Quotes About Honesty

Truth is a deadly weapon, Lady said.

I guess each of us, at some time, finds one person with whom we are compelled toward absolute honesty, one person whose good opinion of us becomes a substitute for the broader opinion of the world.

money has no provenance. It's never dirty, only the people who handle it are.

One should speak truthfully; one should not get angry; when asked, one should give, even if there is just a little. With these three traits, one would go in the presence of the radiant ones.

Lie to everyone in this man's world if need be, but never lie to yourself, because that's the quickest road to destruction.

Since God is truth, a contempt for truth is equally a contempt for God.

I've never heard a teacher say something that was so completely, totally honest.

Academics have given up trying to recover an honest picture of the past and have decided that their history-writing should be simply an instrument of moral hand-wringing.

a writer must always tell the truth (unless he's a journalist)

Once a country is habituated to liars, it takes generations to get the truth back.

Seward appreciated the honest and open way that Stanton lied; it was the hallmark of the truly great lawyer, and demonstrated a professional mastery not unlike his own.

You know what Mr. Bates called me?" Seward shook his head with wonder. "An unprincipled liar. And here I am one of the most heavily principled men in politics." Lincoln chuckled. In every way, making allowances for regional differences, Seward's humor was not unlike his own. "And since you're a smart man, Governor, you never actually lie. Smart men never have to.

The fat man smiled. "But do you have the nerve to tell the world about yourself?" Paul sighed and looked at his hands. "No," he said, "I don't." "So what can we do, if we're all too frightened?" "Live with dignity, I suppose. And try to learn to love one another, as they say.

and the people. Hamilton was indeed a singular character. Of acute understanding, disinterested, honest and honorable in all private transactions, amiable in society, and honorable in all and duly valuing virtue in private life, yet so bewitched & perverted by the British example, as to be under thoro' conviction that corruption was essential to the government of a nation.

Let each man say what he deems truth, and let truth itself be commended unto God.

A man becomes trustworthy when you trust him.

Sometimes it's easier to cut your coat to fit the cloth than lie on the bed you've made.

one gets so hopelessly tired of deception.

When you're not a good man yourself you respect a good man. Now I'd prefer to die with a good man around. A good man teaches a lot of nonsense and a bad man teaches truth [...] I'm not the one to teach the boy nonsense.

It helped a lot not being able to speak much French. You sound awfully truthful if you don't know the right words.

Why [...] do I love this place so much? Is it because here human nature hasn't had time to disguise itself? Nobody here could ever talk about a heaven on earth. Heaven remained rigidly in its proper place on the other side of death, while on this side flourished the injustices, the cruelties, the meanness that elsewhere people so cleverly hushed up. Here you could love human beings nearly as God loved them, knowing the worst: you didn't love a pose, a pretty dress, a sentiment artfully assumed.

In one great case a man [Winston Churchill] who had been considered too brilliant and too reckless ever to be trusted with major office was the leader of the country [1941]. One of Rowe's last memories was of hearing him hissed by ex-servicemen from the public gallery of a law court because he had told an abrupt unpalatable truth about an old campaign. Now he had taught the country to love his unpalatable truths.

Perhaps truth and humility go together; so many lies come from our pride

Letters could lie all right, but they made the lie permanent. They lay as evidence against you: they made you meaner than the spoken word.