quotations about honesty
People who are brutally honest get more satisfaction out of the brutality than out of the honesty.
RICHARD J. NEEDHAM
attributed, The Harper Book of Quotations
The truth is never dangerous. Except when told.
PHILIP MOELLER
Helena's Husband
Take note, take note, O world,
To be direct and honest is not safe.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Othello
An honest man's the noblest work of God.
ALEXANDER POPE
Essay on Man
An honest man is still an unmov'd rock,
Wash'd whiter, but not shaken with the shock:
Whose heart conceives no sinister device;
Fearless he plays with flames, and treads on ice.
ROBERT DAVENPORT
The City Night-Cap
Honesty needs no disguise nor ornament; be plain.
THOMAS OTWAY
The Orphan
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"
Honest people don't hide their deeds.
EMILY BRONTE
Wuthering Heights
When folks find I ain't afeard to speak my mind on their affairs, they kinder guess I'm tellin' the truth about my own.
BRET HARTE
"The Argonauts of North Liberty"
Honesty is the poor man's pork and the rich man's pudding.
ENGLISH PROVERB
I'd rather get bad news from an honest man than lies from a flatterer.
URSULA K. LE GUIN
The Other Wind
Honest manhood cannot be attained. It is. If a man is small, as an honest man he stands up and acknowledges he is small and only tries to do what a small man can do--and HE DOES IT. If an honest man is a blacksmith, he merely says he is a blacksmith and he tries to do what a blacksmith can do--and HE DOES IT. In all lines of life an honest man only holds himself out as being just what he is and tries to do the tasks he is able to do--and ALWAYS DOES THEM. An honest man cannot fail.
HONOR L. WILHELM
The Coast, Oct. 1906
Honest men are the soft easy cushions on which knaves repose and fatten.
THOMAS OTWAY
Venice Preserved
Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
letter to Nathaniel Macon, Jan. 12, 1819
No legacy is so rich as honesty.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
All's Well that Ends Well
No man is so exquisitely honest or upright in living, but that ten times in his life he might not lawfully be hanged.
MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE
The Essays of Montaigne
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
speech at Rutgers College, Jul. 20, 1830
An honest man is believed without an oath, for his reputation swears for him.
ELIZA COOK
Diamond Dust
An honest man lives not to the world, but to himself.
WELLINS CALCOTT
Thoughts Moral and Divine
Honesty is the best policy.
AESOP
"The Horse and the Groom", Aesop's Fables