Honesty

Honesty is not just an executive virtue; it is also a basic intellectual and civic virtue. Most generally, honesty is a deep and pervasive commitment to truth — seeking it out, acknowledging it, holding oneself (and others) accountable to it, and conforming one’s conduct to it. Honesty is closely related to integrity, which is the virtue of being true to oneself, of having one’s beliefs, feelings, and behavior in harmony. A person of integrity does not say one thing and do another, so other people can count on her to do her part in following and upholding the rules of the community. Honesty is therefore also closely connected to respecting others in the community.

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