It is no wonder then if the winds storm around us on the ocean of this life, since our greatest imperative is to displease the wicked. But we should despise the wicked even if they are a great multitude, for they are governed by no leader, but are blindly pulled in all directions by frantic error. - Boethius
Thus, a good man, though a slave, is free; but a wicked man, though a king, is a slave. For he serves not one man alone, but what is worse, as many masters as he has vices. - Augustine of Hippo
Virtue runs no risk of becoming contemptible by being exposed to view, and it is better to be despised for simplicity than to be tormented by continual hypocrisy. - Seneca