Honesty is the Best Policy: Origin, Meaning, Explanation, Essay, Speech

Honesty is the Best Policy: Origin, Meaning, Explanation, Essay, Speech

Honesty is the Best Policy Origin (Essay on Honesty is the Best Policy )

“Honest” comes from Latin word ‘honestus’ which means ‘honourable or respected’. The dictionary meaning of honest is ‘the person who tells the truth; the person who doesn’t lie and steal’. Honesty is the best policy is a proverb in English. Many books and websites claim different opinions about the origin of the proverb. This is first used by Benjamin Franklin. However, the quote “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom” is given by Thomas Jefferson, as used in a letter to Nathaniel Macon.

Honesty is the Best Policy: Meaning

There are so many moral characters one should have. Since childhood, we are taught to be sincere and have a moral sense within our self. This is applicable in day-to-day life. An aspect of a moral character is “being honest”. Honesty represents truthfulness in one’s way of living. Many of people in our society has a habit of lying, cheating, theft, etc which we read or experience in our life. These unmoral characters results in many fatal incidents. Honesty includes absence of these negative characters from our life.

Also, sometimes it might be seen as a negative character of the individual, when it is in excess amount. As “too honest” is seen as undisciplined openness. If the person expresses the negative opinions of other individual in unwanted circumstances, it is perceived as unmoral character.

Explanation and Examples of Honesty is the Best Policy

There are so many examples in our day-to-day life of honest peoples. Let’s read a story here to understand honesty from closure.

This is from Sudha murthy, an Indian philanthropist and writer in kannada and English. She was awarded the ‘Padma Shri’. In her book ‘Wise & Otherwise’, A Salute to Life, she described 51 of her life events. The first story or the first chapter named ‘Honesty comes from the heart’ is about a boy Hanumanthappa who was the 8^th rank holder in Secondary School Leaving Certificate results. Sudha came to know that the boy belonged to a tribal group and his father was a coolie. He was unable to study further, as he said in a newspaper interview. Sudha felt pity for his condition. She wrote a postcard to the boy offering him sponsorship for his further education. After all the details, it has been fixed as 300Rs per month for all his expenditure. Sudha sent 1,800Rs for the next 6 months.

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Time passed, one afternoon she received an envelope with some currency notes from the hanumanthappa. He returned money which was not used by him because the college was closed in the holidays for one and half months. Sudha was taken aback by his honest gesture. She thought there was no point of returning money as she never expected any account of his expenses.

She has written in her book, “Experience has taught me that honesty is not the mark of any particular class nor is it related to education or wealth. It cannot be taught at any university. In most people, it springs naturally from the heart.”

Conclusion on Speech on Honesty is the Best Policy

Overall, honesty is very important habit anyone should own. It is a key to good life. It will always pay you in long run. No matter whom the person is, and how strong he/she is, but dishonesty always hurts. An honest person can be trusted at any point of life, on other side, a dishonest person may sometimes get benefitted, but in long run, he/she will get distrust in return. Make sure that you simplify your statements that you have said, so that each one clearly gets your point. It makes you a better person. Often, it helps you to get out of many bad things. So, try everyday to own a good habit, always think before you speak.