Truth Quote by William Temple

Temple’s recipe for conversation reads like a moral checklist, but the real move is strategic: he’s trying to tame talk without killing its pleasure. By putting “truth” first, he frames conversation as something sturdier than performance or social sparring. In a culture where polite speech could easily become ornament, truth is the anchor that keeps words from drifting into flattery, gossip, or empty cleverness.

“Good sense” comes next, and that’s where the line quietly tightens the screws. Truth alone can be blunt, even cruel; good sense is the social intelligence that knows what to emphasize, what to omit, and when to let a point land gently. It’s an argument for judgment over verbosity, and for restraint as a kind of sophistication.

Then he pivots to “good humor,” a signal that conversation isn’t a courtroom deposition. The subtext is that people don’t bond over being right; they bond over feeling safe. Good humor lubricates disagreement and makes honesty tolerable. It’s also a subtle rebuke to the fashionable cynic: if your truths leave a mess, you’re doing it wrong.

Wit comes last, demoted from the star of the show to the finishing spice. Temple isn’t anti-wit; he’s anti-wit-as-a-weapon. In the salons and coffeehouses where cleverness could become a competitive sport, he’s insisting that wit earns its place only after integrity, judgment, and generosity. The line ultimately flatters the listener with a high bar: good conversation is not just talent, it’s character under social pressure.