Elder Delbert L. Stapley, Part Two - Will the Real Thomas Carlyle Please Stand Up?

 For Part One, Part Three, Part Four or Part Five in this series, pick a link and go for it. 

This talk was my kind of talk - full of classic references that are now part of our scriptural canon. Big thanks to Elder Delbert L. Stapley, and his talk, "Honesty and Integrity"., coming up near the end of the April 1971 General Conference.

The Quote 

"Carlyle said: “Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure there is one rascal less in the world.”"

 

I used to say this to myself all the time, for many years. Where did this quote come from?

 

The Secular Prophet, Paraphrased

Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish writer of letters during Victorian times. Smart guy - even invented a form of math called the Carlyle circle. No idea what that is, but anyone who invents a new form of math has got brains, for sure.

Brains he did NOT pass on to his eight cousin seven times removed on my mother's side...but that's okay. I'll take another Scottish link any day.

Also, he never actually said this quote, but he sort of said things like it.

Due to the quote anthologies of the early 20th century, things notable people said in the past were sometimes said a certain way, when they never really said that thing, and that's what people remembered them saying going forward. Best not to feel too smug about it - quote anthologies back then, Internet today. Same bad memory, different modality. 

After checking several of his most prominent works - Sartor Resartus, Past and Present, and some of his essays and letters - but I couldn't find a similar quote in any of these works, but there was some similar feeling about work and the importance of it. It's a quote he certainly could have said, based on other things he said, but it appears he didn't actually say it.

So is my life based on a lie? Is it not true because it's a made-up quote?

Although it truly doesn't seem to belong to Thomas Carlyle, the quote speaks to repentance, hard work, honesty, and building up good in the word, one life at a time, all of which I believe are true principles. Though it's better to quote quotes that people actually said, I do believe that what is said in the quote itself is centered around truth.And the false quote endures for that reason.

Complicated? Certainly. 

Fascinating? Absolutely.  

And with that, I leave you with a real quote that runs in a similar vein by Carlyle, which I find equally useful to the above quote. Almost more so, because he actually said it in his book, On Heroes and Hero Worship:

"...my advice is, 

that you endeavour to be honestly rich, or contentedly poor; 

but be sure your riches be justly got; 

for it is well said by Caussin, 

"He that loses his conscience, has nothing left that is worth the keeping."