honesty is the best policy

proverb

Honesty is preferable as a course of action because it tends to work out best in the end.

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Meanings

proverb
  1. Honesty is preferable as a course of action because it tends to work out best in the end.

    All theſe things conſidered, it hath made me to mitigate my former imagination, and to deem it not unpoſſible, that this over-politick and too wiſe Order may reach a note higher than our groſs conceits, who think honeſty the beſt policy, and truth the onely durable armor of proof; […]

    a. 1605, reprinted 1673, Edwin Sandys, Europae Speculum; Or A View Or Survey of the State of Religion in the Western Parts of the World, page 112
    1 more example

    Honesty is the best policy; but he who acts on that principle is not an honest man. He only is an honest man who does that which is right because it is right, and not from motives of policy; and then, he is rewarded by finding afterwards that the honest course he has pursued was in reality the most politic.

    1842, published 1843, anonymous, “Precepts and Proverbs” in The Common School Journal, volume 5, number 24, page 383

Origin

Attested since the early 1600s. Policy had the meaning of ‘shrewdness, cunning’ and ‘trick, stratagem’ at the time, so that the saying was originally an oxymoron in the same vein as attack is the best form of defence.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese 诚实为上策
  • 诚实为上策Translations
Dutch eerlijk duurt het langst
  • eerlijk duurt het langstTranslations
Finnish rehellisyys maan perii
  • rehellisyys maan periiTranslations
French l'honnêteté paie
  • l'honnêteté paieTranslations
German ehrlich währt am längsten, Ehrlichkeit ist die beste Politik
  • ehrlich währt am längstenTranslations
  • Ehrlichkeit ist die beste PolitikTranslations
Japanese 正直は最高の政策です
  • 正直は最高の政策です (Shōjiki wa saikō no seisakudesu)Translations
Korean 정직은 최선의 정책이다
  • 정직은 최선의 정책이다 (jeongjigeun choeseonui jeongchaegida)Translations
Polish uczciwość popłaca
  • uczciwość popłacaTranslations
Portuguese honestidade é a melhor política
  • honestidade é a melhor políticaTranslations
Spanish honestidad es la mejor política
  • honestidad es la mejor políticaTranslations
Swedish ärligheten varar längst
  • ärligheten varar längstTranslations
Tamil நேர்மையே சிறந்த கொள்கை
  • நேர்மையே சிறந்த கொள்கை (nērmaiyē ciṟanta koḷkai)Translations
Cite this entry
APA

honesty is the best policy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/honesty%20is%20the%20best%20policy

MLA

“honesty is the best policy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/honesty%20is%20the%20best%20policy. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “honesty is the best policy,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/honesty%20is%20the%20best%20policy.

Source: honesty is the best policy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.