HONESTY QUOTES

quotations about honesty

The truth is never dangerous. Except when told.

PHILIP MOELLER

Helena's Husband


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


An honest man's the noblest work of God.

ALEXANDER POPE

Essay on Man


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"


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


Take note, take note, O world,
To be direct and honest is not safe.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Othello

Tags: William Shakespeare


I'd rather get bad news from an honest man than lies from a flatterer.

URSULA K. LE GUIN

The Other Wind


Honesty needs no disguise nor ornament; be plain.

THOMAS OTWAY

The Orphan


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


Honest men are the soft easy cushions on which knaves repose and fatten.

THOMAS OTWAY

Venice Preserved


Honest people don't hide their deeds.

EMILY BRONTE

Wuthering Heights


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


Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.

THOMAS JEFFERSON

letter to Nathaniel Macon, Jan. 12, 1819


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


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


No legacy is so rich as honesty.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

All's Well that Ends Well


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