Last Updated: December 19, 2022 by Quote.cc Team
William Shakespeare famously described honesty as an attribute people left behind when he wrote that “no legacy is so rich as honesty” in act 3, scene 5 of “All’s Well That Ends Well.”
Honesty is defined as a facet of moral character that connotes positive and virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, and straightforwardness, including straightforwardness of conduct, along with the absence of lying, cheating, theft, etc. Honesty also involves being trustworthy, loyal, fair, and sincere.
Honesty means doing morally right things. When one is honest, they’re truthful, trustworthy, sincere, loyal, and fair. People will always trust and respect you. Besides, honesty strengthens bonds and creates more meaningful connections in relationships.
Here are 350 of the best honesty quotes I could find. And please remember, the more honest you are, the more self-respect you’ll gain and the more confidence you’ll develop. May these quotes inspire you to be honest to others but, most importantly, to yourself.
350 Most Inspiring Quotes About Honesty
Top 10 Honesty Quotes
“Honesty is not found in revealing the truth, but in understanding how deeply afraid of it we are. To become honest is in effect to become fully and robustly incarnated into powerlessness.” – David Whyte
“Honesty is the best policy.” – Benjamin Franklin
“Ethics or simple honesty is the building blocks upon which our whole society is based, and business is a part of our society, and it’s integral to the practice of being able to conduct business, that you have a set of honest standards.” – Kerry Stokes
“Honesty is never seen sitting astride the fence.” – Lemuel K. Washburn
“In the long run, I believe that honesty is definitely the best policy. One can get away by being dishonest for a short term, but ultimately, honesty is what pays.” – Kapil Dev
“Honesty is more than not lying. It is truth telling, truth speaking, truth living, and truth loving.” – James E. Faust
“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” – Thomas Jefferson
“I believe fundamental honesty is the keystone of business.” – Harvey S. Firestone
“My parents taught me about the importance of qualities like kindness, respect, and honesty, and I realize how central values like these have been throughout my life.” – Kate Middleton
“Honesty is the fastest way to prevent a mistake from turning into a failure.” – James Altucher
What Is Honesty?
“Honesty is the best policy. If I lose mine honor, I lose myself.” – William Shakespeare
“Honesty is the best policy – when there is money in it.” – Mark Twain
“Honesty is the rarest wealth anyone can possess, and yet all the honesty in the world ain’t lawful tender for a loaf of bread.” – Josh Billings
“Honesty is the most single most important factor having a direct bearing on the final success of an individual, corporation, or product.” – Ed McMahon
“Honesty is the cornerstone of character. The honest man or woman seeks not merely to avoid criminal or illegal acts, but to be scrupulously fair, upright, fearless in both action and expression.” – B.C. Forbes
“Honesty is the cornerstone of all success, without which confidence and ability to perform shall cease to exist.” – Mary Kay Ash
“Honesty is telling the truth to ourselves and others.” – Integrity is living that truth.” – Kenneth H. Blanchard
“Honesty is often very hard. The truth is often painful.” – But the freedom it can bring is worth the trying. Fred Rogers
“Honesty is not only “the first step toward greatness,” – it is greatness itself.” – Christian Nestell Bovee
“Honesty is for the most part less profitable than dishonesty.” – Plato
“Honesty is an active verb, not a passive noun. Go out of your way to be truthful, beginning with the things that you say to yourself.” – Joe Tye
“Honesty is a very expensive gift. Don’t expect it from cheap people.” – Warren Buffett
“Honesty is of God and dishonesty of the devil; the devil was a liar from the beginning.” – Joseph B. Wirthlin
“Honest people don’t hide their deeds.” – Emily Brontë
“Honesty prospers in every condition of life.” – Friedrich Schiller
“Honesty has a power that very few people can handle.” – Steven Aitchison
“Honesty first; then courage; then brains – and all are indispensable.” – Theodore Roosevelt
“Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway.” – Mother Teresa
“Honesty and openness is always the foundation of insightful dialogue.” – Bell Hooks
“Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.” – Kent M. Keith
“I think honesty is the most heroic quality one can aspire to.” – Daniel Radcliffe
Short Honesty Quotes
“Honesty saves everyone’s time.”
