quotations about honesty
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 so the only safe road is the broad highway that leads straight through and has been well defined by line and comopass.
O. HENRY
"Bexar Script No. 2692", Rolling Stones
Children and fools speak true.
JOHN LYLY
Endymion
A candid spirit is mightier than the most persistent dogmatism.
AMOS BRONSON ALCOTT
Table Talk
I would replace the quality of sincerity with honesty, since one can hold a conviction sincerely without examining it, while honesty would require that one subject one's convictions to frequent scrutiny.
CHRISTOPHER PHILLIPS
Socrates Cafe
An honest man will continue to be so though surrounded on all sides by rogues.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
Honesty is like an icicle--if once it melts that is the end of it.
AMERICAN PROVERB
Honest men fear neither the light nor the dark.
ENGLISH PROVERB
Sometimes honesty can be incredibly messy.
WM. PAUL YOUNG
The Shack
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
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
The elegance of honesty needs no adornment.
MERRY BROWNE
attributed, The Book of Positive Quotations
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
Just be honest with yourself. That opens the door.
VERNON HOWARD
attributed, Webster's Quotations
Honesty's praised, then left to freeze.
JUVENAL
Sixteen Satires upon the Ancient Harlot
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
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
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
The man who pauses in his honesty wants little of a villain.
H. MARTYN
attributed, Many Thoughts of Many Minds