759. What is the real nature of the point of honor in duels?
“Pride and vanity, two plagues of humanity.”
a) Are there cases where a person’s honor is really at stake and a refusal to fight would be an act of cowardice?
“That depends on customs. Each country and every century has a different way of viewing such matters. When people are more morally advanced, they understand that the true point of honor transcends all human passions. Reparation for a wrong cannot be obtained by killing another or by getting yourself killed.”
There is true greatness and honor in confessing our wrongdoing when we are wrong, forgiving when we are right and, in all cases, ignoring insults that cannot touch those who are superior to them.
