Code of honour

“ Modesty forbids men separately, or collectively, to assume titles. But as all honours, even that of kings, originated from the public, the public may justly be called the true fountain of honour. And it is with much pleasure I have heard the title 'Honourable' applied to a body of men, who nobly disregarding private ease and interest for public welfare, have justly merited the address of The Honourable Continental Congress. ”

“ But since, sir, the preference due to the cider of my county has been denied, in my opinion, with great partiality and injustice, I think myself obliged, by all the laws of honour and gratitude, to stand up once more to vindicate its superiority, and assert its value.
The laws of honour, sir, require this from me, as they oblige every man to stand forth a vindicator of merit slighted and oppressed; and gratitude calls loudly upon me to exert myself in the protection of that to which I have been often indebted for a pleasing suspense of care, and a welcome flow of spirit and gaiety. ”

“ And you, most honourable and magnificent lords, the worthy and revered magistrates of a free people, permit me to offer you in particular my duty and homage. If there is in the world a station capable of conferring honour on those who fill it, it is undoubtedly that which virtue and talents combine to bestow, that of which you have made yourselves worthy, and to which you have been promoted by your fellow-citizens. ”

“ We have a right to call our privy councillors Right Honourable, our lords’ sons Honourable, and so forth: but for a nation as numerous, well educated, strong, rich, civilized, free as our own, to dare to give its distinguished citizens titles of honour—monstrous assumption of low-bred arrogance and parvenue vanity! ”

“ We endorse our assurance with an expression of the wish that, in whatever part of the British Empire your future life may be spent, it may be attended, as in the past, with honour, and, by the blessing of God, with health and happiness for yourself and all those you hold dear.
It is the prerogative of the Crown alone to bestow honours on those who have served their country well, and none have been better merited than those which you enjoy, and to which, we trust, additions may be made. ”

“ Let this then be the law, having an ingredient of praise, not compelling but advising the great body of the citizens to honour the brave men who are the saviours of the whole state, whether by their courage or by their military skill―they should honour them, I say, in the second place; for the first and highest tribute of respect is to be given to those who are able above other men to honour the words of good legislators. ”

“ Neither, therefore, is he to be deprived of the honour which is paid him through works; which honour has been legally established, not for three or for three thousand years, but in all preceding ages, among all nations of the earth. ”

“ By honour, in its proper and genuine signification, we mean nothing else but the good opinion of others, which is counted more or less substantial, the more or less noise or bustle there is made about the demonstration of it; and when we say the sovereign is the fountain of honour, it signifies that he has the power, by titles or ceremonies, or both together, to stamp a mark upon whom he pleases, that shall be as current as his coin, and procure the owner the good opinion of every body, whether he deserves it or not. ”

“ Again, that's a true sign which by the consent of men becomes a sign; therefore also that is honourable, which by the consent of men, that is to say, by the command of the City, becomes a sign of honour. ”

“ I have often thought since that, if such a society as the latter—to be called “The Society of Honour”—were established in every parish, it might, if well managed, do great good. The society ought not to annoy any one, by being over officious, nor to meddle otherwise than by quietly, and yet publicly, rewarding, or expressing the good opinion they entertain of the conduct of the person honoured. ”

“ The ambitious man grasps at it, as being necessary to his designs; the vain man sues for it, as a testimony of his merit; the honest man demands it, as his due; and most men consider it as necessary to their existence.
Honour, being produced after the formation of society, could not be a part of the common deposite, and therefore, whilst we act under its influence, we return, for that instant, to a state of nature, and withdraw ourselves from the laws, which, in this case, are insufficient for our protection. ”

“ Note also, that by courtesy of England, all the Sons of Dukes and Marquesses and the eldest Sons of Earls, have the titles of Lord and Right Honourable; and their daughters have the title of Honourable, but without any other addition. Every gentleman, in any place of honour or trust, is styled Honourable. ”

“ XXI. Our third reason for not using them as testimonies of honour and respect is, because there is no discovery of honour or respect to be made by them: it is rather eluding and equivocating it; cheating people of the honour and respect that is due to them; giving them nothing in the show of something. There is in them no obedience to superiors, no love to equals, no help or countenance to inferiors.
XXII. We are, we declare to the whole world, for true honour and respect; we honour the king, our parents, our masters, our magistrates, our landlords, one another ”

“ Ritter always rate the quality of honour by the office of the individual? If so, are those who have no office also without honour! My honour is one and indivisible—that which God has implanted within me—the honour of being a man. This honour I esteem more highly than that priestly conceit with which, instead of love, Rome seeks by consecration to inoculate her slaves, and which generally sinks them far below the level of their fellow-men, though they may dream that they are high above them. ”

“ Honour has its supreme laws, to which education is bound to conform....Those things which honour forbids are more rigorously forbidden when the laws do not concur in the prohibition, and those it commands are more strongly insisted upon when they happen not to be commanded by law.—Montesquieu, {The Spirit Of Laws, }b. ”

“ If they stand the test they are to be honoured in life and after death.And he who at every age, as boy and youth and in mature life, has come out of the trial victorious and pure, shall be appointed 414a ruler and guardian of the State; he shall be honoured in life and death, and shall receive sepulture and other memorials of honour, the greatest that we have to give. But him who fails, we must reject. I am inclined to think that this is the sort of way in which our rulers and guardians should be chosen and appointed. ”

“ To deny the impressions received, and repel the decision which humanity and justice dictate, on account of not compromising what is called the honour of the country? But the honour of a country consists in actions truly great, noble and virtuous of its inhabitants; not in gilding with justifications, or insufficient exculpations, those that unfortunately bear on themselves the seal of being iniquitous and cruel. ”

