154 Honesty Quotes and Sayings

Can you imagine a world without uprightness and fairness or what we commonly call as the quality or fact of being honest? The world is going to be a miserable place to live in if we all forget to be true not only to ourselves but to other people as well. May these quotes inspire you to live your life with honesty and encourage the people around you to live the same way.

Honesty Quotes

1. Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom. – Thomas Jefferson  

2. A half truth is a whole lie. – Yiddish Proverb

3. Every lie is two lies, the lie we tell others and the lie we tell ourselves to justify it. – Robert Brault 

4. Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people. – Spencer Johnson 

5. Honesty is the best policy. If I lose mine honor, I lose myself. – William Shakespeare

6. Honesty is more than not lying. It is truth telling, truth speaking, truth living, and truth loving. – James E Faust 

7. No legacy is so rich as honesty. – William Shakespeare 

8. It takes strength and courage to admit the truth. – Rick Riordan

9. Honest people don’t hide their deeds. – Emily Bront

10. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. – Khaled Hosseini

11. Honesty saves everyone’s time.

12. Honesty is the fastest way to prevent a mistake from turning into a failure. – James Altucher

13. Honesty is a very expensive gift. Don’t expect it from cheap people. – Warren Buffett

14. The greatest truth is honesty, and the greatest falsehood is dishonesty. – Abu Bakr RA

15. Be honest in your life it creates positive energy. – Fathima Bibi Joosab

16. Being honest may not get you a lot of friends but it’ll always get you the right ones. – John Lennon

17. Speak with honesty, think with sincerity, and act with integrity.

18. The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love, and loyalty. – Zig Ziglar

19. The first step toward greatness is to be honest. – Proverb

20. No legacy is so rich as honesty. – William Shakespeare

Honesty Quotes

21. Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway. – Mother Teresa

22. Honesty is the best policy. – Benjamin Franklin

23. No matter what you do, stand up for who you are and be honest. – Bryant McGill

24. Make yourself an honest man. – Thomas Carlyle

25. Each time you are honest and conduct yourself with honesty, a success force will drive you toward greater success. Each time you lie, even with a little white lie, there are strong forces pushing you toward failure. – Joseph Sugarman

26. Honesty has a power that very few people can handle. – Steven Aitchison

27. Honesty prospers in every condition of life. – Friedrich Schiller

28. Be honest, brutally honest. – Lauryn Hill

29. Just be honest with yourself. That opens the door. – Vernon Howard

30. Leadership is intelligence, honesty, and doing the right thing. – Julie Zeilinger

31. People all over the nation are starved for honesty and common sense. – Ben Carson

32. Be honest, for God is the helper of honest people. Avoid telling lies since it will ruin your faith. Know that honest people are on the verge of nobility and honor, while liars are on the verge of collapse and destruction. – Imam Ali RA

33. Be a reflection of what you’d like to see in others. If you want love, give love, if you want honesty, give honesty, if you want respect, give respect. You get in return, what you give.

34. I’m not rude, I’m honest.

35. An honest man’s word is as good as his bond.

36. Be honest with the people who love you. They deserve your honesty.

37. The first step is to be honest, and then to be noble. – Winston Churchill

38. Be honest with yourself and never settle for a life that is not true to who you are. – ATGW

39. Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world would do this, it would change the earth. – William Faulkner

40. Honesty and loyalty are key. – Taylor Lautner

41. My parents taught me about the importance of qualities like kindness, respect, and honesty, and I realize how central values like these have been throughout my life. – Kate Middleton

42. I admire honesty more than any other trait. – Jerry Reinsdorf

43. As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself. Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility. – Nelson Mandela

44. A clear conscience is more valuable than wealth.      

45. A fair exchange is no robbery. – Scottish Proverb

46. A friend’s eye is a good mirror. – Gaelic 

47. A loan though old is not a gift.     

48. A man who never made a mistake never made anything.      

49. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. – Ben Franklin 

50. Avoid dishonest gain, no price can recompence the pangs of vice. – Ben Franklin 

51. Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion. – Julius Caesar 

52. Dally not with other folk’s spouses or money. – Ben Franklin 

53. Don’t pretend to be something you aren’t. – Aesop 

54. Don’t take any wooden nickels.      

55. Following the path of least resistence is what makes both men and rivers crooked.      

56. From the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks. – Jesus Christ

Honesty Quotes

57. Half the truth is often a whole lie. – Ben Franklin 

58. He that first cries out “stop thief” is often he that has stolen the treasure.      – William Congreve 

59. He that steals an egg will steal an ox. – George Herbert 

60. It is better to suffer for truth than to prosper by falsehood.      

61. Keep thy shop and thy shop will keep thee. – George Chapman 

62. As you grew, we encouraged you to be open and direct. As you leave, never lose your honesty with those whom you speak. – Catherine Pulsifer and Byron Pulsifer 

