Quotes About Honesty

Lying is, almost by definition, a refusal to cooperate with others. It condenses a lack of trust and trustworthiness into a single act. It is both a failure of understanding and an unwillingness to be understood. To lie is to recoil from relationship.

The quality of our relationships is directly proportionate to the quality of our communication.

Many wise words are spoken in jest, but they don't compare with the number of stupid words spoken in earnest.

You think you know yourself, the world. You believe you've got a bead on everybody else's bullshit, but what about your own?

Son, always tell the truth. Then you'll never have to remember what you said the last time.

Youll never get mixed up if you simply tell the truth. Then you dont have to remember what you have said, and you never forget what you have said.

I hate endings. Just detest them. Beginnings are definitely the most exciting, middles are perplexing and endings are a disaster. … The temptation towards resolution, towards wrapping up the package, seems to me a terrible trap. Why not be more honest with the moment? The most authentic endings are the ones which are already revolving towards another beginning. That's genius.

Honesty consists not in never stealing but in knowing where to stop in stealing, and how to make good use of what one does steal.

I don't mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy.

When I am dead I would rather people thought me better than I was instead of worse; but if they think me worse, I cannot help it and, if it matters at all, it will matter more to them than to me.

Truth consists not in never lying but in knowing when to lie and when not to do so.

There is no such source of error as the pursuit of truth.

All truth is not to be told at all times.

Let every man be true and every god a liar.

It is bad enough to see one's own good things fathered on other people, but it is worse to have other people's rubbish fathered upon oneself.

Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well.

Truth might be heroic, but it was not within the range of practical domestic politics.

With honesty of purpose, balance, a respect for tradition, courage, and, above all, a philosophy of life, any young person who embraces the historical profession will find it rich in rewards and durable in satisfaction.

I don't want any yes-men around me. I want everybody to tell me the truth even if it costs them their job.

I want everyone to tell me the truth, even if it costs him his job.

I don't want any yes-men around me. I want everybody to tell me the truth even if it costs them their jobs.

None can be pleased without praise, and few can be praised without falsehood.

Just praise is only a debt, but flattery is a present.

He that is already corrupt is naturally suspicious, and he that becomes suspicious will quickly become corrupt.