About this quote

Ethics don't stay conveniently walled off by category. The corner you cut at work leaks into how you treat people at home, and the reverse is just as true. Character is a single fabric, so honesty in one room of your life and deceit in another can't quietly coexist.

When to use it

• Someone scrupulously honest with clients but padding expense reports, and watching the habit spread.
• Realizing the impatience you show strangers is the same impatience your kids are quietly learning.
• A leader who lies 'only' about small things losing the reflex to tell the truth about the big ones.