“Honesty and loyalty are key.” – Taylor Lautner
“You can’t lie to your soul.” – Irvine Welsh
“You cannot con an honest man.” – Ally Carter
“No legacy is so rich as honesty.” – William Shakespeare
“I’m not rude, I’m honest.”
“Don’t ever regret being honest. Period.” – Taylor Swift
“Clarity is a gift of honesty.”
“An honest man is always a child.” – Socrates
“A little candor never leaves me. It is what protects me.” – Antonio Porchia
“An honest man’s word is as good as his bond.”
“Be honest in your life it creates positive energy.” – Fathima Bibi Joosab
“I admire honesty more than any other trait.” – Jerry Reinsdorf
“If you want to get free, you have to first get honest.” – Joyce Meyer
“Leadership is intelligence, honesty, and doing the right thing.” – Julie Zeilinger
“Just try, try to be right here, open, honest, straight.” – Ram Dass
“Just be honest with yourself. That opens the door.” – Vernon Howard
“No matter what you do, stand up for who you are and be honest.” – Bryant McGill
“People all over the nation are starved for honesty and common sense.” – Ben Carson
“The first step toward greatness is to be honest.” – Proverb
“The first step is to be honest, and then to be noble.” – Winston Churchill
“The most interesting thing you can say is the most honest.” – Rorty Witt
“To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves.” – Will Durant
“To live outside the law, you must be honest.” – Bob Dylan
“When a man is penalized for honesty he learns to lie.” – Criss Jami
“Before you can lie to another, you must first lie to yourself.” – Naval Ravikant
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” – Oscar Wilde
“Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.” – Henry David Thoreau
“Frankness invites frankness.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“I meant what I said and I said what I meant.” – Dr. Seuss
“It is not easy to keep silent when silence is a lie.” – Victor Hugo
“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.” – George Washington
“Spontaneity is total sincerity.” – Alan Watts
“Sincerity is irrelevant in a society where many believe their own lies.”
“Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud.” – Sophocles
“Pay what you owe and what you’re worth you’ll know.” – Benjamin Franklin
“To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice.” – Confucius
“We are franker towards others than towards ourselves.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Famous Honesty Quotes
“A good conscience is a continual Christmas.” – Benjamin Franklin
“Accuracy is twin brother to honesty, and inaccuracy to dishonesty.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne
“All kinds of frankness and honesty are terrible crimes in the eyes of society.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“An honest man in politics shines more there than he would elsewhere.” – Mark Twain
“All other knowledge is hurtful to him who has not the science of honesty and goodness.” – Michel de Montaigne
“Anyone around whom I can’t be fully honest, I don’t want to be around.” – Naval Ravikant
“Art is to beauty what honor is to honesty.” – Winston Churchill
“Authenticity without empathy is selfish. Authenticity without boundaries is careless.” – Adam Grant
“Authenticity is powerful because it is, by definition, impossible to fake. To lead an authentic life is to lead a truly honest life.” – Ed Latimore
“Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.” – Brené Brown
“For honesty coupled to beauty, is to have honey a sauce to sugar.” – William Shakespeare
“Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.” – Spencer Johnson
“I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.” – George Washington
“It is a great compliment for an honest person to be mistaken for a crook by a crook.” – Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“It is difficult, but not impossible, to conduct strictly honest business.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“People aren’t in awe of your sharp mind? So be it. But you have many other qualities you can’t claim to have been deprived of at birth. Display then those qualities in your own power: honesty, dignity, endurance, chastity, contentment, frugality, kindness.” – Marcus Aurelius
“The function and duty of a human being, a quality human being, that is, is the sincere and honest development of potential and self-actualization.” – Bruce Lee
“The good four. Honest with ourselves and with whatever is friend to us; courageous toward the enemy; generous toward the vanquished; polite-always that is how the four cardinal virtues want us.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
“The responsibility is all yours; no one can stop you from being honest or straightforward.” – Marcus Aurelius
