In plain words
If the foot slips, people can draw it back, but if the tongue slips, they cannot draw it back, be sure; among these men who go back on their word, for all the vows they take, they are beasts on this earth.
Students!
Not even a currency note has the value a word has. Notes are of two kinds. One is the currency note. The second is the promissory note. When either of these lacks the marks it should have, those notes are worthless.
The life of a word is Satya; the life of a fort is a host of brave soldiers, on this earth; the life of a woman is honour; the life of a note is its signature, sure …
When we forget a principle such as this, we become people who have forgotten humanness itself.
Students!
Whatever words we have to speak, we must speak them well, with regard for the time and the occasion. With humility and obedience we must speak words that are not unpleasant. We must not be unpleasant. We must not speak Asatya because it pleases him. Thinking it will displease them, we must not tell the truth. We must speak the truth as the truth itself. We need not concern ourselves at all with what the other person likes and dislikes. We must speak with faith. Only when we use these words in this way do we have honour in society. When we have to guard the honour of society, of the country, of the nation and of the individual, the word alone is its life. Words are equal to life.
Do you know why the tongue was given? Was it just to chatter? No, no, it was to speak the truth.