# Honesty

Honesty refers to a facet of moral character and denotes positive, virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, and straightforwardness along with the absence of lying, cheating, or theft.
Arranged alphabetically by author or source: A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · J · K · L · M · N · O · P · Q · R · S · T · U · V · W · X · Y · Z · Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations · See also · External links

## A

* You have to start with the truth. The truth is the only way that we can get anywhere. Because any decision-making that is based upon lies or ignorance can't lead to a good conclusion.
** Julian Assange,"Julian Assange, monk of the online age who thrives on intellectual battle". The Guardian. 2010-08-01. Retrieved on 2010-08-01.

## B

* He who says that there is no such thing as an honest man is himself a knave.
** George Berkeley, as quoted in Ladies Home Journal Vol. 97, No. 8 (August 1960).
* The truthfulness which Jesus demands from his followers is the self-abnegation which does not hide sin. Nothing is then hidden, everything is brought forth to the light of day. In this question of truthfulness, what matters first and last is that a man’s whole being should be exposed, his whole evil laid bare in the sight of God. But sinful men do not like this sort of truthfulness.
** Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Nachfolge (1937), The Cost of Discipleship (1959), p. 138
* The first step toward greatness is to be honest, says the proverb; but the proverb fails to state the case strong enough. Honesty is not only "the first step toward greatness," — it is greatness itself.
** Christian Nestell Bovee, reported in Louis Klopsch, Many Thoughts of Many Minds (1896), p. 133.
* If we live by the rule of honesty and accept our problems, we can go far down the road of achievement.
** Ben Carson, Think Big (p. 152).
* An honest blunder in the use of the language is not dishonest. [...] What is honest is not dishonest.
** Bowen, L.J., Angus v. Clifford (1891), 60 L. J. Rep. (N. S.) C. D. 456; reported in James William Norton-Kyshe, Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904), p. 100.

## C

* Honesty is the best policy.
** Nathanael Carpenter, Achitophel, or the Picture of a Wicked Politician (1629)
* A honest man's word is as good as his bond.
** Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605-15), Volume III, Part II, Chapter XXXIV.

## D

* We've reached a truly remarkable situation: a grotesque mismatch between the American intelligencia and the American electorate. A philosophical opinion about the nature of the universe which is held by the vast majority of top American scientists, and probably the majority of the intelligencia generally, is so abhorrent to the American electorate that no candidate for popular election dare affirm it in public. If I'm right, this means that high office in the greatest country in the world is barred to the very people best qualified to hold it: the intelligencia, unless they are prepared to lie about their beliefs. To put it bluntly American political opportunities are heavily loaded against those who are simultaneously intelligent and honest.
** Richard Dawkins, "On Militant Atheism" (February 2002)
* I am looking for a human.
** Diogenes of Sinope, as quoted by Diogenes Laërtius, vi. 41. This is frequently translated as "I am looking for an honest man."

## F

* Let honesty be as the breath of thy soul, and never forget to have a penny, when all thy expenses are enumerated and paid: then shalt thou reach the point of happiness, and independence shall be thy shield and buckler, thy helmet and crown; then shall thy soul walk upright nor stoop to the silken wretch because he hath riches, nor pocket an abuse because the hand which offers it wears a ring set with diamonds.
** Benjamin Franklin, The Art of Making Money Plenty, in Every Man's Pocket.

## G

* Straightforwardness without civility is like a surgeon's knife, effective but unpleasant. Candor with courtesy is helpful and admirable.
** Yukteswar Giri Autobiography of a Yogi (1946)

## H

* When men cease to be faithful to their God, he who expects to find them so to each other will be much disappointed.
** Bishop Horne, A Commentary on the Book of Psalm, psalm XII.

## J

* Honesty is such a lonely word. Everyone is so untrue. Honesty is hardly ever heard. And mostly what I need from you.
** Billy Joel, Honesty.

## L

* The more honesty a man has, the less he affects the air of a saint.
** Johann Kaspar Lavater, as quoted in Many Thoughts of Many Minds (1862) edited by Henry Southgate, p. 290.

## M

* Semper bonus homo tiro est.
** An honest man is always a child.
*** Martial, Epigrams (c. 80-104 AD), XII. 51. 2.

## O

* Honesty needs no disguise nor ornament; be plain.
** Thomas Otway, The Orphan.
* A man is sorry to be honest for nothing.
** Ovid, in Henry T. Riley, A Dictionary of Latin and Greek Quotations, Proverbs, Maxims and Mottos (1876), p. 138. This is a translation of Ovid's "gratis paenitet esse probum" from his Ex Ponto, book 2, chapter 3. The translation in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 15th ed., p. 114 (1980) reads: "It is annoying to be honest to no purpose".

## P

* He who dares not offend cannot be honest.
** Thomas Paine, The Forester's Letters, Letter III—'To Cato', Pennsylvania Journal (24 April 1776).
* Therefore, now that you have put away deceit, each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, because we are members belonging to one another.
** Apostle Paul, Ephesians 4:25.
    Beverly Crusher: Data, telling us why you're going to fail before you make the attempt is never wise.
    Data: But is not honesty always the preferred choice?
    Jean-Luc Picard: Excessive honesty can be disastrous, particularly in a commander.
    Data: Indeed?
    Jean-Luc Picard: Knowing your limitations is one thing. Advertising them to a crew can damage your credibility as a leader.
** Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Ensigns of Command" (2 October 1989) by Melinda M. Snodgrass.
* False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.
** Plato, Phaedes 91
* An honest man's the noblest work of God.
** Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man (1733-34), Epistle IV, line 247.

