Wise words from Voltaire

"As soon as one wishes to do any good act, one is sure to make enemies. Should one render a service of any kind whatever, one can be certain of meeting with people who will try and crush you. Whether you write prose or verse, or you build a town, it is all the same; you will arouse a persecuting jealousy. There is only one way to escape from that harpy; never write anything but your epitaph, never construct anything except a monument for your tomb and get inside it as quickly as you can."

an extract from a letter written by Voltaire on 4 October 1771 to Madame La Marquise du Deffand