To live outside the law, you must be honest.
—Bob Dylan (b.1941) American Singer-songwriter
I don’t mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy.
—Samuel Butler
To many a man, and sometimes to a youth, there comes the opportunity to choose between honorable competence and tainted wealth. The young man who starts out to be poor and honorable, holds in his hand one of the strongest elements of success.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
The darkest hour in the history of any young man is when he sits down to study how to get money without honestly earning it.
—Horace Greeley (1811–72) American Elected Rep, Politician, Reformer, Editor
Commend me to sterling honesty though clad in rags.
—Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Lawyer
If you follow only one rule, let it be this one: Be yourself. The really strong boy-girl relationships are based on what people really are, not on what they pretend to be.
—Indian Proverb
Hold firmly to your word.
—Moses Maimonides (1135–1204) Jewish Philosopher, Rabbinic Scholar
There are people who think that honesty is always the best policy. This is a superstition; there are times when the appearance of it is worth six of it.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Our great error is that we suppose mankind more honest than they are.
—Alexander Hamilton (c.1757–1804) American Federalist Politician, Statesman
Hope of ill gain is the beginning of loss.
—Democritus (c.460–c.370 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
A man’s first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart; his next, to escape the censures of the world. If the last interferes with the former, it ought to be entirely neglected; but otherwise there cannot be a greater satisfaction to an honest mind, than to see those approbations which it gives itself, seconded by the applauses of the public. A man is more sure of his conduct, when the verdict which he passes upon his own behavior is thus warranted and confirmed by the opinion of all that know him.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
There is something greater than wealth, grander even than fame—manhood, character, stand for success… nothing else really does.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
Honesty is for the most part less profitable than dishonesty.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
If your morals make you dreary, depend upon it they are wrong. I do not say “give them up,” for they may be all you have; but conceal them like a vice, lest they should spoil the lives of better and simpler people.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
He that loseth his honesty hath nothing else to lose.
—John Lyly (1554–1606) English Dramatist, Novelist, Writer
Do not buy stolen goods.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Honesty is like an icicle; if once it melts that is the end of it
—U.S. Proverb
Beware of the half truth. You may have gotten hold of the wrong half.
—Anonymous
The most worthy crown is a good reputation.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
The difference there is betwixt honor and honesty, seems to be chiefly the motive: the truly honest man does that from duty, which the man of honor does for the sake of character.
—William Shenstone (1714–63) British Poet, Landscape Gardener
Most of us are honest all the time, and all of us are honest most of the time.
—Charles Mathias (1922–2010) American Politician, Attorney
Always tell the truth. That way you don’t have to remember what you said.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
The worst of my actions or conditions seem not so ugly unto me as I find it both ugly and base not to dare to avouch for them.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so, is something worse.
—John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) Sixth President of the USA
Honesty of thought and speech and written word is a jewel, and they who curb prejudice and seek honorably to know and speak the truth are the only builders of a better life.
—John Galsworthy (1867–1933) English Novelist, Playwright
Honesty is the best image.
—Tom Wilson (1931–2011) American Cartoonist
An honest man is the best thing on the sod; but a mother and her babe is the noblest work of God.
—Unknown
Like all valuable commodities, truth is often counterfeited.
—James Gibbons (1834–1921) American Catholic Religious Leader, Clergyman
If you stand straight, do not fear a crooked shadow.
—Chinese Proverb
I am afraid we must make the world honest before we can honestly say to our children that honesty is the best policy.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright