A Quote by James A. Garfield

Honesty is the best policy, says the familiar axiom; but people who are honest on that principle defraud no one but themselves.

James A. Garfield

Quote Topics

Axiom Best Familiar Honest Honesty Honesty Is Honesty Is The Best Policy People Policy Principle Says The Best Policy Themselves

Quote Author

James A. Garfield
American - President
November 19, 1831 - September 19, 1881

The trite saying that 'honesty is the best policy' has met with the just criticism that honesty is not policy. The seems to be true. The real honest man is honest from conviction of what is right, not from policy.

Robert E. Lee

The trite saying that honesty is the best policy has met with the just criticism that honesty is not policy. The real honest man is honest from conviction of what is right, not from policy.

Robert E. Lee

We may argue eloquently that 'Honesty is the best Policy' - unfortunately, the moment honesty is adopted for the sake of policy it mysteriously ceases to be honesty.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Honesty is not necessarily the best policy. The best policy would be to acquire a reputation for honesty and then to cheat at the psychological moment.

William Lyon Phelps

People like to see honest persons. So I certainly will advise many young people who want to participate in politics, honesty is the best policy.

Ma Ying-jeou

Honesty is the best policy; but he who is governed by that maxim is not an honest man.

Richard Whately

I am afraid we must make the world honest before we can honestly say to our children that honesty is the best policy.

George Bernard Shaw

Is there a difference between a man who thinks that honesty is the best policy, and an honest man?

C. S. Lewis

Honesty may be the best policy, but it's important to remember that apparently, by elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy.

George Carlin

Honesty, like my mama always says, is always the best policy.

Kelly Rowland

Before us lie two paths - honesty and dishonesty. The shortsighted embark on the dishonest path; the wise on the honest. For the wise know the truth; in helping others we help ourselves; and in hurting others we hurt ourselves. Character overshadows money, and trust rises above fame. Honesty is still the best policy.

Napoleon Hill

In the long run, I believe that honesty is definitely the best policy. One can get away by being dishonest for a short term, but ultimately, honesty is what pays.

Kapil Dev

Honesty is the best policy ; a policy is, after all, a strategy for living in the polis in the city.

Samuel R. Delany

Certainly he is not of the generation that regards honesty as the best policy. However, he does regard it as a policy.

Walter Lippmann

Those who are living the principle of honesty know that the Lord does bless them. Theirs is the precious right to hold their heads in the sunlight of truth, unashamed before any man. Brothers and sisters, the Lord requires his people to be honest. May we desire with all our hearts to be honest in all our relationships and in all the things that we do.