Simply refraining from lies and deception is not enough. There is no more fundamental ethical value than honesty. We associate honesty with people of honor, and we admire and trust those who are honest. But honesty is a broader concept than many may realize. Honesty in communications requires a good-faith intent to convey the truth as best we know it and to avoid communicating in a way likely to mislead or deceive.
Intent is the crucial distinction between truthfulness and truth itself.
Being wrong is not the same thing as being a liar, although honest mistakes can still damage trust insofar as they may be evidence of sloppy judgment. In relationships involving legitimate expectations of trust, honesty may also require candor, forthrightness and frankness, imposing the obligation to volunteer information that another person needs to know. Honesty in conduct prohibits stealing, cheating, fraud, subterfuge and other trickery. Cheating is a particularly foul form of dishonesty because one not only seeks to deceive but to take advantage of those who are not cheating. Not all lies are unethical, even though all lies are dishonest.