“Though I am not naturally honest, I am sometimes so by chance.” – William Shakespeare
“To express oneself honestly, not lying to oneself; that, my friend, is very hard to do.” – Bruce Lee
“To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“To be honest, speak without identity.” – Naval Ravikant
“To be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.” – William Shakespeare
“What radical honesty just means is that I want to be free. Part of being free means that I can say what I think and think what I say.” – Naval Ravikant
“When we are committed to honesty, we help reduce the level of misunderstanding, doubt, and fear throughout society.” – 14th Dalai Lama
“When you’re dishonest with yourself, you’re disconnected from reality. You’re going to make poor decisions. You’re going to drop out of the moment and you’re going to be less happy and you’re going to be wrong.” – Naval Ravikant
“Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.” – Maya Angelou
“He who is not sure of his memory, should not undertake the trade of lying.” – Michel de Montaigne
“If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.” – Marcus Aurelius
“I want to be able to just be me. I never want to be in an environment or around people where I have to watch what I say.” – Naval Ravikant
“No man has a good enough memory to make a successful liar.” – Abraham Lincoln
“No man means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous.” – Henry Adams
“To conceal anything from those to whom I am attached, is not in my nature. I can never close my lips where I have opened my heart.” – Charles Dickens
“When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.” – Abraham Lincoln
“When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.” – Audre Lorde
“You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“You can fool people some of the time, but you can’t fool them all of the time.” – Aesop
“You ask me what forces me to speak? A strange thing; my conscience.” – Victor Hugo
Be Honest Quotes
“If you want to be trusted, be honest.”
“Being honest may not get you a lot of friends but it’ll always get you the right ones.” – John Lennon
“Be silly. Be honest. Be kind.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Be kind and honest, and harmful poisons will turn sweet inside you.” – Rumi
“Be honest, for God is the helper of honest people. Avoid telling lies since it will ruin your faith. Know that honest people are on the verge of nobility and honor, while liars are on the verge of collapse and destruction.” – Imam Ali RA
“Be honest with yourself. Base your preferences and beliefs on your deepest sense of self. Don’t be swayed by social pressures or a need for affirmation. Uncover your purest ‘you’ through questioning yourself and challenging yourself.”
“The real things haven’t changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful.” – Laura Ingalls Wilder
“As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself. Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.” – Nelson Mandela
“The real honesty is a responsibility to the present moment. It needs tremendous awareness. You have to be honest to the present moment, not to the past, not to the future.” – Rajneesh
“If you can’t be honest with yourself, you can’t fix yourself. Admitting you have a problem is the first step for a good reason.” – Ed Latimore
“If you prefer to not play the game and to always be honest and upfront, do not complain when others call you obnoxious and arrogant.” – Robert Greene
“If you really want to be happy, you have to be present. One of the core tenets of being present is to be completely honest at all times.” – Naval Ravikant
“If you’re not honest with yourself, how can you be truly honest with anyone else?” – Paul Williams
“Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure there is one less rascal in the world.” – Thomas Carlyle
“We have to be honest about what we want and take risks rather than lie to ourselves and make excuses to stay in our comfort zone.” – Roy T. Bennett
“An honest thinker will highlight and confront the most intimidating counterargument. A dishonest thinker will seek out the most ludicrous counterargument and pretend it is the only counterargument.”
“Each time you are honest and conduct yourself with honesty, a success force will drive you toward greater success. Each time you lie, even with a little white lie, there are strong forces pushing you toward failure.” – Joseph Sugarman
“If you were completely honest to yourself about yourself, other people and the world, you would never get disappointed. You would liberate yourself from all the illusions and falsehoods. This would give you great power.”
