THIRTIETH TALK 6l7

your disgust; that is not the way to conv&rt other
people. But they may, perhaps, ask your views, ^nd
you can expfess ycmr views; but always temperately;

forcefully yet quFetly. It is no use antagonising other
men; to begin with, you are not likely to convert
them. If you state things quietly and temperately,
it is quite probable, if the man begins to think aOout
it, that he will come over to your point of view.

So with all other things; there may be a case when
you can beneficially startle a man by telling him that
some everyday action of his appears to you wicked.
I think that you are not called upon to volunteer that
statement; you should wait for your favourable
opportunity. The Master practically says that here.
He says: ti When opportunity offers, you will speak
clearly against them," but He does not mean you to
go about thrusting your ideas down other people's
throats.

There is a cruelt}^ in speech as well as in act; and a
man who says a word with the intention to wound another is
guilty of this crime. That^ too, you would not do; but
sometimes a careless word does as much harm as a malici-
ous one. So you must be on your guard against uninten-
tional cruelty.

There again this word ct crime ". A cruel word is
a crime. That again is the same thing. You must
get into the attitude of watchfulness. People pride
themselves sometimes on speaking just what they
think. «They say: " I always say exactly what I
think/5 and seem to think that is a virtue. There