To my good pal Jayhawk:
3. fig. a. the salt of the earth (after Matt. v. 13): the excellent of the earth; formerly, in trivial use, the powerful, aristocratic, or wealthy; now also applied to a person or persons of great worthiness, reliability, honesty, etc.
c950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. v. 13 ee sint salt eores. c1386 CHAUCER Sompn. T. 488 Ye been the salt of the erthe and the savour. ?c1420 26 Pol. Poems xxi. 145 Of ere e ben cleped salt, For salt of wisdom soule saues. 1579 LYLY Euphues (Arb.) 141 The vniuersities of Christendome which should be..the leauen, the salt, the seasoning of the world. 1790 H. VENN in Carus Life C. Simeon 84 They are the truly excellent of the earthits salt, who..reach the heart and conscience. 1842 Literary Gaz. 28 May 371/3 To dine like queens, kings, princes, potentates, and the other salt of the earth. 1869 RAWLINSON Anc. Hist. 517 The army was, under the Imperial system, the salt of the Roman world. 1871 MORLEY Carlyle in Crit. Misc. Ser. I. (1878) 195 A little band, the supposed salt of the earth. 1916 G. B. SHAW Androcles & Lion p. xv, They may not be the salt of the earth, these Philistines; but they are the substance of civilization. 1931 T. R. G. LYELL Slang, Phrase & Idiom 659 If he's a friend of yours, you're a lucky man, for if ever a fellow was one of the salt of the earth, he is. He's the best man I've ever met, in every way. 1948 E. S. GARDNER D.A. takes Chance x. 103 Eve was a mighty fine girl, and her mother is the salt of the earth. 1951 E. M. FORSTER Two Cheers for Democracy I. 56 If you don't like people, kill them, banish them, segregate them, and then strut up and down proclaiming that you are the salt of the earth. 1953 WODEHOUSE Performing Flea 78 You dine with the President on Monday, and he slaps you on the back and tells you you are the salt of the earth, and on Tuesday morning you get a letter from him saying you are fired. 1976 N. THORNBURG Cutter & Bone vi. 148 And such good friends they were too. Real salt of the earth.