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“I may be wrong.”
The admission places a limit on Washington’s own policy claims and models intellectual uncertainty rather than presenting judgment as infallible.
Source note: The Future of the American Negro, Chapter VIII; Project Gutenberg #26507. The sentence appears in Washington’s closing policy discussion immediately after his summary of dangers and immediately before his qualification that he may also be in some degree right.
Source identified
“My good opinion once lost, is lost forever.”
Voice: Fictional character · Fitzwilliam Darcy
Darcy presents trust and esteem as difficult to restore once serious judgment has turned against someone, revealing both the firmness and the potential rigidity of his early character.
Source note: Pride and Prejudice, Chapter XI, Project Gutenberg #1342. Fitzwilliam Darcy says this to Elizabeth Bennet during their discussion of faults; Elizabeth immediately identifies the position as implacable resentment, so the novel itself does not leave the maxim unchallenged.
Source identified
“Happy is the man who learns from the misfortunes of others.”
Other people’s failures can become instruction when we pay attention to consequences before repeating the same mistake ourselves.
Source note: Moral printed after “The Lion, the Fox, and the Ass”; the fox changes his conduct after observing the ass’s fate.
Source identified
“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.
Source identified
“Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure.”
Voice: Narrator voice · Narrator
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 note: Emma, Volume III, Chapter 13, during the narrator’s reflection on Emma and Mr. Knightley’s conversation.
Source identified
“The superior man wishes to be slow in his speech and earnest in his conduct.”
Restraint in speech is paired with seriousness in action, placing demonstrated conduct above impressive but unproven words.
Source note: The Analects of Confucius, James Legge’s public-domain English translation; Book IV contrasts careful speech with earnest conduct.