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The severest test of character is not so much the ability to keep a secret as it is, when the secret is finally out, to refrain from disclosing that you knew it all along.

The severest test of character is not so much the ability to keep a secret as it is, when the secret is finally out, to refrain from disclosing that you knew it all along.

Approximate author period: c. 1951 AD · modern

Meaning not yet available

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Attribution & collection notes
Author or tradition
Sydney J. Harris
Attribution: attributed
Country attributed
Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin.
Historical period
Approximate author period: c. 1951 AD · modern
Approximate author-period evidence for Sydney J. Harris: life dates 1917 to 1986. Wikidata Q7659994, inspected 2026-10-08. Not a quotation composition date or independent verification of attribution. Source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7659994 (accessed 2026-10-08).
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken.
Recorded source
Contributor-provided quotation collection

Supplied reference C; CSV row 261316; supplied attribution, independently unverified

A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.