This continuation page contains additional source-backed quotations not shown in the initial 70-quotation overview. Return to the topic guide and browse collection.
“My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”
Love is measured by conduct rather than verbal display, making practical help and truthful action more important than affectionate claims alone.
1 John 3:18 in the King James Version, following a contrast between having resources and closing oneself to another person’s need.
“A lash like mine no honest man shall dread,”
Pope’s satirical persona claims that his criticism is aimed at vice or folly rather than honest conduct, presenting moral discrimination as the defense of satire.
An Epistle from Mr. Pope to Dr. Arbuthnot (1735 first-edition scan), printed page 15 / scan leaf 21, lines 292–293. “A Lash like mine no honest man shall dread” states Pope’s own defence of satire immediately before the attack on “Paris” / Lord Hervey. The first edition capitalizes “Lash”; the frozen catalog lowercase is normalized orthography.
“Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,”
The line describes a subtle form of hostility in which apparent approval is calibrated to diminish rather than support its target.
An Epistle from Mr. Pope to Dr. Arbuthnot (1735 first-edition scan), printed page 11 / scan leaf 17, lines 199–212. “Damn with faint praise” belongs to Pope’s satirical portrait of “Atticus,” conventionally associated with Joseph Addison. It is polemical literary characterization inside Pope’s self-defence, not neutral biography or a general diagnosis of insincere praise.
“At ev'ry word a reputation dies.”
Pope compresses the destructive speed of fashionable gossip into a comic line about reputations being damaged in ordinary conversation.
The Rape of the Lock, Canto III, line 16 in the 1714 second edition. ‘At ev’ry Word a Reputation dies’ is already present in that edition and remains dated 1714; the line occurs in a satirical description of fashionable social talk rather than as literal reportage.
“Jargon, which is not so much bad writing as the avoidance of writing.”
Jargon is criticized as evasive language that circles around meaning instead of doing the harder work of choosing direct, responsible words.
On the Art of Writing, Lecture VI, Project Gutenberg #17470; Quiller-Couch is recalling the preceding lecture’s argument about jargon and prose.
“The second vice is lying, the first is running in debt.”
Franklin links avoidable debt with later pressure to make excuses or break promises, presenting financial obligation as a potential test of honesty.
The Way to Wealth, debt-and-credit section; Project Gutenberg #43855. This is eighteenth-century moral rhetoric and should not be read as a judgment that indebted people are inherently dishonest.
“I may be wrong.”
The admission places a limit on Washington’s own policy claims and models intellectual uncertainty rather than presenting judgment as infallible.
The Future of the American Negro, Chapter VIII; Project Gutenberg #26507. The sentence appears in Washington’s closing policy discussion immediately after his summary of dangers and immediately before his qualification that he may also be in some degree right.
“think justly, speak frankly.”
The paired verbs connect sound judgment with direct expression: clear communication should follow an effort to think fairly and say what is meant.
The Simple Life, Chapter IV, “Simplicity of Speech,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; Wagner joins just thought with frank speech.
“aspire to simplicity of speech.”
Plain expression is treated as a discipline: the speaker should reduce distortion, display and needless verbal complication rather than hiding meaning behind rhetoric.
The Simple Life, Chapter IV, “Simplicity of Speech,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; the sentence introduces Wagner’s appeal for plainer speech.
“All social relations have their roots in mutual trust”
Wagner treats trust as infrastructure for social life, implying that communication becomes costly and defensive when people cannot rely on one another’s sincerity.
The Simple Life, Chapter IV, “Simplicity of Speech,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; the surrounding paragraph discusses sincerity and confidence.
“An hour of plain-dealing does more for the salvation of the world than years of duplicity.”
The contrast gives direct truthful dealing greater moral value than prolonged strategic ambiguity, making sincerity a practical social good rather than mere style.
The Simple Life, Chapter IV, “Simplicity of Speech,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; the line follows Wagner’s appeal for the “speech of honor.”
“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and incur my own abhorrence.”
Douglass places self-respect above social approval: he would rather risk ridicule for stating what he genuinely believed about his own life than suppress that conviction to satisfy outside judgment.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Chapter V, Project Gutenberg #23. Douglass is explaining his belief that Providence shaped his removal to Baltimore and immediately connects that belief with a continuing conviction that slavery would not hold him forever.
“Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.”
