Where there is sathya there is dharma - Sanskrit

Courtesy:Sri.K.V.Anantanarayanan

न सा सभा यत्र न सन्ति वृद्धाः
न ते वृद्धाः ये च न वदन्ति धर्मं।
नासौ धर्मो न यत्र सत्यमस्ति
न तद् सत्यं यच्छलेनाभ्युपेतं॥

चाणक्यसूत्राणि

na sā sabhā yatra na vṛddhāḥ
na te vṛddhāḥ ye ca na vadanti dharmaṁ|
nāsau dharmo na yatra satyamasti
na tad satyaṁ yacchalenābhyupetaṁ||

cāṇakyasūtrāṇi

ന സാ സഭാ യത്ര ന വൃദ്ധാ:
ന തേ വൃദ്ധാ: യേ ച ന വദന്തി ധര്‍മ്മംന അസൌ ധര്‍മോ ന യത്ര സത്യമസ്തി
ന തദ്‌ സത്യം യത്ച്ഛലേന അഭ്യുപേതം

ചാണക്യന്‍

വയസുകൊണ്ടും ജ്ഞാനം കൊണ്ടും മുതിര്‍ന്നവര്‍ ഇല്ലാത്ത സഭ ഒരു സഭ തന്നെയല്ല 
ധര്‍മ്മവും ന്യായവും പറയാത്തവരെ വൃദ്ധര്‍ എന്ന് വിളിക്കുന്നതില്‍ അര്‍ത്ഥമില്ല
സത്യം അല്ലാത്തതോന്നും ധര്‍മ്മമാവില്ല
പൊള്ളത്തരങ്ങളും കാപട്യവും കൊണ്ട് താങ്ങിനിര്ത്തുന്നതോന്നും സത്യമാവില്ല

An assembly for legislation or adjudication is inadequate if it is not represented by scholars wizened by age and experience. 
The elders who do not expound virtue cannot be treated as wise and grown up. 
It is not to be treated as virtue if it is not buttressed by truth. 
And truth cannot be a contraption with external brilliance with contents ridden by deception...meaning half-truths and ad-hoc truths are not to be given the status of pure truth.

The political astuteness of the Master stands out here. 
Human beings, however brilliant they are intellectually, however erudite they are, they can reach the apex of brilliance of thought and discretion only as they attain ripe age. Experience has no substitute. 
Consider the ages of our Presidents, Prime Ministers, Judges of the apex court and so on. May be the exceptions are Shankara or Jesus.. 
But they are godheads with no age. 
Mere graying of hair does not make one an old gentleman. 
We have seen many gerontocracies in autocratic juntas. 
And politicians with nothing to their credit other than the donkey years reaching the legislative fora are also not rare. 
But the master prescribes advanced age only because with advancing age the knowledge and sense of virtue and detachment will get ripened. 
And whatever may be the virtue of an action if that action is not based on truth, then it cannot be a virtue. 
And most important, the truth mentioned here should be absolute and not what was propagated by Rasputins and Goebbels as also many of their contemporary avatars.