A deed done solely for the sake of worldly glory is always bad, no matter its consequences. A deed in which the desire to do good and the desire for worldly glory play an equal part is an indifferent deed. A good deed is only the one in which the primary motive is the fulfillment of God’s will.
A free being that surrenders himself to himself thereby surrenders himself to the devil; in the moral world there is no ground without a master, and no man’s land belongs to the cunning one.
— Amiel
If only you knew the source of human judgements and interests, you would stop chasing people’s approval and praises.
— Marcus Aurelius
If you keep worrying about people’s approval, you will never make up your mind to do anything. People’s estimations are infinitely varied. You might say: “I am seeking the approval of good people”—but the people you call good are those who you know will approve of what you intend to do.
We are not satisfied with our true inner life, we want to live a different, imaginary life in the minds of others, and for this we force ourselves to appear not as we really are. We toil ceaselessly on decorating this imaginary being while neglecting the real one. If we happen to possess tranquility, integrity, magnanimity, we try to let others know about this as soon as possible in order to assign these virtues to our imaginary being.
In order to bestow these qualities upon our imaginary being we are capable of depriving ourselves of them. We are prepared to be cowards as long as others think we are brave.
— Pascal
Our desire for other people’s approval plays a part in every good deed. It is unfortunate if a deed is done solely for the sake of worldly glory, but a good deed still remains good even if a desire for other people’s approval is mixed with our desire to do good. But the deed would be so much better if it was done solely for God.
Let people’s approval be the consequence of your deed, not its aim.
In order to teach yourself to live only for God, it is good to do things of which nobody will ever know. Do such things and you will discover a special kind of joy.