Nietzsche warns that fixed certainty can block revision more effectively than an obvious falsehood because conviction can make contrary evidence harder to examine.
Human, All-Too-Human, Part I, aphorism 483, “The Enemies of Truth”; Helen Zimmern translation, 1909 edition.
“It is a mistake always to contemplate the good and ignore the evil”
Keller explicitly rejects an optimism that refuses to see harm, making clear-eyed attention to difficult facts part of her constructive outlook.
Optimism: An Essay (1903), Project Gutenberg #31622. The following paragraph calls ignorant or indifferent optimism dangerous and false.
“It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.”
Thoreau distinguishes legality from moral rightness, warning that habitual reverence for law can become dangerous when law and conscience point in opposing directions.
Civil Disobedience, first printed in 1849 as “Resistance to Civil Government”; represented Wikisource text. The surrounding paragraph asks whether citizens should resign conscience to legislators.
“The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.”
Thoreau places personal moral judgment ahead of automatic obedience, arguing that conscience creates an individual responsibility to decide whether one’s own action is right.
Civil Disobedience, first published in 1849 as 'Resistance to Civil Government'; reviewed in the public-domain Miscellanies transcription. The obligation-to-do-right sentence occurs early in Thoreau's argument contrasting conscience with automatic deference to majority rule and law. It remains historical political philosophy rather than current legal advice or a blanket instruction to violate law.
“If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.”
The difficulty of speaking is used as evidence of emotional depth, contrasting sincere feeling with polished or excessive declaration.
Emma, Volume III, Chapter XIII, scan-backed 1816 John Murray first edition on Wikisource. George Knightley tells Emma “If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more” during his declaration, explicitly contrasting the depth of his feeling with his difficulty making polished speeches.
“If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.”
This passage does not equate forgiveness with silence about harm: it places honest confrontation and forgiveness in the same sequence when repentance follows.
Luke 17:3 in the King James Version.
“He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that.”
Understanding a position requires serious contact with competing arguments; familiarity with only one side can produce confidence without real comprehension.
On Liberty, Chapter 2; Mill argues for open discussion because opposing views expose weaknesses and sharpen understanding.
“Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.”
Integrity includes conduct that can withstand public scrutiny as well as private conviction.
2 Corinthians 8:21 in the King James Version.
“Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour.”
Truthfulness is framed as a responsibility within relationship, not merely as a private personal preference.
Ephesians 4:25 in the King James Version; the first clause and command are quoted here.
“The integrity of the upright shall guide them.”
Integrity functions as an internal guide when a person has to choose without knowing every consequence in advance.
Proverbs 11:3 in the King James Version; the opening clause is quoted here.
“Though asleep, the conscience is there”
Tolstoy argues that social conditioning can suppress moral awareness without eliminating it, leaving open the possibility that conscience can reawaken.
The Kingdom of God Is Within You, Chapter XII; Constance Garnett translation, Project Gutenberg #43302. In the concluding chapter Tolstoy discusses soldiers, authority, hypnotic social conditioning and moral responsibility, arguing that conscience may be put to sleep without being destroyed.
“Man's freedom lies in the power of this choice.”
Tolstoy locates a limited but meaningful freedom in whether a person recognizes and acts upon the truth they believe they have understood.
The Kingdom of God Is Within You, Chapter XII; Constance Garnett translation, Project Gutenberg #43302. In the concluding chapter Tolstoy locates human freedom in the recognition or rejection of truth already revealed to conscience; the sentence states that freedom lies in this choice.
“And, after all, what is a lie? ’T is but The truth in masquerade;”
Byron’s narrator jokingly blurs truth and falsehood as part of a satirical attack on how historians, politicians and storytellers shape facts through presentation.
Don Juan, Canto XI, stanza XXXVII, represented by the Wikisource canto transcription. “And, after all, what is a lie?” begins Byron’s comic narrator’s satire about historians, heroes, lawyers, poetry and prophecy mixing fact with presentation. It is deliberately ironic poetic narration, not a serious universal definition of lying.
“At least I prefer to write unwisely rather than to be silent unkindly.”
Marcus explains why he risks offering awkward advice to Fronto: preserving kindness and speaking when concern matters can be preferable to staying silent simply to avoid possible embarrassment.
Project Gutenberg #2680, correspondence appendix, Ad M. Caes. ii. 2. Marcus closes a letter about Fronto’s role in the Herodes Atticus dispute with this sentence. It is personal epistolary reasoning inside a specific conflict, not a universal rule to intervene in every disagreement.
