QuoteProject
Laugh at a bad reputation. Fear a good one that you could not sustain.
Robert Bresson
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

A bad reputation can be dismissed with humor, while a good reputation brings pressure to maintain it.

This quote suggests that individuals should not take a bad reputation too seriously, as it can often be disregarded with a lighthearted attitude. In contrast, possessing a good reputation comes with the burden of living up to others' expectations, creating fear and anxiety about not being able to sustain that positive image.

Themes

ReputationFearHumorExpectationsLife

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be used in a motivational speech about self-acceptance.

More from Robert Bresson

When you do not know what you are doing and what you are doing is the best - that is inspiration.
Robert BressonRead
In the NUDE, all that is not beautiful is obscene.
Robert BressonRead
Cinema, radio, television, magazines are a school of inattention: people look without seeing, listen in without hearing.
Robert BressonRead
Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been seen.
Robert BressonRead
The most ordinary word, when put into place, suddenly acquires brilliance. That is the brilliance with which your images must shine.
Robert BressonRead
For me, film-making is combining images and sounds of real things in an order that makes them effective. What I disapprove of is photographing things that are not real. Sets and actors are not real.
Robert BressonRead

Similar quotes

It's a fool's life, a rogue's life, and a good life if you keep laughing all the way to the grave.
Edward AbbeyRead
War should never be entered upon until every agency of peace has failed.
William MckinleyRead
At any moment, whatever we are experiencing, only one of two things is ever happening: either we are being with what is, or else we are resisting what is. Being with what is means letting ourselves have and feel our experience, just as it is right now. ... This is where genuine creativity, health, and communication, as well as spiritual power, arise from.
John WelwoodRead
There is no dignity quite so impressive, and no one independence quite so important, as living within your means.
Calvin CoolidgeRead
Dear young people, please, don’t be observers of life, but get involved. Jesus did not remain an observer, but he immersed himself. Don’t be observers, but immerse yourself in the reality of life, as Jesus did.
Pope FrancisRead
Never complain and never explain.
Benjamin DisraeliRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.