Just is honest, and honest is just.
Meaning: Integrity and fairness are inseparable—acting justly requires honesty, and honesty demands fairness.
Origin: Recorded in A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, an undated collection published in London by Whittaker & Co. around 1880 and credited to Thomas Preston. Its earlier history hasn't been traced.
More proverbs about Morality
- Knavery may serve for a turn, but honesty is best in the long run. — Dishonest shortcuts yield temporary gains but ultimately destroy trust and prosperity.
- When knaves fall out, true men come by their goods. — Dishonest people's conflicts create opportunities for honest people to acquire what was w…
- Fair and softly as lawyers go to heaven. — Lawyers proceed toward virtue so rarely and reluctantly that the journey becomes impossib…
- A liar should have a good memory. — Falsehoods require constant mental effort to maintain consistency, making deception exhau…
- The greater truth, the greater libel. — Truth's harshness wounds deeper when it exposes powerful lies or uncomfortable realities…
- Every one as they like best, as the good man said when he kissed his cow. — Absurd personal preferences deserve no justification—everyone pursues their own oddities…
From our compliments & insults
- Espèce de patate — You dim bulb — a potato being the very picture of inert, unthinking stodginess.
- Quel râleur / quelle râleuse — You never stop moaning — everything is a complaint, nothing is ever good enough.
- Peau de vache — A mean, difficult, and unpleasant person — tough and unyielding like tanned hide.