63. True honesty is hard. Throughout my career, I’ve faced moments where I’ve needed to take an honest look at myself and face some very uncomfortable realities. – Les Brown 

64. There is nothing so strong or safe in an emergency of life as the simple truth. – Charles Dickens 

65. Be honest in your life it creates positive energy, stopping all unfairness through life. – Fathima Bibi Joosab

66. But the truth is that people need other people, that a good story requires more than one character. We were all made to be loved and made to be known, to find ourselves in honest relationships where those things can be reciprocated and exchanged. – Jamie Tworkowski 

67. It is not the lie that passes through the mind, but the lie that sinks in and settles in it, that does the hurt. – Francis Bacon

68. Brutal, inner honesty. The three scariest words on the planet, and yet, at the same time, the very KEY that unlocks all the doors. – Ken Dahl

69. And if you learn to have those difficult conversations in a loving, honest, and responsible way, your relationships can become better than you ever thought they could. – Henry Cloud

70. Often, too, with children, conformity, rather than honesty, is encouraged. I would like to see children feel free to express their emotions and, as they grow, learn how to control their impulses. – Magda Gerber

71. I wish to be simple, honest, natural, frank, clean in mind and clean in body, unaffected ready to say, ‘I do not know,’ if so it be, to meet all men on an absolute equality to face any obstacle and meet every difficulty unafraid and unabashed. – Elbert Hubbard

72. It is difficult, but not impossible, to conduct strictly honest business. – Mahatma Gandhi

Honesty Quotes

73. Reconciling honest doubt with deeply held faith is a paradox, something that seems unlikely, if not impossible, but turns out to be true. God makes it true. – Stephen Shortridge

74. In its simplest form, communication is talking and listening; however, unless talking and listening are accompanied by honest, loving feedback on the part of the listener, little communication can take place. – Dr. Gary Chapman

75. Since God is a God of truth Deuteronomy 32: 4) and His Son Jesus Christ is The way, the truth and the life (John 14: 6) it is not surprising that He hates all forms of untruths from black and white lies to false oaths and witnessing. – Miriam Kinai

76. You have to be able to understand what your insecurities are if you want to change them. In order to do this, you are going to have to be very honest with yourself. – Jennifer N Smith

77. Always remember, everyone is hungry for praise and starving for honest appreciation. – David Brandt Berg

78. An honest man in politics shines more there than he would elsewhere. – Mark Twain 

79. Every honest researcher I know admits he’s just a professional amateur. He’s doing whatever he’s doing for the first time. That makes him an amateur. He has sense enough to know that he’s going to have a lot of trouble, so that makes him a professional. – Charles Kettering 

80. Working through conflict, we maintain and build a strong but flexible, honest but loving connection in our relationship. – Aaron F. Steinberg

Honesty Quotes

81. If ego is the voice that tells us we’re better than we really are, we can say ego inhibits true success by preventing a direct and honest connection to the world around us. – Ryan Holiday

82. Truth without love is harshness; it gives us information but in such a way that we cannot really hear it. Love without truth is sentimentality; it supports and affirms us but keeps us in denial about our flaws. – Timothy Keller 

83. Simple honesty of purpose in a man goes a long way in life, if founded on a just estimate of himself and a steady obedience to the rule he knows and feels to be right. – Samuel Smiles 

84. Friendship is not threatened by honest criticism. It is strengthened. – Charles Swindoll 

85. When people begin working with a group, it is vital that they begin with no assumptions about where the team is at. They cannot afford to be judgemental to make a successful start, the facilitator must allow the team members to decide what issues are affecting performance and what strategies they need to implement the facilitator helps to create an environment where all the team members can take part in honest discussions about the team’s performance. – Ray McLean

