HONESTY QUOTES III

quotations about honesty

I like children ... pretty much all the honest truth-telling there is in the world is done by them.

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES

The Poet at the Breatfast Table

Tags: Oliver Wendell Holmes


Children and fools speak true.

JOHN LYLY

Endymion


When we are not honest, we are cut off from a significant resource of ourselves, a vital dimension that is necessary for unity and wholeness.

CLARK MOUSTAKAS

attributed, Webster's Quotations


An honest man will continue to be so though surrounded on all sides by rogues.

CHARLES CALEB COLTON

Lacon


Honest people are never touchy about the matter of being trusted.

AYN RAND

Atlas Shrugged


I would replace the quality of sincerity with honesty, since one can hold a conviction sincerely without examining it, while honesty would require that one subject one's convictions to frequent scrutiny.

CHRISTOPHER PHILLIPS

Socrates Cafe


Sometimes honesty can be incredibly messy.

WM. PAUL YOUNG

The Shack


It would seem that indolence itself would incline a person to be honest; as it requires infinitely greater pains and contrivance to be a knave.

WILLIAM SHENSTONE

Essays on Men and Manners


Clear and round dealing is the honor of man's nature; and ... mixture of falsehood is like alloy in coin of gold and silver, which may make the metal work the better, but embaseth it.

FRANCIS BACON

Essays


A candid spirit is mightier than the most persistent dogmatism.

AMOS BRONSON ALCOTT

Table Talk


Honesty is like an icicle--if once it melts that is the end of it.

AMERICAN PROVERB


The elegance of honesty needs no adornment.

MERRY BROWNE

attributed, The Book of Positive Quotations


Just be honest with yourself. That opens the door.

VERNON HOWARD

attributed, Webster's Quotations


Honesty's praised, then left to freeze.

JUVENAL

Sixteen Satires upon the Ancient Harlot


People may or may not say what they mean ... but they always say something designed to get what they want.

DAVID MAMET

attributed, David Mamet: A Research and Production Sourcebook


There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats;
For I am arm'd so strong in honesty,
That they pass by me as the idle wind,
Which I respect not.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Julius Caesar


Persons lightly dipped, not grain'd in generous honesty are but pale in goodness and faint-hued in integrity. But be thou what thou virtuously art, and let not the ocean wash away thy tincture. Stand magnetically upon that axis, when prudent simplicity hath fixed there; and let no attraction invert the poles of thy honesty.

THOMAS BROWNE

Christian Morals


An honest man is like a plain coat, which, without welt or guard, keepeth the body from wind and weather, and being well made, fits him best that wears it; and where the stuff is more regarded than the fashion, there is not much ado in the putting of it on. So the mind of an honest man, without trick or compliments, keeps the credit of a good conscience from the scandal of the world and the worm of iniquity, which, being wrought by the workman of heaven, fits him best that wears it to his service; and where virtue is more esteemed than vanity, it is put on and worn with that ease that shows the excellency of the workman. His study is virtue, his word truth, his life the passage of patience, and his death the rest of his spirit. His travail is a pilgrimage, his way is plainness, his pleasure peace, and his delight is love. His care is his conscience, his wealth is his credit, his charge is his charity, and his content is his kingdom. In sum, he is a diamond among jewels, a phoenix among birds, an unicorn among beasts, and a saint among men.

NICHOLAS BRETON

A Bower of Delights


Let me tell you a secret, which ought not to be a secret, seeing it is written in the Scriptures--be honest and your whole body will be full of light; and this of every kind; you will actually see further and see clearer than shrewd and cunning men, and you will be less liable to be duped than they, provided that your honesty be combined with a determination to protect honesty, and to discountenance every kind of brand.

EDWARD IRVING

Sermons, Lectures and Occasional Discourses: vol. 2


The man who pauses in his honesty wants little of a villain.

H. MARTYN

attributed, Many Thoughts of Many Minds