Meanings and Moral Values
stand this, because all have been at times both angry and vain, and occasionally too blind to see that the wit that wounds is not wit; and that the humor which humiliates another is not extraordinarily humorous. These things are clear enough; but that which is not clear is the state of heart capable of uttering deliberately a cruel word, or that condition of mind morbid enough to withhold a kind word. Nothing could be meaner except the adding of lies to the cruelty.
Kind words should not be uttered merely as a duty, but rather as an evidence of character and as a proof of rational attitude. They should not be given in the spirit of charity, for in kindness there is but one caste, and, therefore, no condescension.
So much for a little aside on the ethical significance of words. Ethics is the secret of their alchemy. The alchemist is the will of man.
Yet talk of this kind does very little good I think to speech as it is spoken, to language
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