Plutarch's essays and miscellanies, Vol. 1 · Plutarch
OF BASHFULNESS.
BY THOMAS HOY, FELLOW OF ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE IN OXFORD. Bashfulness defined, 60. Two extremes: too much or too little modesty; both to be avoided, 61. Bashfulness, an excess of modesty, 61, 62. It is injurious, 62; leaves a person at the mercy of others, 63; a bashful person is liable to imposition, 63; many are thus ruined, 64. Deny an unreasonable request, 65. The fear of giving offence—bashfulness—hinders the proper care of our health, and of our property, 67, 68; exposes to the very evils it seeks to avoid, 69. The people of Asia are slaves, because they cannot say, “No,” 69. Deny recommendation to those not known to be worthy, 71. Undertake no services to which you are not competent, 72. Cheerfully render good offices to those that deserve them, 72; but deny them to the unworthy, 73. We may not violate law and justice to please anybody, 74. Men who would dread to blunder in a matter of literature, often violate law, 74. Err not from the right, either from fear or flattery, 76. Remember what bashfulness has cost us, 77.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.