“If you keep hiding your true self, your life becomes like slow death. Once you become free from the lies and the hiding of yourself, then life becomes vibrant again.” – Ziggy Marley
“When you give yourself permission to communicate what matters to you in every situation you will have peace despite rejection or disapproval. Putting a voice to your soul helps you to let go of the negative energy of fear and regret.” – Shannon L. Alder
“If in day to day life you lead a good life, honestly, with love, compassion, and less selfishness, then automatically you will find peace.” – 14th Dalai Lama
“Honesty plus love will get you through most situations.” – Naval Ravikant
“Be honest with the people who love you. They deserve your honesty.”
“Be a reflection of what you’d like to see in others. If you want love, give love, if you want honesty, give honesty, if you want respect, give respect. You get in return, what you give.”
“The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love, and loyalty.” – Zig Ziglar
“In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” – Paul McCartney
“It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Brutal Honesty Quotes
“Brutal, inner honesty… The three scariest words on the planet, and yet, at the same time, the very KEY that unlocks all the doors.” – Ken Dahl
“Be honest, brutally honest.” – Lauryn Hill
“Directness and honesty may give you relief, but they also stir up antagonism.” – Robert Greene
“If a man examines his life with rare and uncommon honesty, he comes to realize that it is, at once, an empty, societal charade. There is nothing within it that is of any genuine significance.” – Kapil Gupta
“If honesty were suddenly introduced into American life, the whole system would collapse.” – George Carlin
“If we, as humans, are honest with ourselves, we will, with clarity and serenity, admit that we are failures.” – Kapil Gupta
“It’s difficult to honest with others when you continue lying to yourself.” – Carlos Wallace
“It’s discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit.” – Noël Coward
“There is one way to find out if a man is honest – ask him. If he says ‘yes’, you know he is crooked.” – Groucho Marx
“When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice, you may know that your society is doomed.” – Ayn Rand
“Every lie is two lies, the lie we tell others and the lie we tell ourselves to justify it.” – Robert Brault
“The honest man falls prey to guilt and conscience far more often than the dishonest one. Even when he has acted honorably.” – Kapil Gupta
Trust And Honesty Quotes
“Be honest about where you are at so that you can get to where you want to be.” – Joyce Meyer
“Be honest with yourself and never settle for a life that is not true to who you are.” – ATGW
“Unless you’re ashamed of yourself now and then, you’re not honest.” – William Faulkner
“Trust, honesty, humility, transparency and accountability are the building blocks of a positive reputation. Trust is the foundation of any relationship.” – Mike Paul
“Healthy relationships of all kinds are usually composed of honesty, trust, and respect.” – Ace McCloud
“All parents want their child to be honest but often forget to place emphasis on being trustworthy even though this is also a form of honesty.” – James R. Morrison
“Honesty is perhaps just as important a factor in one’s communication skills as trust.” – Ross Elkins
“While a relationship is typically dependent upon, both the boyfriend and girlfriend trusting each other as well as respecting and caring for one, another important factor that is vital in a successful relationship is honesty.” – John Franks
“Just like showing trust is essential in a marriage, it is also of vital significance to be completely honest with each other.” – Christian Olsen
“The essence of how to manage performance, a skill every boss needs to have, is not to rely on appraisal but to be able to build the kind of trust where honesty, mutual respect, and constant two-way feedback is at its core, something that is also at the heart of a coaching relationship.” – Jenny Rogers
“Open palms represent openness, honesty and non-threatening behaviour. I believe if you want to be trusted you need to be honest and having opening palms is a great way to subconsciously show you can be trusted.” – Joe Hinchliffe
Truth And Honesty Quotes
“You don’t always have to chop with the sword of truth. You can point with it too.” – Anne Lamott
“When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth.” – Khaled Hosseini
“When you face a choice between being polite and being honest, err on the side of the truth. It’s better to be disliked but respected than to be liked but disrespected. In the long run, the people we trust the most are those who have the courage to be sincere.” – Adam Grant
“We have to put effort into being honest, truthful and compassionate towards others.” – 14th Dalai Lama
“Truth never damages a cause that is just.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“Truth indeed rather alleviates than hurts, and will always bear up against falsehood, as oil does above water.” – Miguel de Cervantes
“Truth fears no questions.”
