Word.ws English Dictionary

honesty is the best policy

honesty is the best policy proverb: honesty is preferable as a course of action because it tends to work out best in the end.

Proverb

honesty is the best policy

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

honesty is the best policy meaning in Tamil

honesty is the best policy in Tamil

Translations
நேர்மையே சிறந்த கொள்கை nērmaiyē ciṟanta koḷkai

Origin of honesty is the best policy

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.

Questions about honesty is the best policy

What does honesty is the best policy mean?
Honesty is the best policy means honesty is preferable as a course of action because it tends to work out best in the end.
What is honesty is the best policy in Tamil?
Honesty is the best policy in Tamil is நேர்மையே சிறந்த கொள்கை (nērmaiyē ciṟanta koḷkai). See Honesty is the best policy meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is honesty is the best policy?
Honesty is the best policy is a proverb.

Words near honesty is the best policy in the dictionary

  1. honesty
  2. honesty bar
  3. honesty bars
  4. honesty box
  5. honesty boxes
  6. honesty is the best policy
  7. honesty jar
  8. honesty jars
  9. honewort
  10. honeworts
  11. honey

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: honesty is the best policy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “honesty is the best policy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/honesty_is_the_best_policy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.