“If you have to say it, then it isn’t true. If it is true, then it would go without saying.”
Boy, wouldn’t it be nice if that were true.
ME: “If you have to say it, then it isn’t true. If it is true, then it would go without saying.”
YOU: Boy, wouldn’t it be nice if that were true.
OK; I was making what I’d call a rule-of-thumb generalization, which you apparently are saying is false.
Let’s break it down. It’s about people who toot their own horns a lot, vs. those who just let their accomplishments or virtues speak for themselves.
An overly-simplistic example:
“I am not a crook!”
Nixon said it.
Billy Graham never said it.