Keep to the truth though it may harm thee, and keep away from falsehood though it may profit thee. A man can be perfect only when he speaks the truth and acts according to the truth. _Proverbs_. Truth is the sword of God, which always cleaves when it smites. Truth is armed with horns. By truth man is saved from evil. If falsehood saves from trouble truth saves much more. When thou speakest be truthful, and when thou actest be gentle. An ignorant man who is true is better than a clever man who is false. There are two kinds of truthfulness, and the greatest of them is that which may do thee harm. If truth and falsehood were pictured they would be represented by a terrible lion and a cunning fox. It is better to die a truthful man than to live the life of a liar. TRUTHFULNESS TO PROMISES _Koran_. Be true to a covenant, for a covenant holds a man responsible. Be faithful to your pledged covenants and keep your oaths. _Traditions_. A man who keeps not his word has no religion. A true man's word is like an oath. Be truthful in what you say, faithful to your promise, and careful of what is entrusted to you. A pledged word is as if you had made the gift. _Proverbs_. A true man keeps his promise. A pledged word has the same value as a debt. The promise of a true man is a greater obligation than a debt. That man is a hypocrite who prays and fasts, but is untruthful in what he says, false to his word, and unfaithful in discharging a trust. TRUTHFULNESS TO SECRETS To keep a secret is a divine law. A secret is a trust, and to betray it is perfidy. The least of all noble traits is to keep a secret, and the greatest is to forget it. He controls himself most who hides a secret from his friends. When a secret is known to more than two, it becomes public. He who seeks a place to hide his secret reveals it. Walls have ears. It is unwise to confide a secret to two tongues and four ears. Your secret is your captive, betray it and you become its captive. A man should be a tomb in which a secret is deposited. If you keep your secret you are safe, and it will be to your sorrow if you reveal it. Hearts are the depositaries of secrets, lips their locks, and tongues their keys. The hearts of the wise are the fortresses of secrets. DECEIT Deceit does more harm to the deceitful than to the deceived. If a man commit these three things they will rise against him in judgment and punishment--aggression, perfidy, and deceit. To be true to the perfidious is perfidy, and to deceive the deceitful is lawful. In deceiving your neighbour be more wary than when he is trying to deceive you. When one would deceive you, and you feign to be deceived, you have deceived him. He who would deceive one who cannot be deceived is only deceiving himself. He who allows himself to be deceived by what his enemy says is the greatest enemy to himself. A wise man neither deceives nor is deceived. If a man believe in a stone it will do him good.