He's like a character out of Lewis Carroll
Be what you would seem to be - or, if you'd like it put more simply - never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.
Great analogy..
Also, what ISN'T in a gray area when the GC has the line: "outrages against personal dignity"...THAT whole description is gray.