Reputation vs. Honor (Quotes)

Lois McMaster Bujold talks a great deal about honor in her Vorkosigan Saga series. This is not a concept I hear a lot of people talking about, so her references to it have piqued my interest. In A Civil Campaign, Miles Vorkosigan is slandered. He and his mother Cordelia talk about the difference between reputation and honor:

Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself.

There is no more hollow feeling than to stand with your honor shattered at your feet while soaring public reputation wraps you in rewards. That’s soul destroying. The other way around is merely very, very irritating.

Guard your honor. Let your reputation fall where it will.