Honesty

Neither will I put myself forward as others may do,
Neither, if you wish to flatter, will I flatter you;
I will look at you grimly, and so you will know I am true.
~ William Rose Benét, Eternal Masculine

No matter how skillful you are, you can't invent a product advantage that doesn't exist. And if you do, and it's just a gimmick, it's going to fall apart anyway.
~ Bill Bernbach, Bill Bernbach said ... (1989).

[I]s he honest who resists his genius or conscience. only for the sake of present ease or gratification?
~ William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93). A Memorable Fancy

The voice of honest indignation is the voice of God.
~ William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93).

Be not afraid to utter what thou art,
'T is no disgrace to keep an open heart.
~ William Ellery Channing, the younger, from Poems (1843). Thoughts

Better arrive at error by an honest process, than at truth by a dishonest one.
~ William Benton (W.B.) Clulow, Sunshine and Shadows; or, Sketches of Thought, Philosophic and Religious (1863). Search of Truth

[F]or, however roguish a man may be, he always loves to deal with an honest man.
~ William Cobbett, in The Autobiography of William Cobbett: The Progress of a Plough-boy to a Seat in Parliament (1933). Letter to Rachel Smithers (6 July 1794)

Sincerity resembles a spice. Too much repels you and too little leaves you wanting.
~ William John ("Bill") Copeland

An honest man, close-buttoned to the chin,
Broadcloth without, and a warm heart within.
~ William Cowper, The Task; A Poem in Six Books. By William Cowper of the Inner Temple, Esq.; To which are added by the same author An Epistle to Joseph Hill, Esq., Tirocinium or a Review of Schools, and the History of John Gilpin (1785). Epistle to Joseph Hill

The line of honesty is so differently drawn by different persons, that one would be led to think that there was an honesty in the abstract. Practical honesty, however, in the strictest sense, will always be the object of him who wishes to settle a just account with himself.
~ William Danby, Ideas and Realities, or Thoughts on Various Subjects (1827).

Unless you're ashamed of yourself now and then, you're not honest.
~ William Faulkner

Cross my heart and hope to eat my weight in goslings.
~ W.C. Fields

You can't cheat an honest man. He has to have larceny in his heart in the first place.
~ W.C. Fields, in Never Give a Sucker an Even Break: W.C. Fields on Business (January 2000).

I hate a liar. Maybe because I'm such a good one myself, heh?
~ (William) Clark Gable, Photoplay Magazine (Interview; April 1941). Gable on the Spot: Things I don't like myself

[W]hether you're an honest man, or whether you're a thief,
Depends on whose solicitor has given me my brief.
~ William Schwenck (W.S.) Gilbert, Utopia Limited; or, The Flowers of Progress (7 October 1893). Finale, Act I

Be thorough in all you do, and remember that, though ignorance often may be innocent, pretension is always despicable.
~ William Ewart Gladstone, Inaugural Address (as Lord Rector) To The Students Of The University Of Glasgow (5 December 1879).

Everybody has a little bit of Watergate in him.
~ Billy Graham

Frank sincerity, tho' no invited guest, is free to all, and brings his welcome with him.
~ William Havard, Regulus, a Tragedy (1744). Act II, scene vi

An honest man is respected by all parties.
~ William Hazlitt, Characteristics: in the Manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims (1823).

Honesty is one part of eloquence. We persuade others by being in earnest ourselves.
~ William Hazlitt, Characteristics: in the Manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims (1823).

Sincerity has to do with the connexion between our words and thoughts, and not between our beliefs and actions.
~ William Hazlitt, in Sketches and Essays (1839). On Cant and Hypocrisy (written in 1828)

To be wiser than other men is to be honester than they; and strength of mind is only courage to see and speak the truth.
~ William Hazlitt, in Sketches and Essays (1839). On Knowledge of the World (written in 1827)

Let none of us delude himself by supposing that honesty is always the best policy. It is not.
~ William Ralph (Dean) Inge, Speculum Animae: Four Devotional Addresses (1911).

