Either you have a rival or you don't. If you have one, you must set out to please, so as to be preferred to him. If you don't have one, you must still please...

Either you have a rival or you don't. If you have one, you must set out to please, so as to be preferred to him. If you don't have one, you must still please so as to obviate the possibility of having one.

Pierre Choderlos de Laclos in Dangerous Liaisons (1782)
Submitted by Simona Enache
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