The best index to a person's character is how he treats people who can't do him any good, and how he treats people who can't fight back.

The saying proposes a practical moral test: observe how someone behaves toward those who offer no advantage or leverage. Kindness shown only to the powerful or useful can be strategic; kindness extended to the powerless is harder to fake and therefore more revealing. By pairing “people who can’t do him any good” with “people who can’t fight back,” the quote highlights two common temptations—self-interest and bullying—and suggests that character is measured by restraint, empathy, and fairness when there is no external reward or fear of consequences. It functions as advice for judging integrity in everyday interactions, especially in unequal relationships.