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The trite saying that honesty is the best policy has met with the just criticism that honesty is not policy. The real honest man is honest from conviction of what is right, not from policy.

The trite saying that honesty is the best policy has met with the just criticism that honesty is not policy. The real honest man is honest from conviction of what is right, not from policy.

Approximate author period: c. 1829 AD · industrial

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Attribution & collection notes
Author or tradition
Robert E. Lee
Attribution: attributed
Country attributed
Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin.
Historical period
Approximate author period: c. 1829 AD · industrial
Approximate author-period evidence for Robert E. Lee: documented activity in 1829. Wikidata Q165557, inspected 2026-10-08. Not a quotation composition date or independent verification of attribution. Source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q165557 (accessed 2026-10-08).
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken.
Recorded source
Contributor-provided quotation collection

Supplied reference C; CSV row 458118; supplied attribution, independently unverified

A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.