'The glory and merit of certain men lies in writing well: that of certain others, in not writing at all.' La Bruere Characters (Of Books)
When I first read it I wondered where the glory and merit of women lied, then I reluctantly accepted this 17th century language sexism (especially as he praises women's writing quite highly) and started thinking about the information this sentence brings us. Isn't it clear that people do different things in their life and are good at different things? Or did he mean that some people had better not write and that is their greatest merit?
