The Folks You Know

You can disagree in politics

And split on divers planks;

You can say the other fellows

Have allied themselves with cranks;

But isn't it a curious fact --

And blessed that it's so --

That there's nothing much the matter

With the folks you really know?

You can make of your religion

Just a creed for the elect;

You can turn a frigid shoulder

On most every other sect;

But I'll wager you have noticed 

In your travels to and fro

That you have to make exceptions

Of the folks you really know.

You can stay aloof from people

In your little neighborhood

On the theory that the most of them

Are questionably good.

But the ones who win your favor,

Be their station high or low,

Are the ones by friendly visit

You have really come to know.

You can boast of your discernment

In appraising those you meet;

You can put them in two classes

In a manner most discreet;

But in the final reckoning,

You've seen how friendships grow

from the ranks of worthy people,

Folks you've really come to know.

So you'd best delay your judgement

On this motley humankind;

And be not the impetuous

In making up your mind.

For in the end, it always seems,

You're ready to bestow

Kind words on all the circle

Of the folks you've come to know!

(Copyright, 1940)