Taken by themselves, they do but seem to be what they are not. 怎么翻译?具体一点.

你给出具体的语言环境吧,至少把一段话拿出来,不然太抽象了不好翻译.Taken by themselves, they do but seem to be what they are not;]they look like virtue at a distance, but they are detected by close observers, and in the long run;不好意思，能告诉我出处吗？我去查一下。knowledge and virture原文是：Taken by themselves, they do but seem to be what they are not; they look like virtue at a distance, but they are detected by close observers, and in the long run; and hence it is that they are popularly accused of pretense and hypocrisy, not, I repeat, from their own fault, but because their professors and their admirers persist in taking them for what they are not, and are officious in arrogating for them a praise to which they have no claim.翻译为：就其本身而言，他们似乎已远非其本来面目。。。这篇文章比较抽象，不太好懂。还有什么问题，欢迎私下交流。