A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
A thread will tie an honest man better than a chain a rogue.
—Scottish Proverb
The best measure of a man’s honesty isn’t his income tax return. It’s the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.
—Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) British Scientist, Science-fiction Writer
A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Confessed faults are half-mended.
—Scottish Proverb
One still strong man in a blatant land,
whatever they call him, what care I,
Aristocrat, democrat, autocrat – one
Who can rule and dare not lie.
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–92) British Poet
There’s one way to find out if a man is honest – ask him. If he says, “Yes,” you know he is a crook.
—Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American Actor, Comedian, Singer
Act in earnest and you will become earnest in all you do.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
A very honest woman but something given to lie
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
There is no well-defined boundary between honesty and dishonesty. The frontiers of one blend with the outside limits of the other, and he who attempts to tread this dangerous ground may be sometimes in one domain and sometimes in the other.
—O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) (1862–1910) American Writer of Short Stories
Society can exist only on the basis that there is some amount of polished lying and that no one says exactly what he thinks.
—Lin Yutang (1895–1976) Chinese Author, Philologist
Honesty is the best image.
—Tom Wilson (1931–2011) American Cartoonist
Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise.
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychoanalytic
If you truly want honesty, don’t ask questions you don’t really want the answer to
—Common Proverb
Money dishonestly acquired is never worth its cost, while a good conscience never costs as much as it is worth.
—Jean Antoine Petit-Senn (1792–1870) French-Swiss Lyric Poet
Truth is such a rare thing, it is delightful to tell it.
—Emily Dickinson (1830–86) American Poet
Prefer a loss to dishonest gain; the one brings pain at the moment, the other for all time.
—Chilon of Sparta (c.556 BCE) Spartan Magistrate
Hope of ill gain is the beginning of loss.
—Democritus (c.460–c.370 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.
—Harper Lee (1926–2016) American Novelist
Prefer loss before unjust gain: for that brings grief but once; this forever.
—Chilon of Sparta (c.556 BCE) Spartan Magistrate
Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.
—Spencer Johnson (1938–2017) American Physician, Psychologist
Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud.
—Sophocles (495–405 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
Integrity has no need of rules.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Novelist
If I can put one touch of a rosy sunset into the life of any man or woman, I shall feel that I have worked with God.
—George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish Novelist, Lecturer, Poet
An honest man nearly always thinks justly.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) Swiss-born French Philosopher
It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime.
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809) American Nationalist, Author, Pamphleteer, Inventor
Honesty is a question of right and wrong, not a matter of policy.
—Unknown
Most of us are honest all the time, and all of us are honest most of the time.
—Charles Mathias (1922–2010) American Politician, Attorney
The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.
—Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Roman-African Christian Philosopher
Nothing resembles an honest man more than a cheat.
—French Proverb
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