Vilhjalmur Stefansson Quotes

Modesty is the delicate form of hypocrisy.

By a lie, a man... annihilates his dignity as a man.

Modesty is the color of virtue.

In the world in which we live, truth is an ancillary virtue, but it shouldn't be.

The more things a man is ashamed of, the more respectable he is.

I choose goodness... I will go without a dollar before I take a dishonest one. I will be overlooked before I will boast. I will confess before I will accuse. I choose goodness.

Nothing makes a man so virtuous as belief of the truth. A lying doctrine will soon beget a lying practice. A man cannot have an erroneous belief without by-and-by having an erroneous life. I believe the one thing naturally begets the other.

Accuracy is the twin brother of honesty; inaccuracy, of dishonesty.

You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.

It is a poor cause which has to be lied for regularly.

Though I be poor, I'm honest.

Honesty is a complex and tricky thing, and we don't want to be honest all the time.

The higher the moral tone, the more suspect the speaker.

Be sweet, be good, and honest always.

Pride perceiving humility honorable, often borrows her cloak.

There's hostility to lying, and there should be.

Honor lies in honest toil.

He is only honest who is not discovered.

Falsehood and delusion are allowed in no case whatsoever. But, as in the exercise of all the virtues, there is an economy of truth.

We value virtue but do not discuss it. The honest bookkeeper, the faithful wife, the earnest scholar get little of our attention compared to the embezzler, the tramp, the cheat.

Civilization depends on morality.

Living on hypocrisy is not a healthy diet for patriots.

I'm not saying I'm a paragon of virtue, but it's hard for me not to be honorable.

No matter how small the dishonest deed is, at the end of the day, cheating is cheating.

Better a child should be ignorant of a thousand truths than have consecrated in its heart a single lie.