INACCURATE PEOPLE ARE DISHONEST.
It is not safe to trust people who are habitually inaccurate in their work. Even with the best intentions in the world, they become dishonest. Before they are aware of it, the habit of inaccuracy extends to their statements. They do not take pains to be thorough in anything they undertake, even in clearly expressing the truth. These people never carry much weight in a community, however honest in principle they may be, because no reliance can be placed on their words or work. You can not depend upon what they tell you. If they are orators, they are discredited; if they are at the bar, the judges always take their statements cum grano salis; if in the pulpit, they do not win the respect of the congregation. In fact, whatever those people do, they are placed at a disadvantage because of their habit of inaccuracy. There is a great difference between going just right and a little wrong. These victims of inaccuracy did not start right. They failed to realize that what is put into the first of life is put into the whole of life. A pebble in a tiny stream will turn the course of a river, so the seemingly unimportant habit of inaccuracy has kept many a man from success by changing the current of his life. Accuracy, doing things to a finish, is one of the most important lessons that can be taught a child, because there is a moral quality at stake. The whole character is often undermined by the unfortunate habit of inaccuracy. Men whose ability would have made them peers in their communities have become nonentities, and their careers mediocre or total failures, simply because they were allowed in childhood to form the habit of half doing things, and of making half or exaggerated statements.—Success.