Monkey Thoughts

Fabula dicit omnes bestias fetus suos Jovi probandos praesentasse, inter quas simia deformem natum trahens, risu omnium castigari non potuit quin suum caeteris anteferret. Ingenitum si quidem est omni animanti amare quod genuit. De corde sensus nascitur, et amant corda fetus suos adeo ut saepe animus perversus in conspectu summae veritatis tortuosum et pravum, et risu omnium dignum sensum suum commendare non erubescat. Hugo De Sancte Victore, Miscellanea, Liber I, Tit III, Apologue probans omne cor pronum esse ad commendationem sui et suorum Source: Migne PL 177.481c

A fable tells that all the beasts brought their young to be approved by Jove, and among them was a monkey leading her ugly child, and the laughter of all of them was not able to correct her from putting her own young before all others. It is a property of every living thing to love what it has produced. The feeling is born from the heart and hearts love their young, and so it is that often a mind that is corrupted in the sight of perfect truth, and twisted and depraved, even amid the laughter of everyone, does not blush to commend the value of its own thoughts. Hugh Of Saint Victor, Miscellanea, Book 1, Chap 3, A fable proving that every heart is inclined to the commendation of itself and what it produces