165 Honesty Quotes
Honesty is contagious and it starts with you. Get Inspired by these honesty quotes!
You’ve probably heard time and time again that honesty pays. Being truthful and transparent shows that you have integrity and morals. Dishonesty, lies, and deceit only wreak havoc on relationships and make an individual less trustworthy. Honesty is a strong foundation upon which healthy relationships are built.
What are the habits that make one dishonest? Telling lies, cheating, stealing concealing the truth, and even telling half the truth are all considered dishonest behaviors. However, there are some situations where people may argue that it is okay to lie to others. It is important to understand that what is done in the dark very often comes to light- which means that the truth will eventually come out (more likely than unlikely).
If you’ve been dishonest to someone or people you care about, you can rebuild trust by, firstly, acknowledging that yourself that you’re wrong. Secondly, sincerely apologize for your wrongdoing and tell the truth. Then, validate their response, and most importantly- be honest going forward.
So, what do you do when you feel that your trust has been betrayed? It can be quite hard to trust a person again they have been dishonest but it is possible. Take some time to process it but don’t make excuses for their behavior. Let them know how it made you feel and be open to forgiveness. Whether you want to keep them in your life or not is a personal choice but it is worth considering if they show a willingness to do better and be honest.
In this article, we’ve curated 165 inspirational quotes about honesty.
Feel free to share on your social media or with family and friends.
SHORT HONESTY QUOTES
1. “Honesty is the best policy.” ―Benjamin Franklin,
2. “No legacy is so rich as honesty.” ― William Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well
3. “Honesty is the best policy. If I lose mine honor, I lose myself.” ―William Shakespeare
4. “Don’t ever regret being honest. Period.”―
5. “A half truth is a whole lie.” ―Yiddish Proverb
HONESTY QUOTES
6. “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” ―Thomas Jefferson
7. “It takes strength and courage to admit the truth.” ― Rick Riordan, The Red Pyramid
8. “Honesty is more than not lying. It is truth telling, truth speaking, truth living, and truth loving.” ― James E. Faust
9. “Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it.”― A Game of Thrones
10. “Anything is better than lies and deceit!”― Anna Karenina
HONESTY QUOTES
11. “Honesty is a very expensive gift, Don’t expect it from cheap people.”―
12. “Honesty is the first chapter of the book wisdom.”―
13. “You should not honor men more than truth.”―
14. “Honest people don’t hide their deeds.” ― Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights
15. “Can you honestly love a dishonest thing?”― The Winter of Our Discontent
HONESTY QUOTES
16. “Love is honesty. Love is a mutual respect for one another.”― Leaving Paradise
17. “When a man is penalized for honesty he learns to lie.”― Salomé: In Every Inch In Every Mile
18. “It is not easy to keep silent when silence is a lie.”―
19. “Hypocrites get offended by the truth.”― Jess C. Scott, Bad Romance: Seven Deadly Sins Anthology
20. “I meant what I said and I said what I meant.”― Dr. Seuss, Horton Hatches the Egg
HONESTY QUOTES
21. “Honesty: The best of all the lost arts.”―
22. “Is it true; is it kind, or is it necessary?”― Essential Thinkers – Socrates
23. “If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.”―
24. “Hard to trust honesty of inconsistent person.”― Toba Beta, My Ancestor Was an Ancient Astronaut
25. “Most of what I say is complete truth. My edit button is broken.”― Myra McEntire, Hourglass
26. “The first step towards greatness is to be honest.” – Proverb
27. “Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise.” ― Sigmund Freud
HONESTY QUOTES
28. “Three things cannot long be hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.” ― Confucius
29. “I know a lie when I hear one.”― Adrian Mitchel
30. “Full stories are as rare as honesty.”― Zadie Smith, White Teeth
31. “Gimme an honest frown over a false smile, any day.”― Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram
32. “It takes strength and courage to admit the truth.”― Rick Riordan, The Red Pyramid
33. “What a fool honesty is.”― William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale
34. . “Honesty has a power that very few people can handle.” ― Steven Aitchison
35. “Honesty is always good, except when it’s better to lie. ”― James Patterson
HONESTY QUOTES
36. “Time is precious, but truth is more precious than time.” — Benjamin Disraeli
37. “Accuracy is twin brother to honesty, and inaccuracy to dishonesty.” — Nathaniel Hawthorne
38. “Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.” — Mahatma Gandhi
39. “People all over the nation are starved for honesty and common sense.” ― Ben Carson
40. “Honesty is a very expensive gift. Don’t expect it from cheap people.” ― Warren Buffett
41. “The truth brings no man a fortune.” — Jean Jacques Rousseau
42. “Friendship is not threatened by honest criticism. It is strengthened.”— Charles Swindoll
43. “If you’re not honest with yourself, how can you be truly honest with anyone else?” — Paul Williams, Gratitude and Trust
44. “Honesty is one of the most important parts of any marriage.” — Amanda Thompson, The Perfect Husband For Your Wife – You!