“Truth builds trust.” – Marilyn Suttle
“To tell the truth is very difficult, and young people are rarely capable of it.” – Leo Tolstoy
“There’s just some magic in truth and honesty and openness.” – Frank Ocean
“There is nothing so strong or safe in an emergency of life as the simple truth.” – Charles Dickens
“The truth is the only thing worth having, and, in a civilized life, like ours, where so many risks are removed, facing it is almost the only courageous thing left to do.” – E.V. Lucas
“The real source of inner joy is to remain truthful and honest.” – 14th Dalai Lama
“The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.” – Aristotle
“The greatest truth is honesty, and the greatest falsehood is dishonesty.” – Abu Bakr RA
“The good I stand on is my truth and honesty.” – William Shakespeare
“The challenge today is to convince people of the value of truth, honesty, compassion and a concern for others.” – 14th Dalai Lama
“The best thing about telling the truth is…you don’t have to remember what you said!” – Unknown
“The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable; they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed.” – Ernest Hemingway
“Telling the truth and making someone cry is better than telling a lie and making someone smile.” – Paulo Coelho
“Pretty much all the honest truth telling in the world is done by children.” – Oliver Wendell
“People are like music, some speak the truth and others are just noise.” – Bill Murray
“No matter how plain a woman may be, if truth and honesty are written across her face, she will be beautiful.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world…would do this, it would change the earth.” – William Faulkner
“Most of what I say is complete truth. My edit button is broken.” – Myra McEntire
“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.” – Oscar Wilde
“Let’s tell the truth to people. When people ask, ‘How are you?’ have the nerve sometimes to answer truthfully.” – Maya Angelou
“Leading your life honestly and truthfully will create trust and friendship.” – 14th Dalai Lama
“It takes strength and courage to admit the truth.” – Rick Riordan
“It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place.” – Henry Louis Mencken
“It is always helpful to remain honest and truthful in the face of difficulty.” – 14th Dalai Lama
“If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.” – Mark Twain
“If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.” – Virginia Woolf
“Great conversation flows easily with those that are deeply committed to the truth. They attack or defend a position out of honesty, not ego. They seek illumination, not point scoring. They will ruthlessly challenge the accuracy of your mental map of the world. Invaluable.”
“Friends are honest with each other. Even if the truth hurts.-Maggie” – Sarah Dessen
“Be honest, truthful, and altruistic. If you concern yourself with taking care of others, there’ll be no room for lies, bullying and cheating. If you’re truthful you can live transparently, which will enable you to establish trust, the basis for making friends.” – 14th Dalai Lama
“An honest man will sometimes repeat himself. A liar can always find a surprising new angle. The truth resembles itself.”
“A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar.” – Mark Twain
“A lie has speed, but truth has endurance.” – Edgar J. Mohn
“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put its pants on.” – Winston Churchill
“A half truth is a whole lie.” – Yiddish Proverb
“People who constantly signal how honest they are rarely are actually honest. People who constantly signal how authentic they are rarely are actually authentic. Authentic does not have to constantly remind you that it’s authentic.”
