“…the first Principles of Honour, Truth, Temperance, Publick Spirit, Fortitude, Chastity, Benevolence, and Fidelity. The Names of all which Virtues are still retained among us in Languages, and are to be met with in modern as well as ancient Authors, which I am able to assert from my own small Reading.” –Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels, Part 4, Chapter 12.
It reminds us of the things we hold dear or have held dear. And, according to Gulliver anyway, good authors will tell us the truth, that we may learn from them.