"Who has the fame to be an early riser may sleep till noon"
About this Quote
Fame, Howell suggests, is the one luxury that can buy you time itself - even the social kind. The line flips the usual moral economy of early rising, where virtue is measured in visible discipline. Here, discipline becomes optional once you have a reputation for it. If people already believe you are industrious, you can cash that belief in like credit, sleeping through the hours when everyone else is proving themselves.
The intent is slyly observational rather than purely aphoristic: Howell is describing how status works in practice. In a 17th-century world of patrons, courts, and crowded urban reputations, being seen as productive could matter as much as being productive. The subtext is a quiet indictment of performative virtue. Public life runs on narratives; once you control yours, the actual schedule becomes secondary. It is an early-modern version of a contemporary phenomenon: the brand that outruns the product.
The phrase "has the fame" is doing the heavy lifting. Fame is not achievement; it is consensus, a socially maintained story. Howell is pointing at the asymmetry of scrutiny: unknown people must demonstrate, famous people are assumed. The punch is in the permission granted by that assumption. Sleeping till noon isn't just laziness; it's power - the ability to violate a norm without penalty because your identity has already been stamped as compliant.
Underneath the wit sits a practical warning: reputations are useful, but they can also hollow out the habits they were built on. Once virtue becomes a costume, the temptation is to keep the costume and lose the work.
The intent is slyly observational rather than purely aphoristic: Howell is describing how status works in practice. In a 17th-century world of patrons, courts, and crowded urban reputations, being seen as productive could matter as much as being productive. The subtext is a quiet indictment of performative virtue. Public life runs on narratives; once you control yours, the actual schedule becomes secondary. It is an early-modern version of a contemporary phenomenon: the brand that outruns the product.
The phrase "has the fame" is doing the heavy lifting. Fame is not achievement; it is consensus, a socially maintained story. Howell is pointing at the asymmetry of scrutiny: unknown people must demonstrate, famous people are assumed. The punch is in the permission granted by that assumption. Sleeping till noon isn't just laziness; it's power - the ability to violate a norm without penalty because your identity has already been stamped as compliant.
Underneath the wit sits a practical warning: reputations are useful, but they can also hollow out the habits they were built on. Once virtue becomes a costume, the temptation is to keep the costume and lose the work.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
|---|
More Quotes by James
Add to List
