Do you wish people to think well of you? Don’t speak well of yourself.

This maxim is attributed to Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) and aligns with the moral-psychological observations he drafted in the late 1650s and early 1660s—notes later assembled posthumously as the Pensées. In that work Pascal repeatedly scrutinizes amour-propre (self-love) and the ways vanity distorts judgment and social life. The remark reflects the etiquette and moral discourse of seventeenth-century France, where reputation and honor were intensely social and where overt self-praise was often read as a sign of insecurity or pride. Pascal’s broader project was apologetic and ethical: to expose human self-deception and redirect attention from self-display toward humility and truth.

Pascal’s point is both practical and moral. Practically, self-praise tends to provoke skepticism: listeners discount claims that come from an interested party and may interpret them as vanity. Social esteem is more reliably earned through conduct that others can witness and judge. Morally, the line targets pride—one of Pascal’s central concerns—suggesting that the desire to manage one’s image through self-advertisement is itself a symptom of disordered self-love. The paradox is that seeking admiration directly often undermines it; restraint and humility, by contrast, invite trust. The aphorism thus functions as advice on reputation and as a critique of the ego’s need for affirmation.

1) “Would you have men speak well of you? Don’t speak well of yourself.”
2) “If you want people to think well of you, do not speak well of yourself.”
3) “Do you want others to speak well of you? Then do not speak well of yourself.”