Thursday, November 01, 2018
Three Rules of Conduct
"Never retract. Never explain. Get it done and let them howl." This advice is often attributed to Benjamin Jowett, but apparently he didn't originate the words, merely repeated them, at least according to Lionel A. Tollemache, "Recollections of Jowett," The Journal of Education, Vol. 17, No. 310 (May, 1895) 299-318 (at 302, footnote omitted):
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One or two examples may be subjoined of the sort of advice which Jowett sometimes gave, and which obtained for him the credit or discredit of worldly wisdom. I once received from him the following counsel: "Never listen to a man when he abuses his relations. He will make it up with them, and then he will hate you for knowing that he abused them." On another occasion he said to me: "A friend of mine of great practical ability told me that he has laid down for himself three rules of conduct. Never retract. Never explain. Get it done and let them howl." Jowett repeated these paradoxical maxims with a characteristic laugh, which seemed at any rate not to mark disapproval.
