“Li was a very honest and honorable man. But when it came to any man’s abiding passion, honesty occasionally went straight out the nearest available window.”
Source: Ripping Time (2000), Chapter 12 (p. 346)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Robert Lynn Asprin 38
American science fiction and fantasy author 1946–2008Related quotes

Source: Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871), Ch. XXII : Grand Master Architect, p. 194
Context: To the gentle, many will be gentle; to the kind, many will be kind. A good man will find that there is goodness in the world; an honest man will find that there is honesty in the world; and a man of principle will find principle and integrity in the hearts of others.
There are no blessings which the mind may not convert into the bitterest of evils; and no trials which it may not transform into the noblest and divinest blessings. There are no temptations from which assailed virtue may not gain strength, instead of falling before them, vanquished and subdued.

"Memoirs of Robert E. Lee" by A. L. Long (1886)
1870s

Variant: Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs one step at a time.

Letter to the Democratic Convention (17 August 1884).
Context: A truly American sentiment recognizes the dignity of labor and the fact that honor lies in honest toil. Contented labor is an element of national prosperity. Ability to work constitutes the capital and the wage of labor the income of a vast number of our population, and this interest should be jealously protected. Our workingmen are not asking unreasonable indulgence, but as intelligent and manly citizens they seek the same consideration which those demand who have other interests at stake. They should receive their full share of the care and attention of those who make and execute the laws, to the end that the wants and needs of the employers and the employed shall alike be subserved and the prosperity of the country, the common heritage of both, be advanced.

Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Reflections (1750), Moral Thoughts and Reflections

“I’d rather get bad news from an honest man than lies from a flatterer.”
Source: Earthsea Books, The Other Wind (2001), Chapter 2 “Palaces” (p. 79)