“ As honour is the reward of virtue, conferred upon a man by the choice and affection of his fellow-citizens, he who obtains it by their free votes and suffrages is to be considered, in my opinion, as an honourable member of the community. But he who acquires his power and authority by taking advantage of every unhappy incident, and without the consent of his fellow-citizens, as Curio aimed to do, acquires only the name of honour, without the substance. ”

“ The Lord has said that upon those members that you consider the least honourable he has conferred the most honour; and he will confer upon every man and woman that honours the Priesthood, the Presidency, the Bishops, and all the members of the body. We cannot honour God except we honour his authority: there is no possible way of honouring the kingdom of God only by honouring its authorities. ”

“ I shall always bear the highest Esteem for Men of strict Honour and real Virtue, and will never ridicule what is approved of by Custom, and the Consent of several Ages has render'd valuable; but no Title or Dignity, no Name or Distinction can be so honourable, or so eminent, that a serious Enquirer may not have Leave to trace it to the Bottom. I have acknowledged, that the Word Honour, in its first and genuine Sense, is as ancient as the oldest Language in the World. ”

“ You must also avoid any dispute or difference with your brother officers, for tho' there are unhappily some cases where a gentleman must vindicate his honour yet where I have known such things happen they might have been prevented with honour if the parties had not allowed their passions to get the better of their reason; and you must remember there is never honour to be acquired by being quarrelsome, but the reverse, and that your life ought now to be devoted to the service of your King and country. ”

“ That the Valour and Steadiness of Men of Honour: are the grand Support of all States and Kingdoms, is a Truth not to be denied; and that not only the Peace and Tranquility, and all the Blessings we enjoy, but likewise the King's Crown and Safety would be precarious without them, is as unquestionable. ”

“ SECTION III.—Of the right to Honour and Reputation. 1. Honour is the attestation of another's excellence. Reputation is the opinion of many touching another's life and conduct. Honour is paid to a man to his face, whereas his reputation is bruited behind his back. Honour is taken away by insult, reputation by detraction. ”

“ And does his honour oblige him to be a knave too, or to desert those that are knaves? Or, does a robber, who leaves the gang, violate his honour, which was only an obligation to rob?
A good conscience, an honest heart, and clean hands, are inseparable from true honour; nor does true honour teach any man to act against his judgment. It must be convinced before it acts, and mere authority has no weight with it. In human matters, it does not consider what is commanded, but what ought to be commanded ”

“ In the British House of Lords, when the peers sit to try another peer on a criminal charge or at an impeachment, on the question being put whether the accused be guilty or not, each peer, rising in his place in turn, lays his right hand on his breast and returns his verdict “upon my honour.” As a title of address, “his honour” or “your honour” is applied in the United States of America to all judges, in the United Kingdom only to county court judges. ”

“ It is the duty of treating all who are our superiors either in age, character, or station with respect. The Bible requires us to “honour our father and mother,” whether they are good or bad, wise or foolish. It requires us to “render honour to whom honour is due.” It requires us ever to “be courteous” whatever [103] may be the situation of those we have to deal with.
Now the rulers and overseers of a family are placed in a situation where they are entitled to respectful treatment from all in their household, whatever may be their own character. ”

“ And, after all, it was added, even that evil is not to be laid to the charge of the law of honour as a necessary accompaniment, since, if all persons adhered constantly to the rules of good society, there would never be occasion for a duel; in the same manner as there would never be occasion, if all men would comply with the law of the land, for any of the penalties of the law to be actually inflicted. ”

“ From a pretence or affectation of extraordinary purity and excellence of character, their word of honour is the sanction under which these high courts, in other countries, have given their sentence—But with us, like the other judges of the union, like the rest of the people, of which they are never to forget they are a part, it is required that they be on oath. ”

“ Of course no circumstances can be conceived in which it is necessary to debruise supporters, as under no circumstances can these be the subject of a Royal Licence of this character, except in a possible case where they might have been granted as a simple augmentation to a man and his descendants, without further limitation. I know of no bastardised version consequent upon such a grant. Supporters signify some definite honour which cannot ordinarily survive illegitimacy. ”

“ For whatever is fashionable is apt to draw Respect and Applause: Whatever is unfashionable is for the present intitled only to Contempt. Hence the Principle of Honour becomes fluctuating and uncertain in its Nature, and therefore in its Effects: A Regulation of this Principle, therefore, is of the most important Consequence; because, if left to its own fantastic Dictates, it will often endanger instead of strengthening the Foundations of public Freedom. ”

“ But as the Principle of Honour, whatever Origin it had, teaches Men to be just in all their Dealings, and true to their Engagements, and there are considerable Numbers in every civiliz'd Nation, who really take Delight in this Principle, and in all their Actions are sway'd and govern'd by it, must you not allow, that such a Principle, let it be owing to Education, to Flattery, to Pride, or what you please, is more useful to Society than the best Doctrine in the World, which None can live up to, and but Few endeavour to follow? ”

“ I beseech you not to listen to him. "Let no man beguile you into a voluntary humility!" Honour to whom honour is due—the honour of your success is due to your noble selves. "You owe nothing, absolutely nothing whatever, to your institutions, to your citizenship. ”

“ It is ordained with a view to place all persons on a perfectly equal footing in relation to eligibility for the decoration, that neither rank, nor long service, nor wounds, nor any other circumstance or condition whatsoever, save the merit of conspicuous bravery, shall be held to establish a sufficient claim to the honour. ”