A man's first care should be ...

A man\'s first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart; his next, to escape the censures of the world: if the last interferes with the former, it ought to be entirely neglected; but otherwise there cannot be a greater satisfaction to an honest mind, than to see those approbations which it gives itself seconded by the applauses of the public.
A man's first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart; his next, to escape the censures of the world: if the last interferes with the former, it ought to be entirely neglected; but otherwise there cannot be a greater satisfaction to an honest mind, than to see those approbations which it gives itself seconded by the applauses of the public.
 Joseph Addison

Quotes from the same author

True happiness arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of oneself, and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions.
 See image
 Joseph Addison
He only is a great man who can neglect the applause of the multitude and enjoy himself independent of its favor.
 See image
 Joseph Addison
Let freedom never perish in your hands.
 See image
 Joseph Addison
Young men soon give, and soon forget, affronts; old age is slow in both.
 See image
 Joseph Addison
An honest private man often grows cruel and abandoned when converted into an absolute prince. Give a man power of doing what he pleases with impunity, you extinguish his fear, and consequently overturn in him one of the great pillars of morality.
 See image
 Joseph Addison