People have grown weary and impatient of rhetoric and
discourse, of preaching and sermonizing. In this day, the one thing that can
deliver the world from its travail and attract the hearts of its peoples is
deeds, not words; example, not precept; saintly virtues, not statements
and charters issued by governments and nations on socio-political affairs. In
all matters, great or small, word must be the complement of deed, and deed the
companion of word: each must supplement, support and reinforce the other. It is
in this respect that the Bahá'ís must seek distinction over other peoples and
nations, whom the Pen of the Most High has epitomized in the following words:
"Their words are the pride of the world, and their deeds are the shame of
the nations."
(Shoghi Effendi, from a letter dated 8 December 1923 to a Bahá'í
community - translated from the Persian; The Compilation of Compilations, vol.
I, Trustworthiness: A Cardinal
Bahá'í Virtue)
