Noun

Singular honesty

Plural countable and uncountable; plural honesties

honesty (countable and uncountable; plural honesties)

1. (uncountable) The act, quality, or condition of being honest; to be truthful
2. Any of various crucifers in the genus Lunaria, several of which are grown as ornamentals.

Antonyms

• dishonesty

In common usage Honesty refers to a facet of moral character and denotes positive, virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, and straightforwardness along with the absence of lying, cheating, or theft. By contrast, in some computing contexts such as the design of p2p systems, honesty is reduced to a numerical component of a reliability judgment in a reputation system.

Discourse

In discourse a statement can be strictly true and still be dishonest if the intention of the statement is to deceive its audience. Similarly, a falsehood can be spoken honestly if the speaker actually believes it to be true, assuming the speaker doesn't unfairly reject or suppress evidence. Conversely, dishonesty can be defined simply as behavior that is performed with intent to deceive or to manipulate the truth.

Quotations about honesty.

Sourced

• "All other knowledge is hurtful to him who has not the science of goodness."
  • Montaigne, Of Pedantry

• "An honest man's the noblest work of God."
  • Alexander Pope, Essay on Man Epistle IV

• "But if he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, Sir, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoons."
  • Dr. Johnson, quoted in The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) by James Boswell July 14, 1763, p. 123

• "Honesty is such a lonely word. Everyone is so untrue. Honesty is hardly ever heard. And mostly what I need from you."
  • Billy Joel, song lyrics Honesty

• "Honesty is the best policy."
  • English proverb, 16th century

• "No legacy is so rich as honesty."
  • William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well

• "When men cease to be faithful to their God, he who expects to find them so to each other will be much disappointed."
  • Bishop Horne, A Commentary on the Book of Psalm, psalm XII

• "No man is bound to be rich or great, no, nor to be wise; but every man is bound to be honest."
  • Sir Benjamin Rudyard, Hansard's Parliamentary History p. 235, March 1627

From Wikiquote under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Mon Dec 21 03:11:02 2009