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In the evening, as I was going to bed, I saw him come into my room. 'I would not have come,' he told me, 'and interrupt your rest unless I believed that someone who could travel nine hundred leagues in half a day could have done so without getting tired. You don't know of the fine argument I've been having about you with our Jesuit priests?' he added. 'They insist you are a magician. The best you can hope for from them is to pass only for an impostor.'

Cyrano de Bergerac#6

TravelReputationPrejudiceRumors

About this quote

What does it mean?
A visitor visits the narrator at night to discuss rumors that he is a magician or impostor among religious priests.
In plain terms
Someone warns the narrator that priests think he is a magician or fraud.
What can you take from it?
Reputation can suffer when people misunderstand extraordinary abilities.

Where it applies

  • dealing with rumors
  • navigating religious scrutiny
  • traveling to new places

Putting it to work

  • managing public perception
  • addressing skepticism

Questions to consider

  • Why do authorities fear travelers?
  • How do rumors affect reputation?

Another view

The quote does not clarify if the traveler is actually a magician or just misunderstood.

More from Cyrano de Bergerac

  1. I was presented to Monsieur de Montmagny, the viceroy. He asked my nationality, name, and rank. When I had satisfied him by recounting the success of my voyage…

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  2. Most men judge only by their senses and let themselves be persuaded by what they see. Just as the man whose boat sails from shore to shore thinks he is station…

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  3. With my equipment, I walked toward a thatched cottage from which I saw smoke emerging. I was scarcely within pistol-shot range when I was surrounded by a large…

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