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Show WHEN CONFIDENCE IS LOST Man Who Fails to Do What He Says Cannot Expect to Be Held in Any Great Respect. I have long received with amiability, amiabil-ity, I hope, the professions of all sorts and conditions of men. But after I have heard their professions, I wait patiently to see their performance. If a man wishes nie to consider him to be loyal, for example, I must really trouble him to show his quality when put to the test; and if he cannot do so I may not say anything the next time he conies around and professes his loyalty, but I will do a lot of thinking. think-ing. I wonder within my own head if he really thinks that I am deceived; if he really thinks that I am as innocent inno-cent as I look. That is the rigid and stern standard to which we hold each other, whether we realize it or not. You know the slang expression, "He is a bad actor." You are not speaking of the stage. You mean he does not do what he says; and the minute you find he does not do what he says, then it is all up so far as your trustfulness and admiration and willing dealings with him are concerned. Woodrow Wilson. |