Techniques of the Selling Writer

by Dwight V. Swain

To assume that finite minds can successfully catalogue the infinite is in itself presumptuous, and indicative of infinite ego.

Honesty, truthfulness, kindness, integrity, chastity, piety, courage, dignity, humility, sensitivity, honor—these are more than just words. They’re inner standards, restrictions on self-interest and self-indulgence. People live by them. Often, there’s disagreement on just how far such limits—internal or external—should extend. The rules vary from time to time and place to place and culture to culture; and individual circumstances alter cases. But most men, most of the time, abide by them. When they don’t, the result is anarchy.