“Madame, all stories, if continued far enough, end in death, and he is no true-story teller who would keep that from you.” – Ernest Hemingway
Integrity And Honesty Quotes
“Honor your commitments with integrity.” – Les Brown
“When you are able to maintain your own highest standards of integrity – regardless of what others may do – you are destined for greatness.” – Napoleon Hill
“You gotta do it with class and integrity. If not, you’re gonna drag yourself through the mud.” – Solomon Burke
“Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.” – W. Clement Stone
“People of integrity and honesty not only practice what they preach, they are what they preach.” – David A. Bednar
“Integrity is making sure that the things you say and the things you do are in alignment.” – Katrina Mayer
“You can’t, in sound morals, condemn a man for taking care of his own integrity. It is his clear duty.” – Joseph Conrad
“To live a life of honesty and integrity is a responsibility of every decent person.” – Noam Chomsky
“The high road is always respected. Honesty and integrity are always rewarded.” – Scott Hamilton
“Image is what people think we are. Integrity is what we really are.” – John C. Maxwell
“It is true that integrity alone won’t make you a leader, but without integrity you will never be one.” – Zig Ziglar
“The integrity of men is to be measured by their conduct, not by their professions.” – Junius
“Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” – C. S. Lewis
“A life lived with integrity – even if it lacks the trappings of fame and fortune is a shining star in whose light others may follow in the years to come.” – Denis Waitley
“Subtlety may deceive you; integrity never will.” – Oliver Cromwell
“Speak with honesty, think with sincerity, and act with integrity.”
“Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.” – Samuel Johnson
“The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.” – Bob Marley
“Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
“One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.” – Chinua Achebe
“The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.” – Confucius
“In looking for people to hire, look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence and energy. And if they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.” – Warren Buffett
“Living with integrity means: Speaking your truth, even though it might create conflict or tension.” – Barbara De Angelis
“We learned about honesty and integrity – that the truth matters… that you don’t take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules… and success doesn’t count unless you earn it fair and square.” – Michelle Obama
Honesty is The Best Policy Quotes
“In all my public and private acts as your president, I expect to follow my instincts of openness and candor with full confidence that honesty is always the best policy in the end.” – Gerald R. Ford
“Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” – George Burns
“Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense.” – Steve Landesberg
“Honesty may be the best policy, but it’s important to remember that apparently, by elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy.” – George Carlin
“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
“Honesty is the best policy – when there is money in it.” – Mark Twain
“You know, women are acting the way they want to act now. Years ago they would hide it in the way they dressed, the way they speak, even the way they act in bed. Today, they’re doing the same thing, but they’re dressing the way they want to be treated and, when you’re with them, acting the way they want to act. And you know, honesty is the best policy. I love that.” – Andrew Dice Clay
“Acting is no longer about lying. It’s now about revealing the truth. People are at ease with me now. Honesty is the best policy.” – Ian Mckellen
“It only takes one lie to taint your entire testimony in a court of law. Honesty is a vital part of having a good reputation.” – Jim Rohn
“Even in the business of corporations honesty is the best policy, and the companies that have acted in accordance with the highest standard, other things being equal, have reaped the richest harvest.” – Robert Green Ingersoll
“Honesty is the rarest wealth anyone can possess, and yet all the honesty in the world ain’t lawful tender for a loaf of bread.” – Josh Billings
“Honesty is the best policy ; a policy is, after all, a strategy for living in the polis in the city.” – Samuel R. Delany
“Honesty is a good thing, but it is not profitable to its possessor unless it is kept under control.” – Don Marquis
“A few honest men are better than numbers.” – Oliver Cromwell
“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” – Mark Twain
“It is discouraging how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit.” – Noel Coward
“Honesty is the best policy, in love as in law.” – Louisa May Alcott
“Honesty is the rarest wealth anyone can possess.” – Josh Billings
“People like to see honest persons. So I certainly will advise many young people who want to participate in politics, honesty is the best policy.” – Ma Ying-jeou
“The best ideas are the honest ones. Ones born out of personal experience. Ones that originated to help a few but ended up helping many.” – Simon Sinek
