause. In dark periods, when talents appear they shine like the sun through a small hole in the window-shutter. The strong beam dazzles amid the surrounding gloom. Open the shutter, and the general diffusion of light attracts no notice.—Walpole.
Fame confers a rank above that of gentleman and of kings. As soon as she issues her patent of nobility, it matters not a straw whether the recipient be the son of a Bourbon or of a tallow-chandler.—Bulwer-Lytton.
One Cæsar lives,—a thousand are forgot!—Young.