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Consider culture to be a good so far superior to the lack of culture that while in general everyone derives gain from the practice of vice, boorishness1 is the one vice which actually penalizes its possessors; for the latter are often punished in deed for the offences they give by their words.When you desire to make a friend of anyone, say good things about him to those who are wont to report them; for praise is the foundation of friendship, as blame is that of enmity.
1 The translation of this perplexing sentence takes αὔτη to refer to ἀπαιδυεσία, following Sandys.
Isocrates. Isocrates with an English Translation in three volumes, by George Norlin, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1980.
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