"[[Marcus Aurelius]], later emperor himself, came to despise those who could not be honest as a policy. **Particularly grating to him were people who would begin a remark by claiming they were going to give it to him straight, implying, as we all so casually do, that most of the time we’re not doing that**. Honesty should not need a preface. **An honest person should be like a smelly goat in the room, Marcus would say— you know when they’re there**." --- **Tags** -- [[quotes]], [[honesty]], [[semantic-creep]], [[character]], **Source** -- [[202409180127 - B - Right Thing, Right Now]]