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“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.
Source note: 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.”
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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.
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“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.
Source note: 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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“The liar is no whit better than the thief.”
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 note: 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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“In all you speak, let truth and candor shine.”
Pope treats candor as part of good judgment: accurate criticism should also be spoken with integrity and fairness.
Source note: An Essay on Criticism, in the section describing the moral duties of a critic.
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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.