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I think I have seen with impartial eyes, and I am sure I have written at least honestly, whether wisely or not.
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“I think I have seen with impartial eyes, and I am sure I have written at least honestly, whether wisely or not.”

Mark Twain

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Source
The Innocents Abroad
Date
1869
Meaning

Meaning of “I think I have seen with impartial eyes,…”

Twain distinguishes honest reporting from a claim to perfect judgment, presenting candor and acknowledged fallibility as part of his travel-writing method.

Source context

Where does it come from?

The Innocents Abroad (1869), Preface. Twain says that he thinks he has seen with impartial eyes and is sure he has written honestly, while explicitly declining to claim perfect wisdom. Verified against the scan-backed 1869 first edition on Wikisource, original Preface page 19; this is authorial travel-writing method rather than a claim of objective infallibility.

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CommunicationHonestyHumilityTruthWritingTravel
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Source identified
aspire to simplicity of speech.
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“aspire to simplicity of speech.”

Charles Wagner · The Simple Life · 1901
Meaning & context

Plain expression is treated as a discipline: the speaker should reduce distortion, display and needless verbal complication rather than hiding meaning behind rhetoric.

Source details

The Simple Life, Chapter IV, “Simplicity of Speech,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; the sentence introduces Wagner’s appeal for plainer speech.

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I speak truth, not so much as I would, but as much as I dare.
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“I speak truth, not so much as I would, but as much as I dare.”

Michel de Montaigne · Essays of Montaigne — Book III · 1588
Meaning & context

Frank self-description has limits, but Montaigne still treats increasing candor as part of the value of writing honestly about oneself.

Source details

Essays of Montaigne, Book III, Chapter II, “Of Repentance,” Charles Cotton translation; Project Gutenberg Volume 14 #3594 / Complete Essays #3600. The surrounding passage treats fidelity and increasingly candid self-report as part of the Essays’ project.

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Words should serve the fact, and not substitute themselves for it
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“Words should serve the fact, and not substitute themselves for it”

Charles Wagner · The Simple Life · 1901
Meaning & context

Language is assigned a supporting role: words should clarify reality instead of becoming an impressive verbal screen that displaces the thing being discussed.

Source details

The Simple Life, Chapter IV, “Simplicity of Speech,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; Wagner criticizes language that replaces fact with display.

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Insincerity is always weakness; sincerity even in error is strength.
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“Insincerity is always weakness; sincerity even in error is strength.”

George Henry Lewes · The Principles of Success in Literature · 1891
Meaning & context

The claim values genuine conviction over calculated pose in literary work, while allowing that sincere writers can still be factually or critically mistaken.

Source details

The Principles of Success in Literature, discussion of sincerity, Project Gutenberg #10420; preserved as Lewes’s literary-critical principle rather than a universal law.

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Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure.
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“Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure.”

Jane Austen · Emma · 1815
Voice: Narrator voice · Narrator
Meaning & context

Austen observes that even sincere accounts can contain omission, disguise, or misunderstanding, which makes careful listening and humility important in judging what people say.

Source details

Emma, Volume III, Chapter XIII, scan-backed 1816 John Murray first edition on Wikisource. The narrator observes that complete truth seldom belongs to any human disclosure while explaining that even the Emma–Knightley understanding contains mistaken conduct alongside genuine feeling.

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