Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Honesty
Honesty is the best policy.
Cervantes—Don Quixote. Pt. II. Ch. XXXIII.
A honest man’s word is as good as his bond.
Cervantes—Don Quixote. Vol. III. Pt. II. Ch. XXXIV.
Omnia quæ vindicaris in altero, tibi ipsi vehementer fugienda sunt.
Everything that thou reprovest in another, thou must most carefully avoid in thyself.
Cicero—In Verrem. II. 3. 2.
Barring that natural expression of villainy which we all have, the man looked honest enough.
S. L. Clemens (Mark Twain)—A Mysterious Visit.
He is one that will not plead that cause wherein his tongue must be confuted by his conscience.
Fuller—Holy and Profane States. The Good Advocate. Bk. II. Ch. I.
When rogues fall out, honest men get into their own.
Sir Matthew Hale.
He that departs with his own honesty
For vulgar praise, doth it too dearly buy.
Ben Jonson—Epigram II.
The measure of life is not length, but honestie.
Lyly—Euphues. The Anatomy of Wit. Letters of Euphues. Euphues and Eubulus.
Friends, if we be honest with ourselves, we shall be honest with each other.
George MacDonald—The Marquis of Lossie. Ch. LXXI.
Semper bonus homo tiro est.
An honest man is always a child.
Martial—Epigrams. XII. 51. 2.
An honest man’s the noblest work of God.
Pope—Essay on Man. Ep. IV. L. 247.
Yet Heav’n, that made me honest, made me more
Than ever king did, when he made a lord.
Nicholas Rowe—Jane Shore. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 261.
Mens regnum bona possidet.
An honest heart possesses a kingdom.
Seneca—Thyestes. CCCLXXX.
No legacy is so rich as honesty.
All’s Well That Ends Well. Act III. Sc. 5. L. 13.
Ay, sir; to be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.
Hamlet. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 178. (“Two Thousand” in Folio “ten” in quartos.)
What’s the news?
None, my lord, but that the world’s grown honest.
Then is doomsday near.
Hamlet. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 240.
There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats,
For I am arm’d so strong in honesty
That they pass by me as the idle wind,
Which I respect not.
Julius Cæsar. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 66.
Take note, take note, O world,
To be direct and honest is not safe.
Othello. Act III. Sc. 3. L. 378.
An honest tale speeds best being plainly told.
Richard III. Act IV. Sc. 4. L. 358.
At many times I brought in my accounts,
Laid them before you; you would throw them off,
And say, you found them in mine honesty.
Timon of Athens. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 142.
I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an “Honest Man.”
George Washington—Moral Maxims.
Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God.
Washington—Speech to the Constitutional Convention. (1787).
Were there no heaven nor hell
I should be honest.
John Webster—Duchess of Malfi. Act I. Sc. I.
“Honesty is the best policy,” but he who acts on that principle is not an honest man.
Archbishop Whately—Thoughts and Apothegms. Pt. II. Ch. XVIII. Pious Frauds.
How happy is he born and taught
That serveth not another’s will;
Whose armour is his honest thought,
And simple truth his utmost skill.
Sir Henry Wotton—The Character of a Happy Life.