Gorbachev's university friend, Mlynář, described him as "loyal and personally honest". He was self-confident, polite, and tactful; he had a happy and optimistic temperament. He used self-deprecating humour, and sometimes profanities, and often referred to himself in the third person. He was a skilled manager, and had a good memory. A hard worker or workaholic, as General Secretary, he would rise at 7 or 8 in the morning and not go to bed until 1 or 2. Taubman called him "a remarkably decent man"; he thought Gorbachev to have "high moral standards".