45. “Honesty pays, but it don’t seem to pay enough to suit some people.” — Frank McKinney
HONESTY QUOTES
46. “I never lie. I believe everything I say, so it’s not a lie.”― Mark Wahlberg
47. “The real source of inner joy is to remain truthful and honest.” ― Dalai Lama
48. “If the truth shall kill them, let them die.”— Ayn Rand
49. “The terrible thing about the quest for truth is that you find it.” — Remy de Gourmont,
50. “The truth has a million faces, but there is only one truth.” — Hermann Hesse
51. “From error to error one discovers the entire truth.”— Sigmund Freud
52. “The truth needs so little rehearsal.”― Barbara Kingsolver
53. “Honesty is something you can’t wear out.” ― Waylon Jennings
HONESTY QUOTES
54. “The life of an honest man must be a perpetual infidelity.” ― Charles Peguy
55. “A good conscience is a continual Christmas.”— Benjamin Franklin
56. “Shamelessness is not the same as honesty.”―
57. “Maybe my expectations for honesty are too high.”― The Calling
58. “Honesty, for me, is usually the worst policy imaginable.”―
59. “Thirst was made for water; inquiry for truth.” C. S. Lewis
60. “Honesty: what a refreshing slap in the face it is.”―
HONESTY QUOTES
61. “Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away.” — Elvis Presley
62. When you stretch the truth, watch out for the snapback.” — Bill Copeland
63.“You can’t lie to your soul.”― Porno
64. “Honesty does not always bring a response of love, but it is absolutely essential to it.” — Ray Blanton
65. “Truth is the property of no individual but is the treasure of all men.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
66. “The greatest truth is honesty, and the greatest falsehood is dishonesty.” ―Abu Bakr
HONESTY QUOTES
67. “Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.” ― Spencer Johnson
68.“Honesty and integrity are by far the most important assets of an entrepreneur.”— Zig Ziglar
69. “Just be honest with yourself. That opens the door.” — Vernon Howard
70. “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.” — Henry David Thoreau
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BEST QUOTES ON HONESTY
71. “Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters”―
72. “Do Not Lie to Yourself. We have to be honest about what we want and take risks rather than lie to ourselves and make excuses to stay in our comfort zone.”― The Light in the Heart
73. “The only time you seem honest is when you’re insulting someone!”
