Sima Qian (c. 145-90 BCE)
“Men who stick fast to their doctrines and observe every minute principle of duty, though it means spending all their lives alone in the world, can hardly be discussed in the same breath with those who lower the tone of their discourse to suit the vulgar, bob along with the current of the times, and thereby acquire a glorious name.”
- Records of the Grand Historian (Shi Ji 124) by Sima Qian. Translated by Burton Watson (Columbia University Press, 1993).
