Elder Delbert L. Stapley, Part Five: George Washington Desires Honesty

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

And now...the final quote from the April 1971 General Conference!

It comes, once again, from Elder Delbert L. Stapley's talk, "Honesty and Integrity", we come to another quote by a very classic figure - one that we've heard from before in this conference: 

 

The Quote 

George Washington placed emphasis upon honesty when he said: “I hope that I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.”

 

As great as George Washington was, he's also notoriously misquoted - everyone my age remembers the cherry tree, right? I cannot tell a lie...

Not a true story, folks.

Even though the cherry tree is a myth dreamed up by biographer Mason Weems to illustrate Washington's honesty, his true seeking for honesty was no myth. This quote, I am thrilled to report to be a true and actual sourced quote, having come from a letter George Washington wrote to Alexander Hamilton on the 28 August 1788.

The full exerpt from the letter reads as follows. The matter he referred to is a bit of a historical mystery, but I love how he defers judgment on something that could change later. Such a Christlike thing to do, to extend mercy:

 

"On the delicate subject with which you conclude your letter, 

I can say nothing; 

because the event alluded to may never happen; 

and because, in case it should occur, 

it would be a point of prudence to defer forming one’s ultimate and irrevocable decision, 

so long as new data might be afforded 

for one to act with the greater wisdom & propriety. 

I would not wish to conceal my prevailing sentiment from you. 

For you know me well enough, my good Sir, 

to be persuaded that I am not guilty of affection, 

when I tell you, it is my great and sole desire to live and die, 

in peace and retirement, on my own farm. 

Were it even indispensable, a different line of conduct should be adopted; 

while you and some others who are acquainted with my heart 

would acquit, 

the world and Posterity might probably accuse me of inconsistency and ambition. 

Still I hope 

I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain 

(what I consider the most enviable of all titles) 

the character of an honest man, 

as well as prove (what I desire to be considered in reality) 

that I am, with great sincerity & esteem, 

Dear Sir 

Your friend and Most obedient Hble Ser⟨vt⟩

Go: Washington

And that's it! Nearly 70 different quotes from just one Conference, and we've ranged all over the world from this one alone.

Coming up - the October 1971 Conference, and all its literary and cultural quirks and surprises - stay tuned! 

Elder Delbert L. Stapley, Part Four: Shakespeare's Truth from a Villain

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

We're on to the next of five very generous quotes from Elder Delbert L. Stapley's talk, "Honesty and Integrity", and we have another quote from the ever-popular Bard today, the second from this conference: 

 

The Quote 

"Shakespeare said it so well: “This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” (Hamlet, act 1, sc. 3.)"

 

Before this quote, Elder Stapley gives a number of examples of people who are skirting the truth - giving back change when we're given more than we should have gotten, employers being honest with their employees, employees giving a full day's work for their employ, cheating customers or employers, teachers being honest in their grades - ways that people are not true to themselves. 

Do we honestly believe and live according to our beliefs, or do we keep a double standard?

I bring this up, because the quote he gives comes from a character in Hamlet that perfectly personifies this double standard.

The character, Polonius, is an advocate and advisor to the king of Denmark, who himself is a villain - he has killed his own brother and married his brother's wife, an power play that in those times would be akin to murder and adultery today.

Polonius gives the quote mentioned above at the end of a long speech to his loving son, who is headed to school and impatient to get away. The advice is given as a duty a father owes to his son. Not only is the advice insincere and not lived in the character's own life, but it falls upon deaf ears when given to his son.

Good advice, yes, but it comes from one who is an expert politician and manipulator, who lays a trap for Prince Hamlet and dies doing so.

I could go on for pages and pages about the character, and the play, but the point I want to make here is that it's interesting that truth can be spoken by someone, yet not lived out in the life of that same person. What self was Polonius being true to? 

What self are we being true to?

Aren't we all the same in some ways? I give great advice to my children when they ask for it (and sometimes when they don't ask for it), but what sort of example do I give to them? How do I live this advice?

If I'm being honest, I don't always. Jesus Christ was the only person who ever lived on the earth who left a perfect example of living to follow. I'm not Jesus. Not even close.

And yet, the statement is there, upon his lips. Polonius knows truth - he speaks it to his son. But he does not live it, and he comes to an ignominious end. I recognize this same tendency, and I fight this same tendency, in myself.

It's infinitely better to do, than to say. Saying is a start, but doing the good we say is what eventually separates hero from villain.

Shakespeare is awesome. Just sayin'. :-)