“How happy I am, that my friend Marcus Cornelius, so distinguished as an orator and so noble as a man, thinks me worth praising and blaming.”
Marcus values a relationship in which admiration does not exclude correction: Fronto’s willingness to praise and blame him is presented as a mark of trusted friendship rather than mere approval.
Project Gutenberg #2680, Appendix “Correspondence of M. Aurelius Antoninus and M. Cornelius Fronto,” identifies this line as Ad M. Caes. iii. 17. The wording is preserved as correspondence context, not treated as a maxim from the Meditations.
“While thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good.”
Limited time turns character into a present-tense responsibility rather than a future intention.
Meditations, Book IV, in George Long’s translation.
“The best way of avenging thyself is not to become like the wrong-doer.”
Retaliation can reproduce the conduct we condemn; the stronger response is to preserve one’s own standards.
Meditations, Book VI, in George Long’s translation.
“Sensibility is the manie of the day, and compassion the virtue which is to cover a multitude of vices, whilst justice is left to mourn in sullen silence, and balance truth in vain.”
The polemical contrast warns that displays of feeling can become morally evasive when sympathy is praised while justice and truth are neglected.
A Vindication of the Rights of Men; Wollstonecraft is criticizing sentimental rhetoric in Burke, so the passage should not be read as a rejection of compassion itself.
“One principal of action is sufficient—Respect thyself.”
Wollstonecraft makes self-respect a moral standard rather than self-flattery: conduct should remain compatible with one’s own sense of truth and justice instead of being reorganized around gaining a respectable social position.
An Historical and Moral View of the Origin and Progress of the French Revolution, Project Gutenberg #68724. Wollstonecraft connects “Respect thyself” with religion, justice and self-love while criticizing social arrangements that encourage people to sacrifice truthful character for status.
“Nothing is so firmly believed, as what we least know.”
Certainty can be strongest where understanding is weakest, so confidence by itself is poor evidence that a belief has been examined well.
Essays of Montaigne, Book I, Chapter XXXI, ‘That a Man Is Soberly to Judge of the Divine Ordinances,’ Charles Cotton translation edited by William Carew Hazlitt (1877); Project Gutenberg Volume 06 #3586 / Complete Essays #3600. The sentence appears in Montaigne’s skeptical warning about confidence concerning unknown things and speculative claims about divine purposes.
“Shame and its consequent degradation follow the loss of our own good opinion rather than the esteem of others.”
The sentence places moral injury in losing one’s own considered respect, not merely in losing social approval, making conscience a more important measure than reputation.
How to Succeed; the sentence appears in Marden’s discussion of temptation, aspiration, and the damage caused when self-respect is surrendered.
“I shall obey God rather than you.”
Socrates presents moral and philosophical duty as more binding than compliance with pressure from political authority.
Apology, Jowett translation; Socrates says he would continue practicing philosophy even if acquittal were conditioned on silence.
“I would rather die having spoken after my manner, than speak in your manner and live.”
Preserving truthful speech and character is valued above survival purchased by abandoning one’s principles merely to satisfy an audience.
Apology, Jowett translation; Socrates rejects saving himself through a style of pleading he considers unworthy.
“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”
Honest correction from a real friend may hurt more than flattery, but its purpose and reliability make it more valuable.
Proverbs 27:6, King James Version.
“There can be no alliance between Love and Fear.”
Love and fear pull a relationship in opposite directions when fear prevents honesty, security, or free affection.
The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, saying 40, D. Lyman Jr. translation (1856).
“A man of courage never endures an insult; an honorable man never offers one.”
The saying balances firmness with restraint: courage protects dignity, while honor prevents strength from becoming needless aggression.
The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, saying 997, D. Lyman Jr. translation (1856).
“Before him, I may think aloud.”
The line describes the relief of a friendship in which thought can be expressed openly before it is polished for public judgment.
Essays: First Series, “Friendship” (1841), verified against Project Gutenberg #2944 and the 1907 Merrill/Turpin page witness in Project Gutenberg #16643, printed page 126. “Before him, I may think aloud” immediately continues Emerson’s definition of sincerity in friendship and belongs to the same Truth passage as the preceding catalog record.
“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.”
Emerson places inner integrity above conformity, arguing that a person should examine inherited standards rather than surrender judgment merely because they are socially approved.
