Sunday, July 11, 2010 – Honesty as a Policy
Honesty may be the best policy, but it’s important to remember that apparently, by elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy. ~ George Carlin
Confusion is always the most honest response. ~ Marty Indik
In a country as big as the United States, you can find fifty examples of anything. ~ Jeffery F. Chamberlain
Any great truth can – and eventually will – be expressed as a cliché – a cliché is a sure and certain way to dilute an idea. For instance, my grandmother used to say, ”The black cat is always the last one off the fence.” I have no idea what she meant, but at one time, it was undoubtedly true. ~ Solomon Short
It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place. ~ Henry Louis Mencken, A Little Book in C Major, 1916
A lie will easily get you out of a scrape, and yet, strangely and beautifully, rapture possesses you when you have taken the scrape and left out the lie. ~ Charles Edward Montague, Disenchantment
The most dangerous untruths are truths moderately distorted. ~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
Truth is the most valuable thing we have, so I try to conserve it. ~ Mark Twain
There are only two ways of telling the complete truth – anonymously and posthumously. ~ Thomas Sowell
There is no well-defined boundary between honesty and dishonesty. The frontiers of one blend with the outside limits of the other, and he who attempts to tread this dangerous ground may be sometimes in one domain and sometimes in the other. ~ O. Henry, Rolling Stones, 1912
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened. ~ Winston Churchill
The truth is more important than the facts. ~ Frank Lloyd Wright
Respect for the truth is an acquired taste. ~ Mark Van Doren, Liberal Education, 1943
For the merchant, even honesty is a financial speculation. ~ Charles Baudelaire
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
It has always seemed strange to me… the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second. ~ John Steinbeck
Honesty is a good thing, but it is not profitable to its possessor unless it is kept under control. ~ Don Marquis
If falsehood, like truth, had but one face, we would be more on equal terms. For we would consider the contrary of what the liar said to be certain. But the opposite of truth has a hundred thousand faces and an infinite field. ~ Montaigne
If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him. ~ Cardinal Richelieu
People who are brutally honest get more satisfaction out of the brutality than out of the honesty. ~ Richard J. Needham
An honest man speaks the truth, though it may give offence; a vain man, in order that it may. ~ William Hazlitt
Reality is bad enough. Why should I tell the truth? ~ Patrick Sky
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
There’s one way to find out if a man is honest – ask him. If he says, “Yes,” you know he is a crook. ~ Groucho Marx
Commend a fool for his wit, or a rogue for his honesty and he will receive you into his favor. ~ Henry Fielding
Honesty is as rare as a man without self-pity. ~ Stephen Vincent Benet
Unless you’re ashamed of yourself now and then, you’re not honest. ~ William Faulkner
The real hero is always a hero by mistake; he dreams of being an honest coward like everybody else. ~ Umberto Eco
Irony is just honesty with the volume cranked up. ~ George Saunders
Honesty is very sexy. ~ Valerie Bertinelli
Women are repeatedly accused of taking things personally. I cannot see any other honest way of taking them. ~ Marya Mannes
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
The world changes in direct proportion to the number of people willing to be honest about their lives. ~ Armistead Maupin
It is better to be quotable than to be honest. ~ Tom Stoppard
Just Above Sunset 