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The Academy should be impartial in conduct; while it aims to exalt the people it should aim to do so by truth—not by lies, by honesty—not by flattery.
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“The Academy should be impartial in conduct; while it aims to exalt the people it should aim to do so by truth—not by lies, by honesty—not by flattery.”

W. E. B. Du Bois

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Source
The Conservation of Races
Date
1897
Meaning

Meaning of “The Academy should be impartial in conduct; while…”

Du Bois argues that collective advancement requires truthful self-assessment rather than flattering narratives, making honesty part of responsible institutional leadership.

Source context

Where does it come from?

The Conservation of Races, discussion of the American Negro Academy’s conduct; Project Gutenberg #5685. The line is a direct institutional principle within Du Bois’s 1897 address, while the essay’s period racial classifications remain historically contextualized.

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Themes

Ideas connected with this quotation

CommunityHonestyIntegrityLeadershipResponsibilityTruth
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I shall obey God rather than you.
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“I shall obey God rather than you.”

Plato · Apology · 4th century BCE
Voice: Dialogue speaker · Socrates
Meaning & context

Socrates presents moral and philosophical duty as more binding than compliance with pressure from political authority.

Source details

Apology, Jowett translation; Socrates says he would continue practicing philosophy even if acquittal were conditioned on silence.

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Can we so educate a group of students that there will be in every one of them a conscience on which we can depend.
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“Can we so educate a group of students that there will be in every one of them a conscience on which we can depend.”

Booker T. Washington · Character Building · 1902
Meaning & context

The educational question shifts attention from acquiring information to developing dependable moral judgment, which Washington treats as a central test of character formation.

Source details

Character Building, “Each One His Part,” Project Gutenberg #60484. Washington asks whether Tuskegee can educate an individual conscience that performs small duties thoroughly even when no audience is watching; the question closes that address’s argument about conscientious responsibility.

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It does not pay an individual to do anything except what his conscience will approve of every day, and every hour and minute in the day.
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“It does not pay an individual to do anything except what his conscience will approve of every day, and every hour and minute in the day.”

Booker T. Washington · Character Building · 1902
Meaning & context

Washington makes conscience a recurring test of conduct, asking whether ordinary choices can withstand one’s own moral approval rather than merely outside scrutiny.

Source details

Character Building, “What Will Pay?”, Project Gutenberg #60484. Washington reports a discussion of honesty in business and uses conscience as a practical test of conduct; the sentence belongs to that address’s argument that dishonest dealing does not pay.

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The liar is no whit better than the thief.
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“The liar is no whit better than the thief.”

Theodore Roosevelt · The Man with the Muck-Rake · 1906
Meaning & context

Roosevelt argues that criticism loses moral legitimacy when it becomes false, making truthfulness a constraint on reform even when the target of criticism may deserve scrutiny.

Source details

The Man with the Muck-Rake, April 14, 1906. Roosevelt is discussing public criticism, journalism and slander; the surrounding speech simultaneously calls for relentless exposure of genuine wrongdoing when the attack is truthful.

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