Quotes About Honesty

Science gives us a powerful vocabulary, and it is impossible to produce a vocabulary with which one can only say nice things.

simply telling the truth wasn't half enough. It still has to be brought to fictional life.

One lies in truth, One truth is lies. One path is death, One path is life. One question asked, The path to guide.

It was human nature. You didn't give everything away; if you did, you would have nothing left. There were those who took the view that there was a liberation in the act of confession, but mostly they tended to be the ones who were listening, and not the ones confessing. The only full confessions occur on deathbeds; all others are partial, modified.

You pay by the hour, even if the job only takes five minutes. I don't do fractions.

The law wasn't a great business to be in if one valued truth, or even justice.

all presented one face to the world, and kept another hidden. Nobody could survive in it otherwise.

After all, no relationship could function or survive under the burden of total honesty.

clever wasn't the same as honest. Ferrier

A false friend is more dangerous than an open enemy. Francis Bacon (1561–1626)

There are some good people. But a good chunk of them will lie for no reason at all - it'll be ten o'clock and they'll tell you it's nine. You're looking at the clock and you can't even fathom why they're lying. They just lie because that's what they do.

Nietzsche had it right when he said we lack the courage for the truth, that the truth will make us stronger just so long as it doesn't kill us first.

Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won't cheat, then you know he never will.

Friendships, like marriages, are dependent on avoiding the unforgivable.

Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won't cheat, then you know he never will. Integrity is not a search for the rewards of integrity. Maybe all you ever get for it is the largest kick in the ass the world can provide. It is not supposed to be a productive asset.

This was not some pretty little girl, coyly flirtatious, delicately stimulated. This was the mature female of the species, vivid, handsome and strong demanding that all the life within her be matched. Her instinct would detect any hedging, any dishonesty, any less than complete response to her - and then she would be gone for good.

The most important thing for a young man is to establish a credit . . . a reputation, character.

Next to doing the right thing, the most important thing is to let people know you are doing the right thing.

I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a man's word should be as good as his bond; that character — not wealth or power or position — is of supreme worth.

Truth is the only merit that gives dignity and worth to history.

Son, frankness is a virtue only when you're talkin' about yourself, and then it's a nuisance.

If an audience kept complete silence during a challenge parable from Jesus and if an audience filed past him afterward saying, 'Lovely parable, this morning, Rabbi,' Jesus would have failed utterly.

I glimpse again that biblical rhythm of expansion-and-contraction, assertion-and-subversion. As that rhythm becomes ever clearer as the very heartbeat of the biblical tradition, we will see the basic solution for How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian. Read it all carefully and thoughtfully, recognize radicality's assertion, expect normalcy's subversion, and respect the honesty of a story that tells the truth.

Teach me to hear mermaids singing, Or to keep off envy's stinging, And find What wind Serves to advance an honest mind.