## R

* No man is wise or safe, but he that is honest.
** Walter Raleigh, Advice to the Earl of Rutland on his Travels (1596).
* Yet Heav'n, that made me honest, made me more Than ever king did, when he made a lord.
** Nicholas Rowe, Jane Shore (1714), Act II, scene 1, line 261.
* No man is bound to be rich or great, no, nor to be wise; but every man is bound to be honest.
** Sir Benjamin Rudyerd, as quoted in Hansard's Parliamentary History (March 1627), p. 235.

## S

* Keep your eyes open if you deal with him. — Why, isn't he honest? — Thomasus? Sure he's honest. You just have to watch him, that's all.
** L Sprague de Camp, Lest Darkness Fall.
* No legacy is so rich as honesty.
** William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well (1600s), Act III, scene 5, line 13.
* Ay, sir; to be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.
** William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1600-02), Act II, scene 2, line 178. ("Two Thousand" in Folio "ten" in quartos).
* What's the news? None, my lord, but that the world's grown honest. Then is doomsday near.
** William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1600-02), Act II, scene 2, line 240.
* There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats, For I am arm'd so strong in honesty That they pass by me as the idle wind, Which I respect not.
** William Shakespeare, Julius Cæsar (1599), Act IV, scene 3, line 66.
* This above all, —to thine own self be true; And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.
** William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 1 scene 3.
* Take note, take note, O world, To be direct and honest is not safe.
** William Shakespeare, Othello (c. 1603), Act III, scene 3, line 378.
* An honest tale speeds best being plainly told.
** William Shakespeare, Richard III (c. 1591), Act IV, scene 4, line 358.
* At many times I brought in my accounts, Laid them before you; you would throw them off, And say, you found them in mine honesty.
** William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens (date uncertain, published 1623), Act II, scene 2, line 142.
* False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.
** Socrates, Phaedo 115e
* In short, honesty is more than a moral principle. It is also a major economic factor. While government can do little to create honesty directly, in various ways it can indirectly either support or undermine the traditions on which honest conduct is based.
** Thomas Sowell, Basic Economics, 4th ed. (2010), Ch. 17. Government Functions
* The dishonest man stole silver; the honest man will earn his pay.
** Sumerian proverb, Collection XIII at The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, 3rd millennium BCE

## T

* If I could believe that this was said sincerely, I could put up with anything.
** Terence, Eunuchus Act I, scene 2, 96, line 176.

## W

* I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy.
** George Washington The Farewell Address (17 September 1796) Full text at Wikisource
* Were there no heaven nor hell I should be honest.
** John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi (1623), Act I, scene I.
* A creature that cannot grasp the mutual exclusiveness of A and not A has no difficulty in lying; more than that, such a creature has not even any consciousness of lying, being without a standard of truth.
** Otto Weininger, Sex and Character (1906), p. 150.
* The man who is so conscious of the rectitude of his intentions as to be willing to open his bosom to the inspection of the world, is already in possession of one of the strongest pillars of a decided character. The course of such a man will be firm and steady, because he has nothing to fear from the world, and is sure of the approbation and support of Heaven.
** William Wirt, An Address delivered Before the Peithessophian and Philoclean Societies of Rutgers College 20 July 1830.
* "Honesty is the best policy," but he who acts on that principle is not an honest man.
** Archbishop Richard Whately, Thoughts and Apothegms, Part II, Chapter XVIII. Pious Frauds; On Some Obstacles to the Attainment of Truth, and to its Progress in the World.
* The leading idea is, nothing really succeeds which is not based on reality; the sham, in a large sense, is never successful; that in the life of the individual, as in the more comprehensive life of the state, pretension is nothing and power is everything.
** Edwin Percy Whipple, Success and Its Conditions.
* If you do not tell the truth about yourself, you cannot tell it about other people.
** Virginia Woolf

## Z

* These are the things you should do: Speak the truth with one another, and the judgments in your gates must promote truth and peace.
** Zechariah, Zechariah 8:16.

## Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations

    Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 371-72.
* Omnia quæ vindicaris in altero, tibi ipsi vehementer fugienda sunt.
** Everything that thou reprovest in another, thou must most carefully avoid in thyself.
*** Cicero, In Verrem, II. 3. 2.
* Barring that natural expression of villainy which we all have, the man looked honest enough.
** Mark Twain, A Mysterious Visit.
* He is one that will not plead that cause wherein his tongue must be confuted by his conscience.
** Thomas Fuller, The Holy State and the Profane State, The Good Advocate, Book II, Chapter I.
* When rogues fall out, honest men get into their own.
** Sir Matthew Hale
* He that departs with his own honesty For vulgar praise, doth it too dearly buy.
** Ben Jonson, Epigram II.
* The measure of life is not length, but honestie.
** John Lyly, Euphues, The Anatomy of Wit, Letters of Euphues, Euphues and Eubulus.
* Friends, if we be honest with ourselves, we shall be honest with each other.
** George MacDonald, The Marquis of Lossie, Chapter LXXI.
* Mens regnum bona possidet.
** An honest heart possesses a kingdom.
** Seneca the Younger, Thyestes, CCCLXXX.
* I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an "Honest Man."
** George Washington, Moral Maxims.
* Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God.
** George Washington, speech to the Constitutional Convention (1787).
* How happy is he born and taught That serveth not another's will; Whose armour is his honest thought, And simple truth his utmost skill.
** Sir Henry Wotton, The Character of a Happy Life.

## See also

* Deceive
* Integrity
* Morality
* Truth
* Trust
* Virtues

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