Honest Truth Quotes

• Honesty is the rarest wealth anyone can possess, and yet all the honesty in the world ain't lawful tender for a loaf of bread.

  Josh Billings

  Wisdom, Truth, Honesty

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• A truth that's told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.

  William Blake

  Inspirational, Funny, Fake People

  'Auguries of Innocence' (c.1803) l. 53

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• It is not difficult to deceive the first time, for the deceived possesses no antibodies; unvaccinated by suspicion, she overlooks lateness, accepts absurd excuses, permits the flimsiest patching to repair great rents in the quotidian.

  John Updike

  Lying, Deceit, Lateness

  "Couples". Book by John Updike, 1968.

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  He who dares not offend cannot be honest.

  Thomas Paine

  Truth, Political, Honest

  Thomas Paine, John P. Kaminski (2002). “Citizen Paine: Thomas Paine's Thoughts on Man, Government, Society, and Religion”, p.123, Rowman & Littlefield

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• There are only two ways of telling the complete truth - anonymously and posthumously.

  Thomas Sowell

  Sarcastic, Truth, Honesty

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• This above all; to thine own self be true.

  William Shakespeare

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Graduation

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 1, sc. 3, l. 58

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• To make your children capable of honesty is the beginning of education.

  John Ruskin

  Trust, Children, Truth

  John Ruskin (1868). “Time and Tide, by Weare and Tyne. Twenty-five letters to a Working Man of Sunderland (Thomas Dixon) on the laws of work ... Second edition”, p.37

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• Honesty and integrity are absolutely essential for success in life - all areas of life. The really good news is that anyone can develop both honesty and integrity.

  Zig Ziglar

  Inspiring, Success, Honesty

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• It is always the best policy to speak the truth, unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar.

  Jerome K. Jerome

  Funny, Truth, Liars

  The Idler Feb. 1892, p. 118

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• One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives.

  Mark Twain

  Funny, Life, Witty

  Pudd'nhead Wilson ch. 7, "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar" (1894)

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• There are no whole truths: all truths are half-truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays to the devil.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Inspirational, Truth, Science

  Dialogues prologue (1954)

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• The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie. "One word of truth outweighs the world.

  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

  Truth, Honesty, Lying

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• Society can exist only on the basis that there is some amount of polished lying and that no one says exactly what he thinks.

  Lin Yutang

  Life, Success, Lying

  Yutang Lin (1935). “The Little Critic: Essays, Satire and Sketches on China (second Series: 1933-1935)”

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• Never tell the truth to people who are not worthy of it.

  Mark Twain

  Inspirational, Life, Truth

  Mark Twain (2012). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.485, Courier Corporation

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• Honesty is more than not lying. It is truth telling, truth speaking, truth living, and truth loving.

  James E. Faust

  Truth, Honesty, Integrity

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• Youth is the only thing worth having.

  Oscar Wilde

  Honesty, Youth, Facing The Truth

  Oscar Wilde, Russell Jackson, Joseph Bristow, Ian Small (2000). “The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: The picture of Dorian Gray : the 1890 and 1891 texts”, p.30, Oxford University Press on Demand

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• Though I am not naturally honest, I am sometimes so by chance.

  William Shakespeare

  Truth, Honesty, Chance

  'The Winter's Tale' (1610-1) act 4, sc. 3, l. [734]

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• Where is there dignity unless there is honesty?

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Inspirational, Truth, Honesty

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• Let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth to see it like it is, and tell it like it is, to find the truth, to speak the truth, and to live the truth.

  Richard M. Nixon

  Truth, Lying, Honor

  Nomination acceptance speech, Miami, 8 Aug. 1968, in New York Times 9 Aug. 1968, p. 20

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• The truth knocks on the door and you say, go away, I'm looking for the truth, and it goes away. Puzzling.

  Robert M. Pirsig

  Truth, Science, Discovery

  Robert M. Pirsig (2009). “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values”, p.6, Harper Collins

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• Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Beautiful, Truth, Honesty

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• I do not mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy.

  Samuel Butler

  Hate, Lying, Mind

  Notebooks (1912) ch. 19

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• Dare to be honest and fear no labor.

  Robert Burns

  Honesty, Ethics, Being Honest

  Robert Burns, James Currie, Robert Hartley Cromek (1839). “The prose works of Robert Burns: with the notes of Currie and Cromek, and many by the present editor”, p.57

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• Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that, you've got it made.

  George Burns

  Funny, Success, Fake People

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• If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.

  Marcus Aurelius

  Inspirational, Truth, Honesty

  Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Lucius Annaeus Seneca (2015). “Stoic Six Pack: Meditations of Marcus Aurelius The Golden Sayings Fragments and Discourses of Epictetus Letters from a Stoic and The Enchiridion”, p.72, Lulu.com

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