My previous entry reminded me of a quote I have been meaning to track down from Persuasion. When I read this line, it was as if Jane Austen had articulated something of which I only had a vague conception:
"She felt that she could so much more depend upon the sincerity of those who sometimes looked or said a careless or hasty thing, than of those whose presence of mind never varied, whose tongue never slipped."
In my poor attempt at paraphrasing: I trust people who are open, and in being so sometimes say or do things that are mildly offensive or ridiculous, more so than people who are closed and are a little too careful in what they say.
However, there is a limit to openness, I think best captured by C. S. Lewis in The Problem of Pain:
"The 'frankness' of people sunk below shame is a very cheap frankness."
There is then a boundary to openness, but I think the world would be a much better place if people were more open, not the reverse.
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