Source identified
“Lie not one to another.”
The short instruction makes honesty a basic requirement of life with other people.
Source note: Colossians 3:9 in the King James Version; the opening command is quoted here.
Source identified
“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.
Source identified
“Before him, I may think aloud.”
The line describes the relief of a friendship in which thought can be expressed openly before it is polished for public judgment.
Source note: Emerson continues his description of sincerity between friends in the essay Friendship.
Source identified
“A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere.”
Friendship permits unusual honesty because the relationship is secure enough to hold unguarded thought without constant performance.
Source note: In Friendship, Emerson names truth as one of the sovereign elements of the relationship.
Source identified
“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.”
Emerson places inner integrity above conformity, arguing that a person should examine inherited standards rather than surrender judgment merely because they are socially approved.
Source note: Self-Reliance, in the passage beginning with Emerson’s argument for nonconformity.
Source identified
“At least I prefer to write unwisely rather than to be silent unkindly.”
Marcus explains why he risks offering awkward advice to Fronto: preserving kindness and speaking when concern matters can be preferable to staying silent simply to avoid possible embarrassment.
Source note: Project Gutenberg #2680, correspondence appendix, Ad M. Caes. ii. 2. Marcus closes a letter about Fronto’s role in the Herodes Atticus dispute with this sentence. It is personal epistolary reasoning inside a specific conflict, not a universal rule to intervene in every disagreement.