EsseQuamVidere

At one point in Freedom Evolves Daniel Dennett quotes a description of Cato, from Sallust, that captures one of the most important and difficult goals in life:

Esse quam videri bonus malebat. In English:

He preferred to be good rather than seem so.

It's rather like auditing a class and learning all the material but not getting any credit for it. Which is more important --- the knowledge, or the diploma? The act, or the applause?

(see also RememberMe (21 May 1999), CardinalNewman (4 Oct 2001), MissedManners (4 Oct 2001), FreedomEvolves (3 Jul 2003), ...)

TopicPhilosophy - TopicLiterature - TopicLife - Datetag20030802

(correlates: ComplexSimplicity, ProdesseQuamConspici, TerribleObstacles, ...)