Only those who have no private interests can follow an ideal straight away.
~ William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902). Lectures XI, XII, and XIII: Saintliness

Honesty is the best part of any art form. If you don't have that, you're kidding yourself and your listener.
~ Billy Joe

Honesty is such a lonely word
Everyone is so untrue
Honest is hardly ever heard
And mostly what I need from you.
~ Billy Joel, in 52nd Street (1978 album). Honesty

There are honest journalists like there are honest politicians -- they stay bought.
~ Bill Moyers

I distrust all systematisers, and avoid them. The will to a system shows a lack of honesty.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, The Twilight of the Idols (1888). Maxims and Missiles. No. 26

[P]lain fact is the best defense an honest man can at any time make for himself.
~ William Penn, published in Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Volume III, Part II (1836). Fragments of an Apology for Himself (written, c. 1668)

And it does matter. An honest man or woman is an honest man or woman more because he or she is honest in the small, everyday things that "don't matter" individually, but which make up a well-lived life, than because of some single great temptation that was passed.
~ William Oliver

There is no well-defined boundary line 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.
~ William Sydney Porter (O. Henry), in Rolling Stones (1912). Bexar Script No. 2692

Since twelve honest men have decided the cause,
And were judges of fact, tho' not judges of laws.
~ William Pulteney, Earl of Bath, The Honest Jury; or, Caleb Triumphant (1729).

I have Indian blood in me. I have just enough white blood for you to question my honesty!
~ Will Rogers

When the heart of a man is sound in conversation, then the life will be fair in profession.
~ William Secker, from The Nonsuch Professor in His Meridian Splendor, or the Singular Actions of Sanctified Christians (1660).

An honest exceeding poor man.
~ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice. Act II, scene ii

An honest mind and plain, he must speak truth!
~ William Shakespeare, King Lear. Act II, scene ii

[B]lest be those,
How mean soe'er, that have their honest wills.
~ William Shakespeare, Cymbeline. Act I, scene vi

Every man has his fault, and honesty is his.
~ William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens. Act III, scene i

Ha, ha! what a fool Honesty is! and Trust, his sworn brother, a very simple gentleman!
~ William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale. Act IV, scene iv

I am myself indifferent honest.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act III, scene i

I thank God I am as honest as any man living that is an old man and no honester than I.
~ William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing. Act III, scene v

No legacy is so rich as honesty.
~ William Shakespeare, All's Well that Ends Well. Act III, scene v

O monstrous world! Take note, take note, o world,
To be direct and honest is not safe!
~ William Shakespeare, Othello. Act III, scene viii

O, my fortunes have
Corrupted honest men!
~ William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra. Act IV, scene v

Rich honesty dwells like a miser, sir, in a poor house; as your pearl in your foul oyster.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act V, scene iv

Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance.
~ William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale. Act IV, scene iv

Though it be honest, it is never good
To bring bad news; give to a gracious message
An host of tongues, but let ill tidings tell
Themselves when they be felt.
~ William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra. Act II, scene v

To be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act II, scene ii

It should seem that indolence itself would incline a person to be honest; as it requires infinitely greater pains and contrivance to be a knave.
~ William Shenstone, in Works in Verse and Prose, Vol. II (1764). Essays on Men, Manners, and Things. Of Men and Manners

Candor is always a double-edged sword; it may heal or it may separate.
~ Wilhelm Stekel, Marriage at the Crossroads (1931).

What looks like swindling with a petty sum,
Is on a grand and speculative scale
Honest enough, so it be large enough.
~ William Wetmore Story, from Poems By William Wetmore Story (1885), Volume I. Parchments and Portraits. Baron Fisco at Home

A comfortable career of prosperity, if it does not make people honest, at least keeps them so.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero (1848). Chapter XLI

Follow your honest convictions, and be strong.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray

I don't know whether I like it, but it is what I meant.
~ Ralph Vaughan Williams (on his 4th symphony, 1 August 1965), quoted in Bodley Head History of Western Music (1974).

Straight? What's 'straight'? A line can be straight, or a street. But the heart of a human being?
~ Thomas Lanier ("Tennessee") Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire (1947).

Honesty is the best image.
~ Tom Wilson, Ziggy

Believe your friend honest to make him so, if he be not so; since, if you distrust him, you make his falsehood a piece of justice.
~ William Wycherley, in The Posthumous Works of William Wycherley, Esq. in Prose and Verse (1728). Maxims and Reflections

[P]lain dealing is a jewel.
~ William Wycherley, The Country Wife (1673). Act IV, scene iii