John Wayland: On the True Gentleman

October 24, 2013

The visit, by Ignacio León y Escosura

The visit, by Ignacio León y Escosura

“The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another;

Painting by Carl Schindler

Painting by Carl Schindler

who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others rather than his own; and who appears well in any company, a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe.”

 

John Walter Wayland. Virginia, 1909

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