In “To Lucasta, On Going to the Wars,” Richard Lovelace (1618–1657) writes of a soldier who laments leaving the “chaste breast and quiet mind” of his mistress to embrace “a sword, a horse, a shield.” But he concludes the poem with this thought:
“Yet this inconstancy is such
As thou too shalt adore;
I could not love thee, Dear, so much,
Loved I not Honour more.”
Over 200 years later, Karl Maeser (1828–1901), founder of Brigham Young Academy, precursor to Brigham Young University, also spoke of honor. This quote, which comes from Brett and Kate McKay’s The Art of Manliness: Manvotionals, is long but deserves to be rendered in full:
“I have been asked what I mean by ‘word of honor.’ I will tell you. Place me behind prison walls—walls of stone ever so high, ever so thick, reaching ever so far into the ground—there is a possibility that in some way or another I might be able to escape; but stand me on the floor and draw a chalk line around me and have me give my word of honor never to cross it. Can I get out of that circle? No, never! I’d die first.”
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