86. If you’re not honest with yourself, how can you be truly honest with anyone else? – Paul Williams

87. Where do we get the word honest? If you will study the way this word developed, you will see that it is related to honor. Honor, honesty and truth are closely related concepts. – Kenneth Copeland

88. Honest difference of views and honest debate are not disunity. They are the vital process of policy among free men. – Herbert Hoover 

89. Healthy relationships of all kinds are usually composed of honesty, trust, and respect. – Ace McCloud

90. Honesty is the cornerstone of all success, without which confidence and ability to perform shall cease to exist. – Mary Kay Ash 

91. It still takes a serious commitment and honest effort for your goals to come to fruition. – Alex Altman

92. It helps people to become honest when they are treated as honest. – Elijah Mcleon

93. Accepting our emotional truth is essential for self-acceptance. In turn, self-acceptance is necessary for accepting others. Learning the principles of emotional honesty enables us to stop punishing ourselves and others for our emotional pain. By acknowledging our emotional vulnerability we also increase emotional intimacy. – Ronald R. Brill 

94. An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens. – Thomas Jefferson 

95. Honesty pays, but it don’t seem to pay enough to suit some people. – Frank McKinney 

96. One word of truth outweighs the world. – Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn

97. Nothing in this world is harder than speaking the truth, nothing easier than flattery. – Fyodor Dostoevsky

98. It’s discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit. – Noël Coward

Honesty Quotes

99. If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it. – Marcus Tullius Cicero

100. Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. – Oscar Wilde

101. To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful. – Edward R. Murrow

102. And that’s the thing about people who mean everything they say. They think everyone else does too. – Khaled Hosseini

103. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway. – Kent M. Keith

104. If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people. – Virginia Woolf

105. Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it. – George R.R. Martin

106. You can’t lie to your soul. – Irvine Welsh

107. The real things haven’t changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful. – Laura Ingalls Wilder

108. Freethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their own customs, privileges, or beliefs. – Leo Tolstoy

109. Don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly. – Franz Kafka

110. Truth never damages a cause that is just. – Mahatma Gandhi

111. It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one. – George Washington

112. You wear a mask for so long, you forget who you were beneath it. – Alan Moore

113. If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. – Abraham Lincoln

114. Living with integrity means speaking your truth, even though it might create conflict or tension. – Barbara De Angelis

115. Don’t ever regret being honest. Period. – Taylor Swift

116. If you’re not honest with yourself, life will never be honest with you. – Leigh Brackett

Honesty Quotes

117. Honesty, like any inclination, can become a ruling passion, a monomania almost. – Sena Jeter Naslund

118. I could never be a politician, I have a problem of too often being honest. – Carl R White

119. Boastfulness and excessive pride do not equate at all with humility and honesty, credibility and integrity. – Angelica Hopes

  1. Don’t assume, ask. Be kind. Tell the truth. Don’t say anything you can’t stand behind fully. Have integrity. Tell people how you feel. – Warsan Shire

121. We learned about honesty and integrity that the truth matters… that you don’t take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules and success doesn’t count unless you earn it fair and square. – Michelle Obama

122. Whatever you go into, you have to go in there to be the best. There’s no formulas. It’s all about passion and honesty and hard work. It might look glamorous, but it takes a lot of hard work. The blessing with the arts is that you can do it forever. – Hugh Masekela

123. Treat those who are good with goodness, and also treat those who are not good with goodness. Thus goodness is attained. Be honest to those who are honest, and be also honest to those who are not honest. Thus honesty is attained. – Lao Tzu

124. You will reciprocally promise love, loyalty and matrimonial honesty. We only want for you this day that these words constitute the principle of your entire life and that with the help of divine grace you will observe these solemn vows that today, before God, you formulate. – Pope John Paul II

125. Honesty is of God and dishonesty of the devil the devil was a liar from the beginning. – Joseph B. Wirthlin

126. Love and honesty are the things that make a good wife and mother. Jada – Pinkett Smith

127. Expressions of affection, like putting your arm around someone’s shoulder, holding hands, or giving a kiss good night, involve the principle of honesty. – John Bytheway

