This is the final test of a gentleman: his respect for those who can be of no possible service to him.

Phelps frames “gentlemanliness” not as polish, pedigree, or public reputation, but as an ethical reflex revealed when self-interest is absent. The “final test” is how one treats people who offer no advantage—those without wealth, status, influence, or utility. Respect here implies more than courtesy; it suggests recognizing equal human dignity and resisting the transactional habit of valuing others only for what they can provide. The line also critiques social climbing and performative civility: manners shown to the powerful may be strategic, but kindness to the powerless is character. In a modern register, it anticipates ideas about moral integrity, empathy, and the treatment of marginalized or overlooked individuals.