Maxim

Keep your promises; let your yes mean yes.

“Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.”

— Qoheleth (the Preacher), Ecclesiastes 5:5 (KJV) · source Verified
Judaism · Ancient (before 200 BCE)
Translation: King James Version (public domain)

A promise is a small piece of the future we give to someone else. Keeping it, or not making it lightly, is how trust grows, and how our words come to carry weight.

Related expressions

“But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”
— Jesus, Matthew 5:37 (KJV)
Watch on YouTube: BibleProject: The Sermon on the Mount ↗BibleProject on the Sermon on the Mount
ChristianityClassical (200 BCE – 600 CE)relation: expressesVerifiedsourceTranslation: King James Version (public domain)
“And perform your covenant; verily the covenant shall be enquired of:”
— The Qur'an, Qur'an 17:34 (Sura Al-Isra, 'The Night Journey'), tr. J. M. Rodwell
IslamMedieval (600 – 1500)relation: expressesVerifiedsourceTranslation: public-domain translation (J. M. Rodwell)
“I do not know how a man without truthfulness is to get on.”
— Confucius, Analects 2.22, tr. James Legge (the word rendered "truthfulness", xin, also means keeping faith)
ConfucianismAncient (before 200 BCE)relation: similarVerifiedsourceTranslation: public-domain translation (Legge)

Score

Moral Rank 65.2 · Evidence E = 14.61

E = ln(1+3.17) + √3.17 + 3·2.30 + 1.5·3 = 14.61

How this is scored