Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Reputation
It is a maxim with me that no man was ever written out of reputation but by himself.
Richard Bentley—Monk’s Life of Bentley. Vol. I. Ch. VI.
And reputation bleeds in ev’ry word.
Churchill—Apology.
Negligere quid de se quisque sentiat, non solum arrogantis est, sed etiam omnino dissoluti.
To disregard what the world thinks of us is not only arrogant but utterly shameless.
Cicero—De Officiis. 1. 28.
No book was ever written down by any but itself.
Emerson—Spiritual Laws.
Nemo me lacrymis decoret, nec funera fletu.
Faxit cur? Volito vivu’ per ora virum.
Let no one honour me with tears, or bury me with lamentation. Why? Because I fly hither and thither, living in the mouths of men.
Attributed to Ennius. Quoted by Cicero—Tusc. Quæst. 15. 34. Latter part said to be Ennius’ Epitaph.
A lost good name is ne’er retriev’d.
Gay—Fables. The Fox at the Point of Death. L. 46.
Denn ein wanderndes Mädchen ist immer von schwankendem Rufe.
For a strolling damsel a doubtful reputation bears.
Goethe—Hermann und Dorothea. VII. 93.
Ich hulte nichts von dem, der von sich denkt
Wie ihn das Volk vielleicht erheben möchte.
I consider him of no account who esteems himself just as the popular breath may chance to raise him.
Goethe—Iphigenia auf Tauris. II. 1. 140.
That man is thought a dangerous knave,
Or zealot plotting crime,
Who for advancement of his kind
Is wiser than his time.
Attributed to Lord Houghton (Monckton Milnes)—Men of Old.
Reputation is but a synonyme of popularity: dependent on suffrage, to be increased or diminished at the will of the voters.
Mrs. Jameson—Memoirs and Essays. Washington Allston.
Reputations, like beavers and cloaks, shall last some people twice the time of others.
Douglas Jerrold—Specimens of Jerrold’s Wit. Reputations.
How many worthy men have we seen survive their own reputation!
Montaigne—Essays. Of Glory.
To be pointed out with the finger.
Persius—Satires. I. L. 28.
In various talk th’ instructive hours they past,
Who gave the ball, or paid the visit last;
One speaks the glory of the British queen,
And one describes a charming Indian screen;
A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes;
At every word a reputation dies.
Pope—Rape of the Lock. Pt. III. L. 11. (This stanza not found in his printed works.)
Das Aergste weiss die Welt von mir, und ich
Kann sagen, ich bin besser als mein Ruf.
The worst of me is known, and I can say that I am better than the reputation I bear.
Schiller—Marie Stuart. III. 4. 208.
I have offended reputation,
A most unnoble swerving.
Antony and Cleopatra. Act III. Sc. 11. L. 49.
O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial.
Othello. Act II. Sc. 3. L. 262.
Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.
Othello. Act II. Sc. 3. L. 268.
The purest treasure mortal times afford
Is spotless reputation; that away,
Men are but gilded loam or painted clay.
Richard II. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 177.
Thy death-bed is no lesser than thy land
Wherein thou liest in reputation sick.
Richard II. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 95.
I see my reputation is at stake:
My fame is shewdly gor’d.
Troilus and Cressida. Act III. Sc. 3. L. 227.
Convey a libel in a frown,
And wink a reputation down!
Swift—Journal of a Modern Lady. L. 185.