128. Ethics or simple honesty is the building blocks upon which our whole society is based, and business is a part of our society, and it’s integral to the practice of being able to conduct business, that you have a set of honest standards. – Kerry Stokes

129. The three ordinary things that we often don’t pay enough attention to, but which I believe are the drivers of all success, are hard work, perseverance, and basic honesty. – Azim Premji

130. When you do something with a lot of honesty, appetite and commitment, the input reflects in the output. – A. R. Rahman

131. It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office. – H. L. Mencken

132. For me, honesty is a huge thing, and loyalty, when it comes to relationships. – Lauren Jauregui

133. I think my confidence stems from my honesty. I’m brutally honest about everything and even myself. I tell it as I think it. I’m not politically correct. I’m definitely not diplomatic. I get bashed up for what I say, but I don’t know any other way. – Alia Bhatt

134. It’s about communication. It’s about honesty. It’s about treating people in the organization as deserving to know the facts. You don’t try to give them half the story. You don’t try to hide the story. You treat them as, as true equals, and you communicate and you communicate and communicate. – Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

135. All religions try to benefit people, with the same basic message of the need for love and compassion, for justice and honesty, for contentment. – Dalai Lama

136. There’s just some magic in truth and honesty and openness. – Frank Ocean

137. I look for these qualities and characteristics in people. Honesty is number one, respect, and absolutely the third would have to be loyalty. – Summer Altice

138. We have to stand up for what we believe in, even when we might not be popular for it. Honesty starts with being ourselves, authentic and true to who we are and what we believe in, and that may not always be popular, but it will always let you follow your dreams and your heart. – Tabatha Coffey

139. The influence of a mother upon the lives of her children cannot be measured. They know and absorb her example and attitudes when it comes to questions of honesty, temperance, kindness, and industry. – Billy Graham

140. Honesty is the best policy; the only way out is deeper in a candid confrontation with existence is dizzying, liberating. – David Shields

141. I think the thing about love is that even though the things around us change, we as human beings, a lot of the ways we interact, and the ways we love each other is timeless. It requires trust, honesty, commitment, romance, and physical chemistry. – John Legend

142. The elegance of honesty needs no adornment. – Mary Browne

143. I think the thing about love is that even though the things around us change, we as human beings, a lot of the ways we interact, and the ways we love each other is timeless. It requires trust, honesty, commitment, romance, and physical chemistry. – John Legend

144. If people feel misled or deceived, then sorry that they feel that way, but I believe that’s more due to their definition and construct of race in their own minds than it is to my integrity or honesty, because I wouldn’t say I’m African American, but I would say I’m black, and there’s a difference in those terms. – Rachel Dolezal

145. I’m very unpredictable. Very, very impulsive. Extremely. Absolutely. Sometimes I don’t know what I want to do from one day to the next. I can’t enjoy anything premeditated; I just do it as I feel it. But whatever I do is motivated by honesty. – Sharon Tate

146. Accuracy is the twin brother of honesty inaccuracy, of dishonesty. – Nathaniel Hawthorne

147. 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

148. You learn their honesty, you learn their competitiveness. You learn a lot about a person. It’s not that they have to sink the putt and there’s a great deal of talent involved but you do learn about how competitive a person is on the golf course, and frankly, how honest. – Donald Trump

149. I like people who enjoy life. I can’t stand women who play games. I lose interest very quickly. I prefer up-front honesty. – Ray Fearon

150. Honesty is the cruelest game of all, because not only can you hurt someone – and hurt them to the bone – you can feel self-righteous about it at the same time. – Dave Van Ronk

151. I have known a vast quantity of nonsense talked about bad men not looking you in the face. Don’t trust that conventional idea. Dishonesty will stare honesty out of countenance any day in the week, if there is anything to be got by it. – Charles Dickens

152. Self-deprecating humor and brutal honesty is a really freeing thing. – Margo Price

153. I believe in accessibility. I believe in honesty and a culture that supports that. And you can’t have that if you’re not open to receiving feedback. – Mindy Grossman

154. Living with integrity means: Not settling for less than what you know you deserve in your relationships. Asking for what you want and need from others. Speaking your truth, even though it might create conflict or tension. Behaving in ways that are in harmony with your personal values. Making choices based on what you believe, and not what others believe. – Barbara De Angelis

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