Life & Wisdom Quote by Lemuel K. Washburn

Honesty, in Washburn's framing, is not a personality trait you privately possess; it's a posture you publicly take. The fence is doing double duty here: it's the old symbol of political evasiveness and the everyday image of someone trying to keep clean shoes while still claiming to be "on the property". By insisting honesty is never "seen" there, the line targets a social performance as much as a moral one. You can tell yourself you're being nuanced, strategic, impartial. But to onlookers, fence-sitting reads as self-protection.

The intent is a quiet indictment of equivocation. Washburn isn't arguing that every issue has a simple answer; he's arguing that refusing to declare your stake often functions as a lie with better manners. Honesty, as he implies, is legible. It announces itself through choices that carry risk: alienating people, losing status, forfeiting plausible deniability. The phrase "astride" sharpens the critique. It's not the cautious lean of uncertainty; it's a comfortable straddle, an almost athletic balance that suggests skillful avoidance. That's where the cynicism lives: the fence-sitter isn't confused, they're practiced.

Contextually, this fits a writerly tradition that distrusts neutrality when power is on the line. It’s an aphorism built for civic life: committee rooms, editorial pages, family arguments where "I'm staying out of it" often translates to "I don't want consequences". The subtext is blunt: integrity is not a midpoint. It's a side, taken in full view.