[99]
We should, therefore, in our dealings with people1
show what I may almost call reverence toward all
men—not only toward the men who are the best, but
toward others as well. For indifference to public
opinion implies not merely self-sufficiency, but even
total lack of principle. There is, too, a difference between [p. 103] justice and considerateness in one's relations
to one's fellow-men. It is the function of justice
not to do wrong to one's fellow-men; of considerateness, not to wound their feelings; and in this the
essence of propriety is best seen.
With the foregoing exposition, I think it is clear
what the nature is of what we term propriety.
1 Considerateness.
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