It goes with the energetic, the forceful.

The dull soul who is content to plod along year after year in the same rut may be honest, and this one redeeming feature may be of such inestimable value to him that it sweetens and softens his entire days.

It will bring him friends ...
true-blue friends, who will excuse all other shortcomings _because of his honesty_.

It gives him the unadulterated trust of his employer and it arouses a certain admiration among his narrow circle of acquaintances.

If this is true with the dullard, the weakling, then what must it mean _when possessed by the great_?
We know, for instance, how the nation instinctively turned to General Washington when it came to choosing their President after the Revolutionary War.