Truth. One who well knew described a perfect man as one who " speaks the truth in his heart," - inward truthfulness, outward veracity; this goes before all else in making up the gentleman.
Calvert says: "A gentleman may brush his own shoes or clothes, or mend or make them, or roughen his hands with the helve, or foul them with dye-work or iron-work; but he must not foul his mouth with a lie."
A lie makes relations impossible. When two persons meet, there can be no true conversations unless it is thoroughly understood that each is himself: I am I, and you are you; I say what is true, and I believe that you say what is true. This is the foundation of all human intercourse.
Nor can a man long be himself who does not speak the truth. He duplicates and reduplicates himself, loses all sense of personality, and becomes a mere phenomenon, flickering amongst men with a false light, trusted by none, and at last is lost even to himself; for a liar finally ceases to believe himself; his memory, judgment, and even senses fail to bring him true reports.
There is no girdle that will hold a man together and make him a person but the truth.
If one is centrally true, kind, honorable, delicate, and considerate, he will almost without fail have manners that will take him into any circle where culture and taste prevail over folly.
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