Honest Quotes
More Honest Quotes
It is the first rational exposition of the relations of mankind to the mystery which shrouds the how and wherefore of man's existence, the first honest protest against our long, long martyrdom.
harry johnston— Comments on The Martyrdom of Man (1872) by William Winwood Reade, in Liberia (1906), Vol. 1, p. 257
"Tell me," said the atheist , "Is there a God really?" Said the master, "If you want me to be perfectly honest with you, I will not answer." Later the disciples demanded to know why he had not answered. "Because the question is unanswerable," said the Master. "So you are an atheist?" "Certainly not. The atheist makes the mistake of denying that of which nothing may be said... and the theist makes the mistake of affirming it.
anthony de mello— p. 21 (One Minute Nonsense (1992))
In finding love, I think it's important to be patient. In being in a relationship, I think it's important to be honest, to communicate, to respect and trust, and to strive to give more than you take.
Kina Grannis— Found in Dating! 10 Helpful Tips for a Successful Relationship by Laura Buddenburg
It is good to be merry and wise. It is good to be honest and true. It is best to be off with the old love, before you are on with the new.
— Published in "Songs of England and Scotland." London, 1835, Volume II, p. 73.
I venerate the man whose heart is warm, Whose hands are pure, whose doctrine and whose life, Coincident, exhibit lucid proof That he is honest in the sacred cause.
william cowper— The Task (1785), Book II, line 372.
honest bread is very well it's the butter that makes the temptation.
Douglas William Jerrold— The Catspaw.
He had the haughtiness of Henry the Eighth, without his spirit; the avarice of Henry the Seventh, without his exactions; the indignities of Charles the First, without his bigotry for his prerogative; the vexations of King William, with as little skill in the management of parties; and the gross gallantry of his father, without his goodnature or his honesty:– he might, perhaps, have been honest, if he had never hated his father, or had ever loved his son.
george ii of great britain— Horace Walpole Memoirs of the Reign of King George the Second (1847) vol. 1, p. 180
It was time to be honest with myself. To survive all the shame this world will throw at you, you have to hold yourself tall, look your accuser straight in the eye. Even if it’s your own face looking back at you.
nalo hopkinson— Chapter 2 (p. 72)
It is the honest lies we tell statements factually correct and essentially deceiving which debauch our manhood and stunt our growth.
henry s. haskins— p. 68 (Meditations in Wall Street (1940))
Demosthenes: A demagogue must be neither an educated nor an honest man; he has to be an ignoramus and a rogue.
— Aristophanes Knights, line 191-193. (tr. O'Neill 1938, Perseus)
It's a truism that denials never quite catch up with charges. honest journalists who may have mistakenly printed false information know that the most prominent retraction never quite undoes the damage done by the original publication.
— Tom Wicker, "In the Nation; Lesson of Lattimore" (June 9, 1989), The New York Times.
When a felon's not engaged in his employment Or maturing his felonious little plans His capacity for innocent enjoyment Is just as great as any honest man's Ah! When constabulary duty's to be done A policeman's lot is not a happy one.
Sir W(illiam) S(chwenck) Gilbert— 1879 Sergeant's song, The Pirates of Penzance, act 2.
A wit's a feather, and a chief a rod; An honest man's the noblest work of God.
Alexander Pope— 1734 An Essay on Man, epistle 4, l.247-8.
I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.
john adams— On the White House, in a letter to Abigail Adams (2 November 1800)
— Franklin D. Roosevelt had this inscribed on the mantlepiece of the State Dining Room.
Today we need a special kind of courage. Not the kind needed in battle, but a kind which makes us stand up for everything that we know is right, everything that is true and honest. We need the kind of courage that can withstand the subtle corruption of the cynics, so that we can show the world that we are not afraid of the future.
Queen Elizabeth II— 1957 Christmas Broadcast; quoted on royal website (25 December 1957)
We disagree so violently on almost everything that it's a real pleasure to drink with him. If nothing else, he's absolutely honest in his lunacy — and I've found, during my admittedly limited experience in political reporting, that power & honesty very rarely coincide.
hunter s. thompson— Comments on Pat Buchanan in a letter to Garry Wills (17 October 1973); published in Fear and Loathing in America (2000) :ISBN 0-686-87315-X)
If we could all rephrase the question from "What was your most embarrassing moment?" to "What was your most embarrassing year?" Then I might be able to give you an honest answer.
buddy wakefield— Thin Ice
Shepherd, I take thy word, And trust thy honest offer'd courtesy, Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds With smoky rafters, than in tap'stry halls, And courts of princes.
john milton— John Milton, Comus (1637), line 322.
Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest .
maya angelou— As quoted in USA Today (5 March 1988)Variant:Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.As quoted in Diversity : Leaders Not Labels (2006) by Stedman Graham, p. 224
The Inquisitor is the forgiving father, the scientific materialist, and the social engineer. He is the most compassionate, and honest, of politicians; he takes on great burdens of responsibility in order to protect his subjects from ethical doubt. But he also suppresses any attempt to expand their self-consciousness: he is the ‘great simplifier’, the shepherd to a flock of carefree children.
john carroll— p. 153 (Break-Out from the Crystal Palace (1974))
Science is a method for testing claims about the natural world, not an immutable compendium of absolute truths. The fundamentalists, by "knowing" the answers before they start, and then forcing nature into the straitjacket of their discredited preconceptions, lie outside the domain of science or of any honest intellectual inquiry.
stephen jay gould— "An Essay on a Pig Roast," p.437
What is any political campaign save a concerted effort to turn out a set of politicians who are admittedly bad and put in a set who are thought to be better. The former assumption, I believe is always sound; the latter is just as certainly false. For if experience teaches us anything at all it teaches us this: that a good politician, under democracy, is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.
h. l. mencken— Prejudices, Fourth Series (1924)
Man is his own star, and the soul that can Render an honest and a perfect man, Commands all light.
John Fletcher— Upon an Honest Man's Fortune, line 33.
He who says that there is no such thing as an honest man is himself a knave .
— George Berkeley, as quoted in Ladies Home Journal Vol. 97, No. 8 (August 1960)
No man is wise or safe, but he that is honest.
— Walter Raleigh, Advice to the Earl of Rutland on his Travels (1596)
An honest fellow enough, and one that loves quails.
william shakespeare— William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida (c. 1602), Act V, Scene 1, line 58.
Honesty and loyalty are key. If two people can be honest with each other and everything, that's probably the biggest key to success.
Taylor lautner— Taylor Lautner Addresses Kristen Stewart's Affair with Rupert Sanders; Interview with US Magazine (Nov. 6, 2012)
honest labour bears a lovely face.
thomas dekker— Patient Grissell (1599), Act i. Sc. 1.