“The only honest things I can say to you are insults.”― Words of Radiance
74. “The truth may not set you free, but used carefully, it can confuse the hell out of your enemies.”― Micah
75. “Honesty is more than not lying. It is truth telling, truth speaking, truth living, and truth loving.”―
76. “We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend.”―
77. “To conceal anything from those to whom I am attached, is not in my nature. I can never close my lips where I have opened my heart.”― C
78. “It’s discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit.” ― Blithe Spirit
HONESTY QUOTES
79. “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”―
80. “To be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.”― Hamlet
81. “Though I am not naturally honest, I am sometimes so by chance.”― The Winter’s Tale
82. “Yeah, it never fails to amaze me how a single lie can undo an entire lifetime of good. (Aiden)”― Sherrilyn Kenyon, Upon the Midnight Clear
83. “Honesty will guide you to goodness, and goodness will invite you to heaven.”―
84. “I’m not mean, I’m honest. Nobody is ever straightforward. But sometimes people need to hear the truth.”― Breathless
85. “To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.”―
HONESTY QUOTES
86. “I would rather be damned by my honesty, than caged by my lies.”― Gothic Inferno
87. “I think honesty is the most heroic quality one can aspire to.”―
88. “You’re only responsible for being honest, not for someone else’s reaction to your honesty.” ― ISO (In Search Of): The Art of Dating, Relationships & Sex for the Discerning Lesbian
89. “I never say the things I really want to. If I did, I’d have no friends.” ― My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands
90. “There are honest people in the world, but only because the devil considers their asking prices ridiculous.”― A Fine and Private Place
HONESTY QUOTES
91. “There’s one way to find out if a man is honest: ask him; if he says yes, you know he’s crooked.”―
92. “You can’t let the truth bring out the worst and let it get the best of you.”― Diotima, Battery, Electric Personality
93. “Honesty is always the best policy, even when it’s not the trend.” ― The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens: The Ultimate Teenage Success Guide
94. “You don’t always have to chop with the sword of truth. You can point with it too.”― Bird by Bird
95. “I’d rather have cancer than a dishonest heart. Which isn’t being pious. Just practical. Cancer may cool you, but the other’s sure to.” ― Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Three Stories
96. “Magic is the only honest profession. A magician promises to deceive you and he does.”―
97. “She was one of those people who are irrevocably, incurably honest and therefore both inflexible and vulnerable at the same time.”― A
98. “Honesty whispers, “Don’t get pricked by the thorns of lie.”―
99. “When you walk a life of honesty, you live a life of truth.” ― Therese Benedict
100. “The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you.” —David Foster Wallace
HONESTY QUOTES
101.“If you want to have a healthy mind, you must feed your mind with truth.” —Rick Warren
102. “If a man asks me for my loyalty…I will give him my honesty. If a man asks me for my honesty…I will give him my loyalty!”―
103. “It’s better to be sworn to an honest fool than to a lying scholar”― Eldest
104. “Truth isn’t always beauty, but the hunger for it is.” — Nadine Gordimer
105. “What I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we have.” — Oprah Winfrey
106. “We have to be honest about what we want and take risks rather than lie to ourselves and make excuses to stay in our comfort zone.” ―
107. “If you don’t care for obscenity, you don’t care for the truth.”―
HONESTY QUOTES
108. “You surely remember your past when you rebuke me in honesty.”― Master of Stupidity
109. “I do know that the slickest way to lie is to tell the right amount of truth–then shut up.”― Stranger in a Strange Land
110. “If you lose your integrity, you will also lose your identity, your sensitivity, and your dignity. Integrity is honesty, modesty, and security in all kinds of weather. It should be our priority!”―
111. “What is better: uncomfortable truth or comfortable lies? Every truth is a kindness, even if it makes others uncomfortable. Every untruth is an unkindness, even if it makes others comfortable.”—Liz Gilbert”
112. “Moral authority comes from following universal and timeless principles like honesty, integrity, treating people with respect.” ― Stephen Covey
113. “She asked if I loved another woman, so I answered honestly and said, “Dinner was great, but I could go for dessert.”― Love Quotes for the Ages. Specifically Ages 19-91.
114. “The true measure of life is not length, but honesty.” ― John Lyly
HONESTY QUOTES
115. “She’d tried her hand at most things, but drew the line at honesty.”― Yeats Is Dead!: A Mystery by 15 Irish Writers
116. “It is difficult, but not impossible, to conduct strictly honest business.” — Mahatma Gandhi
117. “It helps people to become honest when they are treated as honest.” — Elijah Mcleon, New Light, New Life, New You!
118. “Honesty is perhaps just as important a factor in one’s communication skills as trust.” — Ross Elkins, Business: Golden Nugget Methods for High Effectiveness
119. “Honest difference of views and honest debate are not disunity. They are the vital process of policy among free men.” —Herbert Hoover
120. “There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times.” — Voltaire
HONESTY QUOTES
121. “The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.” — Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of the U.K.
