You learn more by watching what people do with freedom than what they promise under pressure.

Under pressure, people say what will relieve the pressure, and they often mean it at the time. What they do when there is no constraint, no audience, and no cost to acting otherwise is a much better indicator of what they actually value. Promises are made in one condition and kept in a different one. Freedom is where the real character shows.

Give weight to what people do when nothing is at stake and nobody is watching, including how they treat those who cannot help them. Where words and unpressured behaviour disagree, believe the behaviour. This applies to your own promises as well.