"Be just before you are generous"
About this Quote
A playwright’s moral instruction that lands like stage direction: hit your mark before you improvise. Sheridan, master of comic exposure in The School for Scandal, understood how easily “generosity” becomes a costume change - a way to look virtuous while dodging harder obligations. “Be just before you are generous” doesn’t flatter the giver; it disciplines them. Justice is unglamorous, procedural, even inconvenient. Generosity is dramatic, visible, and socially profitable.
The line’s intent is to reorder moral priorities. Pay what you owe, tell the truth, stop the harm, fix the system - then give gifts, bestow favors, perform largesse. Sheridan’s subtext skewers the genteel habit of using charity as moral laundering: donating to appear benevolent while exploiting workers, evading debts, or benefiting from unfair rules. In his theatrical world, hypocrisy is the engine of comedy; in civic life, it’s the engine of inequality.
Context matters: late 18th-century Britain was thick with patronage, inherited privilege, and public philanthropy that could polish reputations. Sheridan, who also lived in politics and knew the price of public image, writes a line that’s suspicious of moral grandstanding. Justice doesn’t come with applause; generosity often does.
The quote works because it punctures a comforting myth: that kindness cancels wrongdoing. It insists on a moral sequence that feels bracingly modern. Don’t be a villain with good PR. Be fair first, then be lavish if you still want to.
The line’s intent is to reorder moral priorities. Pay what you owe, tell the truth, stop the harm, fix the system - then give gifts, bestow favors, perform largesse. Sheridan’s subtext skewers the genteel habit of using charity as moral laundering: donating to appear benevolent while exploiting workers, evading debts, or benefiting from unfair rules. In his theatrical world, hypocrisy is the engine of comedy; in civic life, it’s the engine of inequality.
Context matters: late 18th-century Britain was thick with patronage, inherited privilege, and public philanthropy that could polish reputations. Sheridan, who also lived in politics and knew the price of public image, writes a line that’s suspicious of moral grandstanding. Justice doesn’t come with applause; generosity often does.
The quote works because it punctures a comforting myth: that kindness cancels wrongdoing. It insists on a moral sequence that feels bracingly modern. Don’t be a villain with good PR. Be fair first, then be lavish if you still want to.
Quote Details
| Topic | Ethics & Morality |
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