Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
If honesty truly guides life, it could raise politics and trade so that public and private honor match.
In plain terms
Honesty could align personal and public integrity.
What can you take from it?
Practice honesty to bridge private virtue and public affairs.

Where it applies

  • in business negotiations
  • in governmental policy

Putting it to work

  • declare true intentions
  • avoid deceptive tactics

Questions to consider

  • Can honesty alone change political culture?
  • What barriers prevent alignment of honor?

Another view

It idealizes honesty without addressing systemic incentives for dishonesty.

More from Margaret Fuller

  1. How many persons must there be who cannot worship alone since they are content with so little.

    Permalink to quote #6
  2. Let no one dare to call another mad who is not himself willing to rank in the same class for every perversion and fault of judgment. Let no one dare aid in pun…

    Permalink to quote #8
  3. It is astonishing what force, purity, and wisdom it requires for a human being to keep clear of falsehoods.

    Permalink to quote #5

Related quotes

  1. Despite all the political misery I am confronted with every day, it still is my profound conviction that the very essence of politics is not dirty; dirt is bro…

    Vaclav HavelVaclav Havel quote #15
  2. The secret of success is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake those, you've got it made.

    Groucho MarxGroucho Marx quote #102
  3. Business - the world's work - is the sale of lies: Not goods, but trade-marks; and still more and more In every branch becomes the sale of money.

    John DavidsonJohn Davidson quote #1