“ I have been asked what i mean by ‘ word of honor ‘ i will tell you ; Place me behind prison walls - walls of stone ever so high , ever so thick , reaching ever so far into the ground - there is a possibility that in some way or another i might be able to escape ; but stand me on the floor and draw a chalk line around me and have me give MY WORD of honor never to cross it . CAN I GET OUT OF THAT CIRCLE ? NO , NEVER I’D DIE FIRST . “

What this quote means is that he will stick to his word , like for example say you are in house arrest you can not leave the house its up to you , you decide if you wanna keep your word . Being in house arrest mean that you can not leave the house no matter what , this is better than being in prison behind bars . But its up to you if you wanna keep your word because once you are in house arrest you made a commitment to stay in there no matter what