What does this quote mean?

“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.

Source note: Proverbs 11:3 in the King James Version; the opening clause is quoted here.

“His honesty is not policy.”

Honesty is distinguished from strategy: a person of character tells the truth because it is right, not merely because truthfulness happens to be advantageous.

Source note: The Power of Truth, opening chapter, Project Gutenberg #56020; Jordan rejects the phrase “honesty is the best policy” as too transactional.

“He that walketh uprightly walketh surely.”

Consistent upright conduct reduces the need to maintain conflicting stories or hidden motives.

Source note: Proverbs 10:9 in the King James Version; the opening clause is quoted here.

“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.

Source note: The Power of Truth, opening chapter, Project Gutenberg #56020; Jordan introduces truth as the foundation of character.

“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.

Source note: 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.

“If it is not right, do not do it: if it is not true, do not say it.”

The test is deliberately simple: action and speech should each pass an ethical standard before they are expressed.

Source note: Meditations, Book XII, in George Long’s translation.