Quotes About Honesty

Thanks from keeping me from being a liar, said Nikolai. What? About your having diarrhea. For you I'd get dysentery. Now that's friendship.

I'm not a liar, sir,' she said. 'No, I'm sure you sincerely become whatever it is you're pretending to be.

When the messenger won't tell you what the hell the message is, my trigger finger gets twitchy. Dismissed.

A person is what he says and does; that's how you learn whether his reputation was earned or manufactured.

Do not be disingenuous with me, Colonel Graff. Americans are quite apt at playing stupid when they choose to, but I am not to be deceived.

A man always assumes that others are as virtuous as himself

I would have the taste of poison in my mouth all the days of my life, if I went back home and pretended to be what I was before.

Orson Scott Card

Sometimes lies are more dependable than the truth.

I find out what I really want by seeing what I do," said Ender. "That's what we all do, if we're honest about it. We have our feelings, we make our decisions, but in the end we look back on our lives and see how sometimes we ignored our feelings, while most of our decisions were actually rationalizations because we had already decided in our secret hearts before we ever recognized it consciously.

If our systems should fail, we would faithfully report the fact. We have no ego-protection that would cause us to deceive you or ourselves. Whereasyou are engaged in ego-protection right now. You thought you would be necessary during the voyage, and you now discover that you were not. This makes you feel bad.

People are never fair, even when they try to be...and few are the ones who try.

What was that education? Question everything, but keep your word. Doubt everything, but never give others a reason to doubt you.

I find out what I really want by seeing what I do," said Ender. "That's what we all do, if we're honest about it. We have our feelings, we make our decisions, but in the end we look back on our lives and see how sometimes we ignored our feelings, while most of our decisions were actually rationalizations because we had already decided in our secret hearts before we ever recognized it consciously.

Nobody ever completely means what they say. Even when they think they're telling the truth, there's always something hidden behind their words.

That was the difference between her and the idiots of the world. They were all trying to look smart and keep their social standing. Whereas Valentine didn't care about social standing, she cared about getting it right. Getting the truth.

I think you can't possibly know the truth about somebody unless you love them. I think the Speaker loved Father. Marcão, I mean. I think he understood him and loved him before he spoke." Mother didn't answer, because she knew that it was true. "And I know he loves Grego, and Quara, and Olhado. And Miro, and even Quim. And me. I know he loves me. And when he shows me that he loves me, I know it's true because he never lies to anybody.

If you always speak your mind, the evil man will avoid you.

I don't have any knack for making people cry, Ela,' he answered softly. His voice was a caress. No, stronger, it was like a hand gripping her hand, holding her, steadying her. 'Telling the truth makes you cry.

Why is it that the people who should be in authority are usually the people who don't want it, while the people who hold authority are usually the two-faced schemers who've stepped on people's backs to get it?

Only a wise man could see my people so clearly in so short a time. Only a ruthless one would say it all out loud. Your virtue and your flaw – we need them both.

Ivan couldn't think of a religion that was any damn good at making utter truthtellers out of its practitioners. Maybe the Quakers were truly plainspoken at one time, but even they managed to squeeze out a Richard Nixon after a few hundred years of suppressing their human propinquity for untruth.

but Ender knew that lies could not last long in America. So he believed.

Speakers for the dead apparently have an almost pathological reliance on the idea that people behave better when they know more.