“Honesty is the best policy, I will stick to that. The good shall have my hand and heart, but the bad neither foot nor fellowship. And in my mind, the main point of governing, is to make a good beginning.” – Miguel de Cervantes
“Honesty is always the best policy.” – George Washington
“I am afraid we must make the world honest before we can honestly say to our children that honesty is the best policy.” – George Bernard Shaw
“Our lives improve only when we take chances – and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.” – Walter Anderson
“Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.” – Henry David Thoreau
“As to the permanent interest of individuals in the aggregated interests of the community, and in the proverbial maxim, that honesty is the best policy, present temptation is often found to be an overmatch for those considerations.” – James Madison
“It is always the best policy to speak the truth, unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar.” – Jerome K. Jerome
“I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy.” – George Washington
“Speak the truth. Transparency breeds legitimacy.” – John C. Maxwell
“Would that the simple maxim, that honesty is the best policy, might be laid to heart; that a sense of the true aim of life might elevate the tone of politics and trade till public and private honor become identical.” – Margaret Fuller
“We may argue eloquently that ‘Honesty is the best Policy’ – unfortunately, the moment honesty is adopted for the sake of policy it mysteriously ceases to be honesty.” – Dorothy L. Sayers
“Our lives improve only when we take chances.” – Walter Inglis Anderson
“I believe in treating other people with respect. My style is to speak to people, be available to them and willing to answer their questions. This also means being straightforward and honest with them.” – Sanford I. Weill
“Since the dawn of history, mankind has honoured and respected brave and honest people.” – Nelson Mandela
“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” – Thomas Jefferson
“By elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy.” – George Carlin
“There are only two ways of telling the complete truth – anonymously and posthumously.” – Thomas Sowell
“To make your children capable of honesty is the beginning of education.” – John Ruskin
“A truth that’s told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.” – William Blake
“Honesty is the best policy; but he who is governed by that maxim is not an honest man.” – Richard Whately
“Just be truthful – and if you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” – Barbara Stanwyck
“Integrity gives you real freedom because you have nothing to fear since you have nothing to hide.” – Zig Ziglar
“If you tell the truth, you don’t need a long memory.” – Jesse Ventura
“Honesty is the best policy in international relations, interpersonal relations, labor, business, education, family and crime control because truth is the only thing that works and the only foundation on which lasting relations can build.” – Ramsey Clark
“Honesty pays, but it doesn’t seem to pay enough to suit some people.” – Kin Hubbard
“Dare to be honest and fear no labor.” – Robert Burns
“It is an old adage that honesty is the best policy-this applies to public as well as private life-to States as well as individuals.” – George Washington
“And what is true education? It is awakening a love for truth; giving a just sense of duty; opening the eyes of the soul to the great purpose and end of life. It is not so much giving words, as thoughts; or mere maxims, as living principles. It is not teaching to be honest, because ‘honesty is the best policy’; but because it is right. It is teaching the individual to love the good, for the sake of the good; to be virtuous in action because one is so in heart; to love and serve God supremely, not from fear, but from delight in his perfect character.” – David O. McKay
“The trite saying that ‘honesty is the best policy’ has met with the just criticism that honesty is not policy. The seems to be true. The real honest man is honest from conviction of what is right, not from policy.” – Robert E. Lee
“The real honest man is honest from conviction of what is right, not from policy.” – Robert E. Lee
“In both metaphysics and art, honesty is the best policy. Keep it clean.” – Edward Abbey
“Always tell the truth. That way you don’t have to remember what you said.” – Mark Twain
“Honesty is the best policy, says the familiar axiom; but people who are honest on that principle defraud no one but themselves.” – James A. Garfield
Honesty Quotes For Relationships
“The best way to mend a broken heart is time and girlfriends.” – Gwyneth Paltrow
“Home Run portrays the church in its beauty–true life transformation through real and honest relationships with one another and with Jesus.” – Joyce Meyer
“A lie may take care of the present, but it has no future.” – Croft M. Pentz
“Honest hearts produce honest actions.” – Brigham Young
“We’re very good friends, we have a very honest relationship. He keeps me honest, I keep him honest. He’s an incredible actor and when you have an actor like Denzel action becomes drama.” – Antoine Fuqua
“A strong relationship is an honest relationship, and no honest relationship is all peaches and cream. Love is the key. Where love abides, anger is but a passing visitor.” – Jerry Spinelli
