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“The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.”
Voice: Fictional character · Antonio
Even respected language can be quoted selectively, so a citation should be judged by context and purpose rather than authority alone.
Source note: The Merchant of Venice, Act 1, Scene 3.
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“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.
Source note: The Power of Truth, opening chapter, Project Gutenberg #56020; Jordan describes the speech of a person committed to truthfulness.
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“A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth.”
Voice: Fictional character · Wise man of the village
Repeated deception damages credibility beyond the original lie: once listeners have learned to expect false alarms, even a later truthful warning can fail to restore belief in time.
Source note: Joseph Jacobs, The Fables of Aesop, “The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf,” Project Gutenberg #28. The wise man of the village gives the moral after the boy’s repeated false cries cause the villagers to ignore his real warning.
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“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.
Source note: Optimism: An Essay (1903), Project Gutenberg #31622. The following paragraph calls ignorant or indifferent optimism dangerous and false.
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“Insincerity is always weakness; sincerity even in error is strength.”
The claim values genuine conviction over calculated pose in literary work, while allowing that sincere writers can still be factually or critically mistaken.
Source note: 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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“speak the speech of honor.”
Honorable speech is presented as expression that can be trusted because it does not depend on concealment, manipulation or a second hidden meaning.
Source note: The Simple Life, Chapter IV, “Simplicity of Speech,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; Wagner contrasts honorable speech with duplicity.