Comments on: Those who speak do not know… http://www.douglaspurdy.com/2009/05/24/those-who-speak-do-not-know/ tanto nomini nullum par elogium... Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:42:12 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Joshua Allen http://www.douglaspurdy.com/2009/05/24/those-who-speak-do-not-know/comment-page-1/#comment-4566 Joshua Allen Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:29:08 +0000 http://www.douglaspurdy.com/?p=727#comment-4566 I believe it was Robespierre or Talleyrand or one of the other French diplomats (and later found to be a spy) who had an interesting quote about this. I cannot find the reference now, but it was something like "it is always good to have a stockpile of true and verifiable personal debaucheries in your past, because when you carefully trust your 'secrets' to a confidant, or publicly confess to some past sin, people will appreciate the faith you place in them and will trust you in return -- and then they won't ever suspect you about the *really* secret stuff". I guess in America, that's called being a Senator. I believe it was Robespierre or Talleyrand or one of the other French diplomats (and later found to be a spy) who had an interesting quote about this. I cannot find the reference now, but it was something like “it is always good to have a stockpile of true and verifiable personal debaucheries in your past, because when you carefully trust your ’secrets’ to a confidant, or publicly confess to some past sin, people will appreciate the faith you place in them and will trust you in return — and then they won’t ever suspect you about the *really* secret stuff”.

I guess in America, that’s called being a Senator.

]]> By: Erik Wynne Stepp http://www.douglaspurdy.com/2009/05/24/those-who-speak-do-not-know/comment-page-1/#comment-4341 Erik Wynne Stepp Thu, 28 May 2009 22:36:44 +0000 http://www.douglaspurdy.com/?p=727#comment-4341 While I agree that you can share too much of yourself with social networks, I encourage you to continue to take another advice of Lao Tzu and to share again soon: The sage does not hoard. The more he helps others, the more he benefits himself, The more he gives to others, the more he gets himself. The Way of Heaven does one good but never does one harm. The Way of the sage is to act but not to compete. While I agree that you can share too much of yourself with social networks, I encourage you to continue to take another advice of Lao Tzu and to share again soon:

The sage does not hoard. The more he helps others, the more he benefits himself, The more he gives to others, the more he gets himself. The Way of Heaven does one good but never does one harm. The Way of the sage is to act but not to compete.

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