It means reliableness, and convinces other men that it can be trusted.

And a man is already of consequence in the world when it is known that he can be relied on,--that when he says he knows a thing, he does know it,--that when he says he will do a thing, he can do, and does it.

Thus reliableness becomes a passport to the general esteem and confidence of mankind.
In the affairs of life or of business, it is not intellect that tells so much as character,--not brains so much as heart,--not genius so much as self-control, patience, and discipline, regulated by judgment.

Hence there is no better provision for the uses of either private or public life, than a fair share of ordinary good sense guided by rectitude.

Good sense, disciplined by experience and inspired by goodness, issues in practical wisdom.