The wise must flee from fads that bring bad publicity.

Those who do odd jobs are well known, but are the object of ridicule, not reputation.

from The Art of Worldly Wisdom The wise must flee from fads that bring bad publicity. xxx

There are bizarre tastes that always take to their heart all that wise men repudiate; they live in love with singularity. There is a strange preference for living in love with singularity, taking to heart all that the wise deny. He has a strange taste for collecting things that the wise would gladly deny. He loves singularity and lives for it.

It has nothing to do with professions of ill repute, and even less to do with fads that bring more notoriety than reputation. There are many fanciful sects, and the thoughtful must flee from them all. There is a strange predilection to live in love with singularity, taking to heart all that the wise deny. For this reason, though he may indeed be well known, he is the object of ridicule rather than of reputation. The cautious person does not profess his wisdom, much less profess matters that would make a mockery of his followers. These matters are sufficiently identified by general contempt to require no particular explanation.

---

This page is auto-translated from /nishio/賢者は悪評をもたらす流行から逃げなければならない using DeepL. If you looks something interesting but the auto-translated English is not good enough to understand it, feel free to let me know at @nishio_en. I’m very happy to spread my thought to non-Japanese readers.