Page 70 - https://ia800806.us.archive.org/12/items/mwk-eng-book/Leading-a-Spiritual-Life.pdf

Reputation, not Honour, Will

Pay Off

‘Reputation is what other people know about you. Honour is
what you know about yourself.’

n American author, Lois McMaster Bujold (b.
A1949), once observed: ‘Reputation is what other
people know about you. Honour is what you know
about yourself.’
Reputation is the opinion that others have about you.
How is this opinion formed? It is formed on the basis
of your deeds, not of your words. Reputation represents
your external personality, while a sense of honour is
your own inner perception of yourself. It is like self-
praise, that is, believing that you are ‘so and so’, without
taking into account what others think about you.

Your reputation is like a cheque that can be cashed
at the bank. The market knows you by your reputation,
and not through your self-perception. You cannot ‘cash
in’ your self-perception or your sense of honour in
the market. If you want to have a place for yourself in
society, you have to create a reputation for yourself by
your actual deeds. Your own sense of honour or self-
praise cannot give you any status in the world.

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