35+ Honesty Quotes To Read When You Need Help Telling The Truth

Honesty is the best policy, but it can be hard to throw those truth bombs sometimes. When you find yourself in those moments, teetering between the truth and a lie (or, at the very least, omission), reading honesty quotes can offer clarity. And clarity is important, given how much weight honesty carries. Speaking what’s in our hearts is crucial when it comes to our relationships and our friendships. It not only creates connection and builds trust, but it also lets the other person know what you stand for… a.k.a. your integrity. Granted, integrity has a complex definition for everyone, but it typically encompasses your sense of honesty and your willingness to tell the truth no matter how uncomfortable it might get. ‘Cause, let’s be real: Understanding our integrity often means getting brutally honest with ourselves.

If you’re having trouble when it comes to telling “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” in your life, searching through some honesty quotes — including quotes on honesty in relationships, friendships, and with yourself — can definitely help.

Looking for more quotes to get you through the day? We have sad quotes, motivational quotes, self-care quotes, and more.

Best Honesty Quotes

1. “Honesty is a very expensive gift. Don’t expect it from cheap people.” — Warren Buffett
2. “To be brutally truthful, the removal of your noodle from seeking other people’s futile approval to be you is one of the most beautiful steps to flight, where wings flap to freedom from so many deadly traps.” — Curtis Tyrone Jones
3. “As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself. Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.” — Nelson Mandela
4. “Let’s tell the truth to people. When people ask, ‘How are you?’ have the nerve sometimes to answer truthfully.” — Maya Angelou
5. “Honesty is often very hard. The truth is often painful. But the freedom it can bring is worth the trying.” — Fred Rogers
6. “Feigned interest is worse than brutal honesty.” — Stewart Stafford
7. “Trust thyself: Every heart vibrates to that iron string.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
8. “There is always a way to be honest without being brutal.” — Arthur Dobrin
9. “A truth that’s told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.” — William Blake
10. “Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.” — Maya Angelou
11. “I rap about fighting back. I make it uncomfortable by putting details to it. It might not have been politically correct, but I’ve reached somebody; they relating to me. They relate to the brutal honesty in the rap.” — Tupac Shakur
12. “The truth brings with it a great measure of absolution, always.” — R.D. Laing
13. “When you’re dishonest with yourself, you’re disconnected from reality. You’re going to make poor decisions. You’re going to drop out of the moment and you’re going to be less happy and you’re going to be wrong.” — Naval Ravikant
14. “When you face a choice between being polite and being honest, err on the side of the truth. It’s better to be disliked but respected than to be liked but disrespected. In the long run, the people we trust the most are those who have the courage to be sincere.” — Adam Grant
15. “Create from the heart to produce something meaningful. Speak from the heart to build solid relationships. Live from the heart to have a beautiful life.” — Maxime Lagacé

On Honesty and Integrity

1. “We learned about honesty and integrity — that the truth matters. That you don’t take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules and success doesn’t count unless you earn it fair and square.” — Michelle Obama
2. “When you are able to maintain your own highest standards of integrity — regardless of what others may do — you are destined for greatness.” — Napoleon Hill
3. “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” — C.S. Lewis
4. “The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.” — Confucius
5. “Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.” — W. Clement Stone
6. “Integrity is making sure that the things you say and the things you do are in alignment.” — Katrina Mayer
7. “Honesty and integrity are absolutely essential for success in life — all areas of life. The really good news is that anyone can develop both honesty and integrity.” — Zig Ziglar
8. “Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.” — Spencer Johnson
9. “People of integrity not only practice what they preach, they are what they preach.” — David A. Bednar
10. “The high road is always respected. Honesty and integrity are always rewarded.” — Scott Hamilton
11. “If you do not tell the truth about yourself, you cannot tell it about other people.” — Virginia Woolf
12. “Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.” — Albert Einstein
13. “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” — Thomas Jefferson
14. “No legacy is so rich as honesty.” — William Shakespeare
15. “If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it.” — Marcus Aurelius

Trust and Friendship Honesty Quotes

1. “Being honest may not get you a lot of friends but it’ll always get you the right ones.” — John Lennon
2. “It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
3. “Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.” — Henry David Thoreau
4. “There are very few honest friends — the demand is not particularly great.” — Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach
5. “Cherish the friend who tells you a harsh truth, wanting 10 times more to tell you a loving lie.” — Robert Breault
6. “An honest answer is the sign of true friendship.” — E.W. Howe
7. “Don’t trust the person who has broken faith once.” — William Shakespeare
8. “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” — Ernest Hemingway
9. “You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible.” — Anton Chekhov
10. “The trust of the innocent is the liar’s most useful tool.” — Stephen King
11. “The real source of inner joy is to remain truthful and honest.” — The Dalai Lama