The True Gentleman is the creed brothers of Sigma Alpha Epsilon strive to live their lives according to. It was written by John Walter Wayland in 1899, and unofficially adopted by Sigma Alpha Epsilon in the 1930s. Nationals officially adopted The True Gentleman at the 66th fraternity convention during 2001.
The True Gentleman
by John Walter Wayland
The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others rather than his own; and who appears well in any company, a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe.