If I were to select a watchword that I would have every young man write above his door and on his heart, it would be that good word “Fidelity.” I know of no better. The man who meets every obligation to the family, to society, to the State, to his country, and his God, to the very best measure of his strength and ability, cannot fail of that assurance and quietness that comes of a good conscience, and will seldom fail of the approval of his fellow-men, and will never fail of the reward which is promised to his faithfulness.
ATTRIBUTION:
Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901), U.S. president. Speech in Galesburg, Illinois, October 8, 1890. Speeches of Benjamin Harrison: Twenty-Third President of the United States, p. 252, Kennikat Press (1971).
Banquet of Phi Delta Theta fraternity at Knox College; Harrison had been a member during his college years.