Self-Reliance, in the passage beginning with Emerson’s argument for nonconformity.
“Thus reliableness becomes a passport to the general esteem and confidence of mankind.”
Smiles connects trust with repeated dependability rather than image: people become credible when others learn that their words, knowledge claims and commitments can be relied on in practice.
Character, Chapter I, “Influence of Character,” Project Gutenberg #2541. The sentence closes Smiles’s paragraph on truthfulness as veracity, rectitude and practical reliableness, explaining why dependable words and actions earn general confidence.
“Regard him as loyal, and you will make him loyal.”
Seneca suggests that suspicion can become self-reinforcing: treating a chosen friend as trustworthy helps create the conditions for candid, reciprocal friendship rather than teaching defensiveness from the outset.
Moral Letters to Lucilius, Letter 3, Richard M. Gummere translation. Seneca immediately contrasts this with people who fear deception so strongly that their suspicions help teach others to deceive them.
“All warfare is based on deception.”
Strategy depends partly on managing what an opponent believes about intentions, strength, timing, and position rather than revealing every fact directly.
The Art of War, Chapter I 'Laying Plans,' section 18, Lionel Giles translation (1910), original scan leaf 62. 'All warfare is based on deception' begins Giles's section 18 before the examples of seeming unable, inactive, near or far. This remains translation-mediated ancient military strategy, not generic business, relationship or current operational advice.
“The men with the muck-rakes are often indispensable to the well-being of society.”
Investigative criticism can serve society, Roosevelt argues, but its usefulness depends on truth, proportion and retaining the ability to distinguish genuine wrongdoing from indiscriminate condemnation.
The Man with the Muck-Rake, April 14, 1906. This sentence begins a qualification that such critics remain useful only if they know when to stop; the speech is not a blanket rejection of investigative journalism.
“Such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks,—and all it wants,—is the liberty of appearing.”
Paine links truth with open expression, arguing that its central requirement is the opportunity to be heard rather than protection from scrutiny.
Rights of Man; represented in the public-domain Conway edition and kept in the work’s polemical political context.
“Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again;”
Bryant expresses confidence that truth can survive temporary defeat and re-emerge even when public power, violence or opinion appears to have buried it.
“The Battlefield,” represented in Project Gutenberg #29700. The line belongs to a civic-religious meditation on conflict, sacrifice and moral endurance; its resurrection imagery expresses poetic conviction rather than a literal law of history.
“Truth is the rock foundation of every great character.”
Jordan makes truthfulness foundational to character, treating honest conduct as structural rather than as a convenient tactic used only when it pays.
The Power of Truth, opening chapter, Project Gutenberg #56020; Jordan introduces truth as the foundation of character.
“He never states as a fact that of which he is not sure.”
Intellectual honesty includes marking uncertainty rather than upgrading a guess into a fact, a habit that makes speech more reliable and accountable.
The Power of Truth, opening chapter, Project Gutenberg #56020; Jordan describes the speech of a person committed to truthfulness.
“Lying is the sacrifice of honor to create a wrong impression.”
The sentence defines lying through intended deception: honor is traded away in order to make another person believe something the speaker knows is false.
The Power of Truth, opening chapter, Project Gutenberg #56020; Jordan contrasts truthful dealing with deliberately creating a false impression.
“Truth is the heart’s loyalty to abstract right, made manifest in concrete instances.”
Jordan connects principle with practice: loyalty to truth becomes meaningful only when it appears in the specific choices and statements of ordinary life.
The Power of Truth, opening chapter, Project Gutenberg #56020; the sentence summarizes Jordan’s conduct-of-life definition of truth.
“We must know the truth; and we must avoid error.”
James separates two intellectual duties—seeking truth and avoiding falsehood—to show that prioritizing one over the other can produce different habits of belief and inquiry.
The Will to Believe, essay “The Will to Believe”; Project Gutenberg #26659. James immediately argues that truth-seeking and error-avoidance are distinct laws rather than two phrasings of one command.
“This above all: to thine own self be true.”
Polonius frames integrity as consistency between inward conviction and outward conduct, although the advice belongs to a fallible fictional counselor.
Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3; Polonius gives Laertes this advice before Laertes leaves for France.
“The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.”
Even respected language can be quoted selectively, so a citation should be judged by context and purpose rather than authority alone.
The Merchant of Venice, Act 1, Scene 3.
