Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
People often judge good deeds by the rewards they receive rather than the act itself.
In plain terms
Men only think a good deed is good if they get paid.
What can you take from it?
Self-interest often drives moral judgment.

Where it applies

  • evaluating generosity
  • workplace ethics

Putting it to work

  • look beyond compensation
  • question motives for praise

Questions to consider

  • Do you expect a reward for kindness?
  • How do you judge others' good deeds?

Another view

Many people value deeds regardless of reward.

More from Ovid

  1. Medicine sometimes snatches away health, sometimes gives it.

    Permalink to quote #70
  2. Minds that are ill at ease are agitated by both hope and fear.

    Permalink to quote #72
  3. Make the workmanship surpass the materials.

    Permalink to quote #69

Related quotes

  1. If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.

    Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein quote #203
  2. Virtue is its own reward.

    Ancius BoethiusAncius Boethius quote #1
  3. In men whom men condemn as ill I find so much of goodness still. In men whom men pronounce divine I find so much of sin and blot I do not dare to draw a line B…

    Joaquin MillerJoaquin Miller quote #3