Quotes About Honesty

Because the truth wouldn't be comforting and wouldn't bring them closer again.

Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened. —Winston Churchill

The gap between what we say and what we feel is so big and dark that sometimes I think I'll fall into it and just keep falling

A person had to live with his lies. That was what they cost.

It matters what's true. - Ann Druyan

Secrets keep families sick. You never keep secrets in families because even if the child doesn't know what the secret is, they will always know there is a secret.

Sam," said Charlie, "I've been watching you this week. I know what's going on. Have you actually told Stacey how you feel about her? Or have you just whistled at her and shot Cheerios onto her toast?

toda mentira nos persigue en el futuro.

Las mentiras de los teóricos de la conspiración suscitan dudas sobre la honradez de quienes denuncian injusticias, aun cuando estén diciendo la verdad.

Unless one commits to telling the truth in situations like this, however, one finds that the edges creep inward, and exceptions to the principle of honesty begin to multiply.

I still find that a willingness to be honest—especially about things that one might be expected to conceal—often leads to much more gratifying exchanges with other human beings.

Communications like these can still be awkward, but a wasteland of embarrassment and social upheaval can generally be avoided by following a single precept: Do not lie.

When you tell the truth, you have nothing to keep track of. The world itself becomes your memory, and if questions arise, you can always point others back to it. You can even reconsider certain facts and honestly change your views. And you can openly discuss your confusion, conflicts, and doubts with all comers. A commitment to the truth is naturally purifying of error.

Integrity consists of many things, but it generally requires us to avoid behavior that readily leads to shame or remorse. The ethical terrain here extends well beyond the question of honesty—but to truly have integrity, we must not feel the need to lie about our personal lives. To lie is to erect a boundary between the truth we are living and the perception others have of us.

It is simply astonishing how people destroy their marriages, careers, and reputations by saying one thing and doing another.

Many lives are almost scandal-proof. Vulnerability comes in pretending to be someone you are not.

How would your relationships change if you resolved never to lie again? What truths about yourself might suddenly come into view? What kind of person would you become? And how might you change the people around you?

Mentir es alzar una frontera entre la verdad en la que vivimos y la percepción que los demás tienen de nosotros.

To speak truthfully is to accurately represent one's beliefs. But candor offers no assurance that one's beliefs about the world are true.

But you seem to have a very strong intuition, which I share, that we should consider honesty to be a nearly ironclad principle, because it is to everyone's advantage so much of the time, and it allows us to live the kinds of lives and maintain the kinds of relationships we want to have.

The question is, do you really want to know what other people think about you—about your talents and prospects—or do you want to be deceived about all that?

Mentir es confundir intencionadamente a los demás cuando esperan recibir una comunicación honesta.

One of the worst things about breaking the law is that it puts you at odds with an indeterminate number of other people. This is among the many corrosive effects of unjust laws: They tempt peaceful and (otherwise) honest people to lie so as to avoid being punished for behavior that is ethically blameless.

came away convinced that lying, even about the smallest matters, needlessly