The True Gentleman (1899)

The True Gentleman

"The true gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from goodwill, 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 the any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; 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 1899

This is something I can only aspire to, but damnit, I will try!