quotations about honesty
Honesty is not a value shared by all societies. In some Eastern subcultures there is a saying: "Any fool can tell the truth. It requires a man of some sense to lie well." The society espousing this idea, suffers abject poverty above others.
DANIEL M. KEERAN
If There Is No God
The elegance of honesty needs no adornment.
MERRY BROWNE
attributed, The Book of Positive Quotations
Make yourself an honest man, and you can be sure there is one less rascal in the world.
THOMAS CARLYLE
attributed, Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting of Progressive Friends, 1887
It would seem that indolence itself would incline a person to be honest; as it requires infinitely greater pains and contrivance to be a knave.
WILLIAM SHENSTONE
Essays on Men and Manners
Children and fools speak true.
JOHN LYLY
Endymion
The more honesty a man has, the less he affects the air of a saint.
JOHANN CASPAR LAVATER
Aphorisms on Man
Sometimes honesty can be incredibly messy.
WM. PAUL YOUNG
The Shack
Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise.
SIGMUND FREUD
letter to Wilhelm Fliess, Oct. 15, 1897
I like children ... pretty much all the honest truth-telling there is in the world is done by them.
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES
The Poet at the Breatfast Table
When we are not honest, we are cut off from a significant resource of ourselves, a vital dimension that is necessary for unity and wholeness.
CLARK MOUSTAKAS
attributed, Webster's Quotations
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 Caesar
People may or may not say what they mean ... but they always say something designed to get what they want.
DAVID MAMET
attributed, David Mamet: A Research and Production Sourcebook
Honesty's praised, then left to freeze.
JUVENAL
Sixteen Satires upon the Ancient Harlot
Honest people are never touchy about the matter of being trusted.
AYN RAND
Atlas Shrugged
An honest man will continue to be so though surrounded on all sides by rogues.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
Clear and round dealing is the honor of man's nature; and ... mixture of falsehood is like alloy in coin of gold and silver, which may make the metal work the better, but embaseth it.
FRANCIS BACON
Essays
Let me tell you a secret, which ought not to be a secret, seeing it is written in the Scriptures--be honest and your whole body will be full of light; and this of every kind; you will actually see further and see clearer than shrewd and cunning men, and you will be less liable to be duped than they, provided that your honesty be combined with a determination to protect honesty, and to discountenance every kind of brand.
EDWARD IRVING
Sermons, Lectures and Occasional Discourses: vol. 2
Persons lightly dipped, not grain'd in generous honesty are but pale in goodness and faint-hued in integrity. But be thou what thou virtuously art, and let not the ocean wash away thy tincture. Stand magnetically upon that axis, when prudent simplicity hath fixed there; and let no attraction invert the poles of thy honesty.
THOMAS BROWNE
Christian Morals
An honest man is like a plain coat, which, without welt or guard, keepeth the body from wind and weather, and being well made, fits him best that wears it; and where the stuff is more regarded than the fashion, there is not much ado in the putting of it on. So the mind of an honest man, without trick or compliments, keeps the credit of a good conscience from the scandal of the world and the worm of iniquity, which, being wrought by the workman of heaven, fits him best that wears it to his service; and where virtue is more esteemed than vanity, it is put on and worn with that ease that shows the excellency of the workman. His study is virtue, his word truth, his life the passage of patience, and his death the rest of his spirit. His travail is a pilgrimage, his way is plainness, his pleasure peace, and his delight is love. His care is his conscience, his wealth is his credit, his charge is his charity, and his content is his kingdom. In sum, he is a diamond among jewels, a phoenix among birds, an unicorn among beasts, and a saint among men.
NICHOLAS BRETON
A Bower of Delights
To be honest as this world goes is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Hamlet