刚直的人坚持正义，不屈不挠，无论是暴民之冲动，抑或是暴君之淫威，都不会令其有失公允。但是，谁能成为这样一个不死鸟式的公正人物呢？追随正义的人屈指可数。确实有许多人赞美这种品德，但只希望别人去实践。有的勇于实践，却往往知难而退；危难当头，伪君子弃之若敝，政客将之改头换面。坚守正义，就不在乎其是否与友谊、权势甚至私利相冲突，所以便有被人抛弃之危险。狡猾之人巧言惑众，大谈所谓为了服从上级，或是为了国家利益。但率直忠贞之人却视其为背信弃义。他们更注重坚贞不屈，而非所谓的精明。这样的人总与真理为伴。若他们抛弃了某一群体，则是因他人背弃了真理，而非他们变化无常。
a man of rectitude clings to the sect of right with such tenacity of purpose that neither the passions of the mob nor the violence of the tyrant can ever cause him to transgress the bounds of right. but who shall be such a phoenix of equity? what a scanty following has rectitude! many praise it indeed, but－for others. others follow it till danger threatens; then the false deny it, the politic conceal it. for it cares not if it fights with friendship, power, or even self-interest: then comes the danger of desertion. then astute men make plausible distinctions so as not to stand in the way of their superiors or of reasons of state. but the straightforward and constant regard dissimulation as a kind of treason, and set more store on tenacity than on sagacity. such are always to be found on the side of truth, and if they desert a party, they do not change from fickleness, but because the others have first deserted truth.
