Quotes About Integrity

Suppose it were true—Adam, the most rigidly honest man it was possible to find, living all his life on stolen money. Lee laughed to himself—now this second will, and Aron, whose purity was a little on the self-indulgent side, living all his life on the profits from a whorehouse. Was this some kind of joke or did things balance so that if one went too far in one direction an automatic slide moved on the scale and the balance was re-established?

I am treasonable enough not to believe in the liberty of a man or a group to exploit, torment, or slaughter other men or groups. I believe in the despotism of human life and happiness against the liberty of money and possessions

Virtue is venerable as nothing else in this world is.

I know this … a man got to do what he got to do.

No one could call him a liar. And this was mainly because the lie was in his head, and any truth coming from his mouth carried the color of the lie.

There's more beauty in truth, even if it is dreadful beauty

Will liked to live so that no one could find fault with him, and to do that he had to live as nearly like other people as possible.

To the inner monster it must be even more obscure, since he has no visible thing to compare with others. To a man born without conscience, a soul-stricken man must seem ridiculous. To a criminal, honesty is foolish.

so to live that our death brings no pleasure to the world.

Quick pain of truth can pass away, but the slow, eating agony of a lie is never lost.

And when one of our successful men had what he needed or wanted, he reassumed his virtue as easily as changing his shirt, and for all one could see, he took no hurt from his derelictions, always assuming that he didn't get caught.

in him kindness and conscience are so large that they are almost faults.

A knight without mercy is without honor.

There's more beauty in the truth even if it is dreadful beauty.

Horace Quinn remembered questioning Adam so very long ago, remembered him as a man in agony. He could still see Adam's haunted and horrified eyes. He had thought then of Adam as a man of such honesty that he couldn't conceive anything else. Adam had been set apart—an invisible wall cut him off from the world. You couldn't get into him—he couldn't get out to you. But in that old agony there had been no wall.

If something was untrue and you didn't know it, that was error. But if you knew a true thing and changed it to a false thing, both you and it were loathsome.

I know that sometimes a lie is used in kindness. I don't believe it ever works kindly. The quick pain of truth can pass away, but the slow, eating agony of a lie is never lost. That's a running sore.

a man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying; he ought only to consider whether he is doing right or wrong.

The discipline of the written word punishes both stupidity and dishonesty.

There's more beauty in the truth even if it is a dreadful beauty.

She controlled her face and whipped the fear from it. "You're just doing it because you're honest, is that it? You're just too sugar sweet to live.

To a man born without conscience, a soul-stricken man must seem ridiculous.

having nothing that can be stolen, exploited

A farmer cannot think too much evil of a good farmer.