Honesty quotes
2.1K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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"It is both foolish and wicked to teach the average man who is not well off that some wrong or injustice has been done him, and that he should hope for redress elsewhere than in his own industry, honesty, and intelligence."
"Inspirational Quotes on: Honesty, Simplicity, Secret, Universe, Modesty, Peace Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom."
"An honest man is always a child. [Lat., Semper bonus homo tiro est.]"
"Each of us tends to think we see things as they are, that we are objective. But this is not the case. We see the world, not as it is, but as we are - or as we are conditioned to see it."
"Ninety-eight out of 100 of the rich men in America are honest. That is why they are rich."
"If there were only one cherry pie in the world, and Bill Clinton owned it, I might get a piece of it. If Bush or Reagan owned it, you'd have to kill them to get a piece of pie. That's my feeling about Bill. And Bill's a good bullshitter. America likes a good bullshitter. That's one of the reasons he was re-elected. Honesty has no place in politics. It would throw everything off."
"Who is the honest man? He that doth still and strongly good pursue To God, his neighbor, and himself most true: Whom neither force nor fawning can Unpin, or wrench from giving all their due."
"Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it."
"Vaudeville could not vouch for the honesty, the integrity, or the mentality of the individuals who collectively made up the horde the medium embraced. All the human race demands of its members is that they be born. That is all vaudeville demanded. You just had to be born. You could be ignorant and be a star. You could be a moron and be wealthy. The elements that went to make up vaudeville were combed from the jungles, the four corners of the world, the intelligentsia and the subnormal."
"The historian must not try to know what is truth, if he values his honesty; for if he cares for his truths, he is certain to falsify his facts."
"The jury system puts a ban upon intelligence and honesty and a premium upon ignorance, stupidity and perjury."
"I think it's almost immoral to keep on with a marriage that's really bad. It just gets more and more rotten and vindictive and everybody gets more and more hurt. There's not enough honesty about marriage, I think. I wish more people would face the truth about their marital situations."
"Honesty is a virtue, but not the only one. If you're in a courtroom you need the whole truth and nothing but the truth; in the living room, sometimes you need anything but. Often."
"Dishonesty is not the only alternative to honesty. There is also the highly underrated virtue of shutting up."
"Honesty is a question of right and wrong, not a matter of policy"
"I myself feel, and also tell other Buddhists that the question of Nirvana will come later. There is not much hurry. If in day to day life you lead a good life, honesty, with love, with compassion, with less selfishness, then automatically it will lead to Nirvana."
"All religions try to benefit people, with the same basic message of the need for love and compassion, for justice and honesty, for contentment. So merely changing formal religious affiliations will often not help much. On the other hand, in pluralistic, democratic societies, there is the freedom to adopt the religion of your choice. This is good. This lets curious people like you run around on the loose!"
"It takes courage to live through suffering; and it takes honesty to observe it."
"No one can lie, no one can hide anything, when he looks directly into someone's eyes."
"The values of science and the values of democracy are concordant, in many cases indistinguishable. Science and democracy began - in their civilized incarnations - in the same time and place, Greece in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. . . . Science thrives on, indeed requires, the free exchange of ideas; its values are antithetical to secrecy. Science holds to no special vantage points or privileged positions. Both science and democracy encourage unconventional opinions and vigorous debate. Both demand adequate reason, coherent argument, rigorous standards of evidence and honesty."
