The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his income tax return. It's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.

Arthur C. Clarke (1917 - )

Where is there dignity unless there is honesty?

Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)

Maybe coming clean is the ultimate selfish act. A way to absolve¹ yourself by hurting someone who doesn't deserve to be hurt.

Cindy Chupack, Sex and the City, Don't Ask, Don't Tell, 2000

Honesty is a good thing, but it is not profitable to its possessor unless it is kept under control.

Don Marquis (1878 - 1937)

The day is for honest men, the night for thieves.

Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC), Iphigenia in Tauris, circa 412 B.C.

I would rather be accused of breaking precedents³ than breaking promises.

John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

Honesty pays, but it doesn't seem to pay enough to suit some people.

Kin² Hubbard (1868 - 1930)

If the truth doesn't save us, what does that say about us?

Lois McMaster Bujold, Diplomatic Immunity⁴, 2002

Friends should always tell you the truth. But please don’t.

Louis C. K., Vanity Fair interview, 2013

Honesty is the best policy - when there is money in it.

Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.

Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

When in doubt, tell the truth.

Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

Level with your child by being honest. Nobody spots a phony quicker than a child.

Mary MacCracken

When something that honest is said it usually needs a few minutes of silence to dissipate.

Pamela Ribon, Why Girls Are Weird⁵, 2003

Son, always tell the truth. Then you'll never have to remember what you said the last time.

Sam Rayburn (1882 - 1961), quoted Washingtonian, November 1978

Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well.

Samuel Butler (1835 - 1902)

Being entirely⁶ honest with oneself is a good exercise.

Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939)

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

Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826), letter to John Melish, January 13, 1813

There are only two ways of telling the complete truth--anonymously and posthumously⁷.

Thomas Sowell (1930 - )

Honesty is the best image.

Tom Wilson, Ziggy (comic)

Our lives improve only when we take chances - and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.

Walter Anderson

I have always noticed that people will never laugh at anything that is not based on truth.

Will Rogers (1879 - 1935)

Every man has his fault, and honesty is his.

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), "Timon of Athens", Act 3 scene 1

I thank God I am as honest as any man living that is an old man and no honester than I.

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), "Much Ado about Nothing", Act 3 scene 1

No legacy⁸ is so rich as honesty.

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), "All's Well that Ends Well", Act 3 scene 5

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

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)