“Always do right. It will please some people and astonish the rest.”
Truman“Always do right. It will please some people and astonish the rest.” is the plainspoken maxim Harry S. Truman offers as an alternative to mass psychology: rather than follow imagined public opinion, he urges people to act on what they honestly believe wise and right.
Context in Truman’s Remarks
Truman presents the saying while arguing against the modern assumption that people should be guided by others’ presumed opinions rather than their own judgment. He says he is ready to give up the complexities of propaganda in favor of Mark Twain’s simpler admonition. The contrast is between a calculated appeal to public perception and a direct ethical rule.
Meaning and Rhetorical Force
The sentence turns moral advice into a compact test of conduct. Its two outcomes—pleasing some and astonishing the rest—acknowledge that doing what one believes right will not satisfy everyone. The maxim therefore values integrity over universal approval, and its brisk, balanced phrasing gives Truman’s rejection of mass persuasion an easily remembered form.
