Honesty quotes

Closing defense argument in the Boston Massacre soldiers’ trial, December 1770, preserved by Founders Online. The line belongs to courtroom advocacy about evidence and due process in a specific criminal proceeding.

Jo's Boys, Chapter 10, Project Gutenberg #3499. The line is spoken in a family discussion about work, money and the example of a father.

The Simple Life, Chapter IV, “Simplicity of Speech,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; Wagner contrasts honorable speech with duplicity.

Proverbs 12:22 in the King James Version.

My Confession, Leo Wiener translation; the sentence belongs to Tolstoy’s account of accepting a meaning of life he believed was demonstrated in the lives of the people he had studied.

A Woman of No Importance, Act III; Lord Illingworth answers Gerald’s question about love with the romance/self-deception epigram. The exact catalog wording is supported by this play, not by The Picture of Dorian Gray.

A Vindication of the Rights of Men, opening letter to Edmund Burke, second edition (1790); this sentence follows Wollstonecraft’s refusal to disguise her sentiments behind courtly politeness.

Of Peace of Mind, section VI, Aubrey Stewart translation (1889), cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #64576 and Wikisource. The sentence opens Seneca’s advice to form a true estimate of oneself before matching undertakings to one’s actual abilities and temperament.

Thrift, Chapter XIV, “Riches and Charity,” Project Gutenberg #14418. Smiles argues that money alone cannot reform conduct and says change from intemperance, improvidence and irreligion requires earnest purpose, self-devotion and hard work; that nineteenth-century reform context is preserved.

My Religion, Chapter XII; Huntington Smith translation, represented 1885 Crowell edition, Project Gutenberg #43794. In the concluding chapter Tolstoy argues that truth becomes transmissible when embodied in action and brought to individual conscience; the explicitly Christian and social context remains visible.

The Age of Innocence, Book I, Chapter IX, Project Gutenberg #541. Countess Ellen Olenska tells Newland Archer that “The real loneliness” is living among kind people who ask one to pretend after explaining that her relatives will help only on condition that unpleasant truths remain unheard. It remains fictional character dialogue inside Wharton’s critique of social convention rather than a universal sociological finding.

Eight Cousins; Or, The Aunt-Hill, Chapter 17, Project Gutenberg #38567. Narrator commentary on confidence between children and parents.

Lectures on Art, Lecture IV “The Relation of Art to Use,” Project Gutenberg #19164. This is Ruskin’s aesthetic criterion, not an empirical definition accepted by all art theory.

Character Building, “What Would Father and Mother Say?”, Project Gutenberg #60484. This is Washington’s normative theory of education and character, not a modern educational outcome study.

Chapter 41; the Astronomer explains why both competence and moral character are needed for trust.

Lectures on Art, Lecture III, Project Gutenberg #19164. Ruskin makes a normative Victorian claim about workmanship and morality; this collection does not universalize it beyond that context.

Laelius on Friendship, translated by Evelyn S. Shuckburgh in Project Gutenberg’s Treatises on Friendship and Old Age.

Francis Bacon, 'Of Truth,' essay I in the 1625 Essays; independently checked against the validated 1884 Works of Francis Bacon, Volume I scan leaf 139. The retained sentence closes Bacon's theological/philosophical truth discussion by linking charity, providence and truth; it is explicitly early-modern Christian-philosophical rhetoric, not clinical or scientific evidence.

Civil Disobedience; represented Wikisource text. This sentence belongs to Thoreau’s abolitionist and antiwar case for noncooperation with an unjust government, not a context-free instruction for ordinary legal disputes.

Character Building, “Each One His Part,” Project Gutenberg #60484. Washington asks whether Tuskegee can educate an individual conscience that performs small duties thoroughly even when no audience is watching; the question closes that address’s argument about conscientious responsibility.

Timber, or Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter, represented by Project Gutenberg #5134. Jonson follows the sentence with his refusal to have readers defend a position merely because it is his; the aphorism belongs to a direct prose reflection on independent judgment and truth.

Human, All-Too-Human, Part I, aphorism 517, “A Fundamental Insight”; Helen Zimmern translation.

The Power of Truth, opening chapter, Project Gutenberg #56020; the dash is retained from the represented public-domain text.

The Conquest of Granada, Part II, Act I, Scene II (‘The Alhambra’), in The Works of John Dryden, Volume IV, Project Gutenberg #15349. Zulema says ‘Forgiveness to the injured does belong’ immediately after recalling that he has been pardoned, then declares that ‘feigned honesty’ will conceal his lust and work him back into trust. The couplet is therefore compromised fictional dramatic speech, not Dryden's neutral moral instruction or a universal rule about forgiveness.

Character Building, “What Is To Be Our Future?”, Project Gutenberg #60484. Washington asks whether Tuskegee will remain worthy of public confidence and answers by requiring each student and worker to put conscience and full effort into every kind of work.

Phaedo, approximately Stephanus 91b–c, Socrates speaking to Simmias and Cebes after their objections to the arguments about the soul’s survival. He specifically asks them to contradict him if they think his reasoning is wrong. This is a complete sentence from Benjamin Jowett’s English translation, Project Gutenberg #1658, in the dialogue after the translator’s separate introduction. Socrates is a character and local speaker; do not attribute the sentence as a direct personal remark by Plato.

The Advancement of Learning, First Book, Project Gutenberg #5500, transcribed from the 1893 Cassell & Company edition. Bacon contrasts impatience of doubt with mature suspension of judgment and then sets out two ways of contemplation before saying that beginning with certainties ends in doubts while beginning with doubts can end in certainties. It remains early-modern epistemological argument rather than a modern experimental rule for scientific method.

An Essay on Criticism, in the passage warning against pride in judgment.

War and Peace; the narrator’s judgment of greatness appears in the novel’s discussion of Kutuzov, simplicity, goodness and truth.

Of Studies, in Bacon’s instructions for how different kinds of books should be read.

The Simple Life, Chapter IV, “Simplicity of Speech,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; Wagner criticizes language that replaces fact with display.

The Power of Truth, “The Courage to Face Ingratitude.” Project Gutenberg #56020; first published August 1902. Jordan’s standard is moral perseverance, not indifference to all criticism.

Character Building, “Have You Done Your Best?”, Project Gutenberg #60484. The question is addressed to Tuskegee students reflecting on family sacrifice and their school work.

Optimism: An Essay (1903), Project Gutenberg #31622. The sentence belongs to Keller’s personal moral and religious account of optimism.

Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays, “The Place of Science in a Liberal Education.” Russell continues by describing an attempt to see material frankly, without preconception or wishful bias.

The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Part III, discussion of self-examination and the impartial spectator; Smith is describing the difficulty of judging one’s own conduct fairly.

The Power of Truth, opening chapter, Project Gutenberg #56020; the “pure gold” comparison belongs to Jordan’s description of sincere speech.

Character Building, “The Virtue of Simplicity,” Project Gutenberg #60484. The sentence refers specifically to students doing building work at Tuskegee.

Character Building, “What Will Pay?”, Project Gutenberg #60484. Washington reports a discussion of honesty in business and uses conscience as a practical test of conduct; the sentence belongs to that address’s argument that dishonest dealing does not pay.

How to Succeed, “Hold Up Your Head”; Marden follows a Lincoln anecdote by arguing that self-respect depends on deserving one’s own approval.