“Honesty in its widest sense is always admirable. The trite saying that 'honesty is the best policy' has met with the just criticism that honesty is not policy. The seems to be true. The real honest man is honest from conviction of what is right, not from policy.”

Source: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens: The Ultimate Teenage Success Guide

Speech to Eastman College (1901)

&quot;Rungs of the Ladder&quot; http://books.google.com/books?id=HLpRc3rm5b8C, BBC Radio broadcast, 11 July 1932 <br class="br">1930s

Source: The Mad Man (1994), p. 67; ellipses in the original

p, 125
The Razor's Edge (1943)

Source: The Dying of the Light

1790s, Farewell Address (1796)
Context: Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them.

Summer On The Lakes, in 1843 (1844) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/11526.