ProverbMorality
English origin1599
English origin1599Honesty is the best policy
Meaning: Being truthful is always the right approach.
Origin: Despite the frequent credit to Benjamin Franklin, the phrase was in use long before him. Sir Edwin Sandys, later a leading figure in the Virginia Company, wrote in his survey of European religion Europae Speculum (1599) of "our gross conceits, who think honesty the best policy." The Anglican archbishop Richard Whately later gave it a sly twist: honesty is the best policy, but a man who acts on that principle is not an honest man.
Equivalents in Japanese, German, and Dutch
Japanese: 正直は最善の策 (Shōjiki wa saizen no saku) (literally: Honesty is the best strategy)
German: Ehrlich währt am längsten (literally: Honest lasts longest)
Dutch: Eerlijk duurt het langst (literally: Honest lasts longest)
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