Essay on Why Honesty is the Best Policy

Honesty is the Best Policy

The proverb ‘Honesty is the best policy’ said by Benjamin Franklin is one of the oldest proverbs that has been in relevance for ages. It is the policy of being truthful and sincere in life that makes us successful in our life. Most often we are provided to write on these topics in different competitive exams and schools.

Short and Long Essay on Why Honesty is the Best Policy in English

The short and long essay on this topic will enlighten you with details on this topic. This will give an idea to the students and readers about writing an essay on this topic.

10 Lines Essay on Why Honesty is the Best Policy (100 – 120 Words)

1) Honesty is the best policy as it always pays back.

2) Honest people are respected everywhere in society.

3) Honesty helps us to win any challenge or overcome any problem.

4) Honesty is a good habit that maintains our good reputation.

5) Honesty boosts our self-confidence and makes us strong.

6) Honesty and trust are the pillars of a healthy relationship.

7) Honesty is helpful in attaining success in every field.

8) Honesty helps us to live a peaceful and satisfactory life.

9) Honesty reflects our good character.

10) Honesty is the key to long-term happiness.


Short Essay (250 words)

Introduction

Honesty is always regarded as the best policy. Children from a very young age are taught by their parents and teachers to be honest in their life. Honesty is a quality that stops people from lying or cheating. Honest people are never afraid of others and live a peaceful and happy life.

Honesty always wins against lies

The path of honesty is difficult to be followed but is always right. People often tend to speak lies to save themselves from any kind of problematic situation. This act of speaking lies can save us at that very moment but is never the right path. A lie always has a weak base and is built on a false structure whereas truth has a strong base. The truth always wins in the battle against lies. Lies can never prevent the truth from winning. Truth is powerful and therefore lie can never change the reality of truth.

Honesty inculcates valuable qualities in us

Honesty helps in building our character by inculcating some valuable attributes in us. It requires a lot of courage to speak the truth in every situation of life. Thus it can be stated that honesty makes us brave and courageous. Honest people can be easily trusted by others because of their loyalty. They are sincere in their actions. Honesty helps in building good relationships with others. It is because honest people speak the truth and therefore they are trusted by others. Honest people do not fear anything in their life. They speak the truth and hence do not fear being caught like the people who speak lies. The qualities that develop in us by being honest to help us in becoming responsible citizens along with the strong moral character.

Conclusion

Honesty is only the way to get rid of corruption prevalent in society. The increase in the number of honest people will result in the progress of the nation. Honest people are loved and respected by everyone in society.


Why Honesty is the Best Policy Essay – Long Essay (1050 Words)

Introduction

Honesty is the ornament of our character. It is a saying that if wealth is lost nothing is lost if health is lost something is lost but if the character is lost everything is lost. As the ornaments enhance the beauty of our body in the same way Honesty is a quality that enhances the beauty of character. It is regarded as one of the most essential qualities that every one of us should have.

What is Honesty?

Honesty is the virtue of saying the truth always in every situation of life. The meaning of honesty is not only bounded to the speaking of truth but also involves caring, responsibility, and respecting the feeling of others. It makes a person to be disciplined, punctual, well behaved and follow the rules and regulations in their life. Being honest in every situation of life is most difficult but it never leads to any worse situation. Honesty is the basis of success in our life. Honesty is something that is not attained at an instant but comes into our habit slowly and gradually after practicing. It gives us inner satisfaction after we speak the truth every time in our life.

Why Honesty is the Best Policy?

We are taught by our parents and later in schools to be honest in every situations of life since our childhood. In schools we are taught about the concept and importance of honesty in life by several stories and poems. Many times we observe practical examples of practicing honesty in real life and thus understand the good effects of practicing honesty in life.

  • Makes us Successful – Honesty is the foundation of being successful in our life. It is a great quality that one posses in self. If we are honest in our life we will lead a disciplined life and live our life by following proper rules and regulations. To become successful one should have a target in life and should focus and work hard for achieving that. Honesty helps us in developing all these points required for getting successful in our life. Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, etc. are the great examples of successful personalities as they always followed the path of truth.
  • Helps in Building Good Relationship – Trust is the foundation for every kind of relationship. No relationship is possible without trust. Developing trust requires being honest in all the situations of life. The people who believe in us expect truth from us. Our truthful nature gives them a reason to believe in us but lies can only hurt people and finish the relationship. We can never keep their trust alive by speaking lies. It may happen that lies can help in coming out of a difficult situation but can never save you for long. We can be neglected because of our truth for some time but after the other person analyzes the whole thing will appreciate us for being honest.
  • Helps in Gaining Trust – Truth makes a person become trustworthy in society, family and friends. People can easily trust and rely on the honest person. Honesty is the policy that helps people to trust and respect us. Trust helps in building good relations with friends, family, and people in society. One lie breaks all the trust and is a precursor to hundred lies forward. The people can never develop trust in that person and thus he/she has to suffer from this during their life. Trust helps in attaining greater heights in the carrier, businesses, studies, etc.
  • Makes us Brave and Confident – Honesty is the quality that enlightens us with great inner power. It makes us brave and confident in our life. Mahatma Gandhi considered truth as the most powerful weapon in life. He said that we should never fear anyone if we are speaking the truth. Speaking truth leaves no guilt in us and helps us bravely delivering our thoughts and opinions in front of others.
  • Helps in Attaining Peace of Body and Mind – We get the peace of mind and great satisfaction after speaking the truth and never opting for speaking a lie. After speaking a lie we are disturbed from inside and are in the guilt of that forever. Secondly, when we speak a lie we always have a fear of getting our lies revealed. Truth helps in getting out of this fear and helps people in remaining true to themselves. It helps in believing in our self-potential and developing self-respect in us.

Is Honesty an Innate or Acquired Virtue?

Honesty is a great quality that comes in us after the act of practicing it regularly in life. It is not granted to us by birth. If this quality would be granted to us by birth no one in this world would attempt for speaking lies and doing wrong activities. Parents teach children to speak the truth from their childhood. We even get punished for speaking lies. The punishment is given to us so that we may learn from our mistakes and never repeat them again.

The power of truth can be best determined well by the life of our Father of the Nation i.e. Mahatma Gandhi. He considered truth as a most essential quality in human beings. Gandhiji was successful in making our nation free from British Rule just because he was a follower of Truth and Non-Violence. The quality of being truthful is acquired slowly and gradually by us. It totally depends upon us that how much we are ready to inculcate this quality in us and accept this. In totality, it can be stated that we need to develop this virtue in us as it makes us shine in every aspect of our life. Honesty provides us love and respect from our family, friends, and people in society thereby can be stated as the best policy.

Conclusion

Honest people never choose to speak lie in any situation of life. It is because of that truth they get a lot of love and respect from the people around them. They can easily be trusted by others and therefore are benefitted from life-long friendships in their life. The quality of honesty is most valued by the people and speaking lies is the cause of worse situations in life. Being honest also promotes a corruption-free environment and the progress of the society and nation.

FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions

Q.1 What is honesty?

Ans. It is a virtue of being truthful with ourselves and others in our life.

Q.2 Which type of sentence is ‘Honesty is the best Policy’?

Ans. This sentence is a universal truth.

Q.3 Is it better to lie sometimes?

Ans. Lying sometimes for good intentions excluding selfish motives is ok sometimes.

Q.4 Who said ‘No Legacy is so Rich as Honesty’?

Ans. These words were said by William Shakespeare.

Q.5 Why it is difficult to be honest?

Ans. It is because truth is always bitter and it is not easy to digest.

Related information:

Essay on Mahatma Gandhi