“Patience has nothing to do with suppression. In fact, it has everything to do with a gentle, honest relationship with yourself.” – Pema Chodron
“In the short run, lying is easy and honesty is hard. In the long run, honesty is easy and lying is hard. What you choose today makes your tomorrow.” – Shane Parrish
“Three little duties – to try hard, to be honest, and to help ourselves and others.” – Ryan Holiday
“I’d never managed anyone before, so I don’t have a lot of experience. But I’m lucky – I have a lot of team members who have a really honest relationship with me.” – Ben Silbermann
“Don’t settle for a relationship that won’t let you be yourself.” – Oprah Winfrey
“Before you marry a person, you should first make them use a computer with slow Internet to see who they really are.” – Will Ferrell
“I think the most important foundation about any relationship is just being honest. Youve got to. My wife and I are honest to a fault with each other, and were best friends on top of it, so were very fortunate.” – Max Greenfield
“One honest relationship can be more productive than fistfuls of business cards.” – Susan Cain
“We have a couple of rules in our relationship. The first rule is that I make her feel like she’s getting everything. The second rule is that I actually do let her have her way in everything. And, so far, it’s working.” – Justin Timberlake
“If you tell the truth you do not need a good memory!” – Mark Twain
“The time is always right to do what is right.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Every time I’ve done something that doesn’t feel right, it’s ended up not being right.” – Mario Cuomo
“Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking.” – J.C. Watts
“When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad.” – Abraham Lincoln
“Be always sure you’re right, then go ahead.” – Davy Crocket
“Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” – Mark Twain
“If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.” – Alan Simpson
“Anyone who doesn’t take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either.” – Albert Einstein
“The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.” – William Safire
“You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.” – Malcolm Forbes
Honesty Quotes From The Bible
“Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice.” – Psalm 112:5
“The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.” – Proverbs 11:3
“To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.” – Proverbs 21:3
“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” – 1 John 3:18
“An honest witness does not deceive, but a false witness pours out lies.” – Proverbs 14:5
“Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.” – James 1:26
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” – 2 Timothy 2:15
“There is no foundation like the rock of honesty and fairness, and when you begin to build your life on that rock, with the cement of the faith in God that you have, then you have a real start.” – Ronald Reagan
“An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.” – Proverbs 24:26
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” – Matthew 5:8
“10 For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. 11 They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” – 1 Peter 3:10-12
“Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices” – Colossians 3:9
“Do to others as you would have them do to you.” – Luke 6:31
“For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man.” – 2 Corinthians 8:21
“16 There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. 20 My son, keep your father’s command and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.” – Proverbs 6:16-20
“Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.” – Ephesians 4:25
“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” – 1 John 1:3
“An honest man’s the noblest work of God.” – Alexander Pope
“Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.” – Proverbs 10:9
“I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you.” – 1 Chronicles 29:17
“The one whose walk is blameless is kept safe, but the one whose ways are perverse will fall into the pit.” – Proverbs 28:18
“On the whole, and by and large, if a man lived properly, not according to what any priests said, but according to what seemed decent and honest inside, then it would, at the end, more or less, turn out all right.” – Terry Pratchett
“8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” – Philippians 4:8-9
“An honest witness tells the truth, but a false witness tells lies.” – Proverbs 12:17
“But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” – James 3:17
“The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.” – Proverbs 12:22
In Conclusion
Which are your favorite honesty quotes?
Honesty is one of the essential values in life. It brings trust, respect, and peace of mind. Besides, it also helps create more profound and meaningful connections in relationships of all kinds.
Although honesty has been regarded as one of the greatest moral attributes since ancient times, few people possess this gift. Hopefully, the honesty quotes above have inspired you to be honest with yourself and the people around you.
We hope that you enjoyed this wonderful collection of honest quotes. We would love to hear all about it in the comment section below. Share them on social media too!