122. “All great truths begin as blasphemies.” — George Bernard Shaw
123. “Honesty is a fine foundation from which to build upon; for if one was to really know what another thinks and how they feel…they would surely treat each other differently.”―
124. “Honesty, truth and decency all link together- by loving all of these, we can improve our families, communities and our society.” Estella Eliot, Positively Christian
125. “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
126. “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, Honesty: The Final Frontier
127. “There is nothing so strong or safe in an emergency of life as the simple truth.”― Charles Dickens
128. “An honest man in politics shines more there than he would elsewhere.” ― Mark Twain Quotes
129. “No such thing as a man willing to be honest – that would be like a blind man willing to see.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald
HONESTY QUOTES
130. “Even if I am not the honestest type in the world I don’t want to lie more than is average.”― The Adventures of Augie March
131. “Yes, the truth may hurt but lies will become a crutch and will cripple you.” – Stephen T. Scott, Wings To Fly
132. ” The truth makes all things complete, it brings things to fulfillment, and it brings thing to an end. It completes the circle of life and reality.” – E. B. Staples, What Is the Truth?
133. “For though we love both the truth and our friends, piety requires us to honor the truth first.” — Aristotle
134. “I have always noticed that people will never laugh at anything that is not based on truth.” — Will Rogers,
135. “All kinds of frankness and honesty are terrible crimes in the eyes of society.”— Jean-Jacques Rousseau
136. “Honesty is the key to unlock the door to trust and genuine connection. It lays the foundation for meaningful relationships and personal growth.” – Jeremiah Say
137. “Too much honesty makes you sound insincere.”― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind
138. “It is not always a problem finding the truth, it is however sometimes a problem accepting it.”― Sunny-Drunk
HONESTY QUOTES
139. “Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.” ― Albert Einstein
140. “The most boring thing in the entire world is nudity. The second most boring thing is honesty.”— Chuck Palahniuk
141.“A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.”— Ernest Hemingway
142. “When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice, you may know that your society is doomed.” — Ayn Rand
143. “You lie once.. you lie for the rest of your life… and in quest of proving your innocence.. you pledge your honesty with utter lies…. !!!”― Aapka Abhijeet
144. “There is no foundation like the rock of honesty and fairness, and when you begin to build your life on that rock, with the cement of the faith in God that you have, then you have a real start.”— Ronald Reagan
145. “Honesty is the recognition of the fact that the unreal is unreal and can have no value, that neither love nor fame nor cash is a value if obtained by fraud.”— Ayn Rand
146.“Honesty and openness is always the foundation of insightful dialogue.”— Bell Hooks
HONESTY QUOTES
147. “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” — Arthur Schopenhauer
148. “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
149. “No matter how plain a woman may be, if truth and honesty are written across her face, she will be beautiful.”— Eleanor Roosevelt
150. “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you mad.” — Aldοus Huxley
151. “You say be honest, but honestly you don’t want honesty”― William Perry
152. Honesty is often very hard. The truth is often painful. But the freedom it can bring is worth the trying. ― Fred Rogers
153. “No human being can be so honest as to become completely false.”― Yukio Mishima
154. “Honesty is the cornerstone of all success, without which confidence and ability to perform shall cease to exist.” ― Mary Kay Ash
155. “When corruption is the priority, honesty becomes evil.”―
156. “Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure that there is one less scoundrel in the world.”― Thomas Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero Worship and the Heroic in History
157. “The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love, and loyalty.” ― Zig Ziglar
158. “There are few reasons for telling the truth, but for lying the number is infinite.” —Carlos Ruiz Zafón
HONESTY QUOTES
159. “There is no glory in honesty if it is destructive. And no shame in dishonesty if its goal is to offer grace.”― M.J. Rose, Lying In Bed
160. “People often claim to hunger for truth, but seldom like the taste when it’s served up.” — George R.R. Martin
161. “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.” — Henry David Thoreau
162. “If you are honest with yourself, your life will be so much more pleasant.”― The 500 People You Meet in Hell
163. “I’d rather have a cup of coffee and a cigarette than live in all that honesty.”― Last Night I Sang to the Monster
164. “To express oneself honestly, not lying to oneself; that, my friend, is very hard to do.” ― Bruce Lee
165. “Honesty is telling the truth to ourselves and others. Integrity is living that truth.” ― Kenneth H. Blanchard
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