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Let every one of us cultivate, in every word that issues from our mouth, absolute truth. I say cultivate, because to very few people - as may be noticed of most young children - does truth, this rigid, literal veracity, come by nature. To many, even who love it and prize it dearly in others, it comes only after the self-control, watchfulness, and bitter experience of years. ~ Ch. 8

Dinah Maria Mulock#21

TruthCharacterDisciplineEffortIntegrity

About this quote

What does it mean?
Absolute truth must be cultivated through effort and experience, as it rarely comes naturally.
In plain terms
Truth requires work and experience; it doesn't come naturally to most.
What can you take from it?
Work to speak the truth.

Where it applies

  • raising children
  • self-improvement
  • leadership

Putting it to work

  • daily truthfulness practice
  • holding others accountable

Questions to consider

  • When is truth hardest to speak?
  • How do you practice honesty?

Another view

Rigid truth-telling might harm relationships without tact.

More from Dinah Maria Mulock

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  2. 'Believe only half of what you see, and nothing that you hear,' is a cynical saying, and yet less bitter than at first appears. It does not argue that human na…

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  3. There can be - there ought to be - no medium course; a love-affair is either sober earnest or contemptible folly, if not wickedness: to gossip about it is, in …

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