When we speak, we breathe life into ideas. Words may be invisible, but they are never silent. They find their way into the ear, the mind, and eventually the heart.
Think about it: a text is read with the eyes, the blind read with their hands, and spoken words are heard with the ear. The path is different, but the destination is the same - words always land in both the mind and the heart.
That’s why words are so powerful. They don’t just disappear into the air; they leave an imprint. And this blog is a bit ironic, because I’m not too concerned about whether my words reach your mind or your heart first. I trust they’ll reach both by the time you finish reading.
The truth is simple: your words will either give life or bring death. They will speak trust or betrayal, hope or despair. There’s an old saying that still matters today: “I am a man of my word.”
That means what I say, I back up with action. Sure, we all fall short at times. But if you want to stop making a habit of breaking your word, stop making promises you’re not sure you can keep. At the same time, don’t swing the other way and avoid commitment altogether. If people kept their word even 80% of the time, society would look completely different. Fewer contracts would be needed. A handshake and a spoken agreement would be enough. The endless hours spent drafting five-thousand-page legal contracts wouldn’t even exist.
Here’s why I’m writing this: over the past five months, I’ve been surrounded by people from all kinds of backgrounds. And I’ve seen something that angers me deeply. In some circles, there’s no shame in breaking your word. It’s blatant in the business world, and I hate it. In personal life, it’s more subtle - still frowned upon - but even then, it speaks volumes. Because whether it’s business or personal, your word reveals who you are.
There are people I won’t deal with to this day, not because they cheated me out of money, but because they broke their word without shame. That alone told me enough about their character.
The reality is this: when people don’t keep their word, everyone else pays the price.
But why don’t people keep their word?
Fear of failure
Lack of discipline
Forgetfulness
Trying to please everyone but following through with no one
Selfish ambition that outweighs responsibility
Carelessness with commitments
A lack of integrity at the core
So where do you find yourself on this list?
What do you wrestle with most?
Here’s the heart of it: every word you speak is teaching the people around you something about you. So what lessons are your words teaching? Do they speak life or death? Do they say, “I can be trusted,” or, “I cannot”?
And remember this - words don’t come back easily. Especially the ones that cut straight to the heart. Once they’re spoken, they echo. So choose wisely. Will your words build people up and help them thrive? Or will they tear people down and leave destruction behind?
A society falls apart when integrity in words disappears. But a society that honors its word will always stand.
You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do. - Carl Jung
A man’s word can hold him upright in circumstances where all else collapses. To remain faithful to one’s word is to remain faithful to oneself. - Viktor Frankl
Integrity means to be true to oneself, to act in accordance with one’s values, not because of fear of social sanctions but because one’s own word compels it. - Erich Fromm
It is not the man who promises most who is most trustworthy, but he who keeps his promises. - Seneca
Your actions speak so loudly, I cannot hear what you are saying. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
A man is more a man through the silence he keeps than the words he speaks, but once his word is given, it binds him to himself. - Albert Camus
A man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point where he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. - Fyodor Dostoevsky
But let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation. - James 5:12 (KJV)
Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight. - Proverbs 12:22 (KJV)