Once the good man was dead, one wore his hat and another his sword as he had worn them, a third had himself barbered as he had, a fourth walked as he did, but the honest man that he was - nobody any longer wanted to be that.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- After a good man dies, people copy his external habits and appearance, but no one wants to emulate his core honesty.
- In plain terms
- People mimic a good man's style after he dies but avoid his honesty.
- What can you take from it?
- External traits are easy to copy; integrity is not.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What traits do you copy in others?
- Is honesty harder to emulate than style?
Another view
It may oversimplify how people actually learn from the dead.
More from Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
Even truth needs to be clad in new garments if it is to appeal to a new age.
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Permalink to quote #22 Erudition can produce foliage without bearing fruit.
Permalink to quote #19
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