“Nor will I be diffident about expressing my sentiments, since my eagerness to have them scrutinized by the fairminded outweighs my fear of their being chewed to pieces by the spiteful. The keen eyes of the dove are most acceptable to Charity’s modest beauty, while the teeth of the snarling dog are either dodged by Humility’s caution or broken on the solid hardness of Truth. In any case I would rather receive any sort of censure than mistaken or flattering praise. No censure can be feared by the lover of truth. It will come, after all, either from friend or from foe; if it is a foe being offensive, he can be endured; if it is a friend being wrong, he can be put right; if it is a friend being right, he can be heeded. But as for praise — if it is mistaken it confirms you in your mistakes, and if it is flattering it seduces you into making them.”

- Augustine (De Trinitate II.1)