See honesty is the best policy on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "Attested since the early 1600s. Policy had the meaning of ‘shrewdness, cunning’ and ‘trick, stratagem’ at the time, so that the saying was originally an oxymoron in the same vein as attack is the best form of defence.",
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"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "proverb",
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "a. 1605, reprinted 1673, Edwin Sandys, Europae Speculum; Or A View Or Survey of the State of Religion in the Western Parts of the World, page 112",
"text": "All theſe things conſidered, it hath made me to mitigate my former imagination, and to deem it not unpoſſible, that this over-politick and too wiſe Order may reach a note higher than our groſs conceits, who think honeſty the beſt policy, and truth the onely durable armor of proof; […]"
},
{
"ref": "1842, published 1843, anonymous, “Precepts and Proverbs” in The Common School Journal, volume 5, number 24, page 383",
"text": "Honesty is the best policy; but he who acts on that principle is not an honest man. He only is an honest man who does that which is right because it is right, and not from motives of policy; and then, he is rewarded by finding afterwards that the honest course he has pursued was in reality the most politic."
}
],
"glosses": [
"Honesty is preferable as a course of action because it tends to work out best in the end."
],
"id": "en-honesty_is_the_best_policy-en-proverb-dZLphUG8",
"links": [
[
"Honesty",
"honesty"
],
[
"work out",
"work out"
]
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "zh",
"lang": "Chinese",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "诚实为上策"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "eerlijk duurt het langst"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "rehellisyys maan perii"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "l’honnêteté paie"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "ehrlich währt am längsten"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "Ehrlichkeit ist die beste Politik"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "Shōjiki wa saikō no seisakudesu",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "正直は最高の政策です"
},
{
"code": "ko",
"lang": "Korean",
"roman": "jeongjigeun choeseonui jeongchaegida",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "정직은 최선의 정책이다"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "uczciwość popłaca"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "honestidade é a melhor política"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "honestidad es la mejor política"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "ärligheten varar längst"
}
]
}
],
"word": "honesty is the best policy"
}
{
"etymology_text": "Attested since the early 1600s. Policy had the meaning of ‘shrewdness, cunning’ and ‘trick, stratagem’ at the time, so that the saying was originally an oxymoron in the same vein as attack is the best form of defence.",
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"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "proverb",
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "a. 1605, reprinted 1673, Edwin Sandys, Europae Speculum; Or A View Or Survey of the State of Religion in the Western Parts of the World, page 112",
"text": "All theſe things conſidered, it hath made me to mitigate my former imagination, and to deem it not unpoſſible, that this over-politick and too wiſe Order may reach a note higher than our groſs conceits, who think honeſty the beſt policy, and truth the onely durable armor of proof; […]"
},
{
"ref": "1842, published 1843, anonymous, “Precepts and Proverbs” in The Common School Journal, volume 5, number 24, page 383",
"text": "Honesty is the best policy; but he who acts on that principle is not an honest man. He only is an honest man who does that which is right because it is right, and not from motives of policy; and then, he is rewarded by finding afterwards that the honest course he has pursued was in reality the most politic."
}
],
"glosses": [
"Honesty is preferable as a course of action because it tends to work out best in the end."
],
"links": [
[
"Honesty",
"honesty"
],
[
"work out",
"work out"
]
]
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "zh",
"lang": "Chinese",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "诚实为上策"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "eerlijk duurt het langst"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "rehellisyys maan perii"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "l’honnêteté paie"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "ehrlich währt am längsten"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "Ehrlichkeit ist die beste Politik"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "Shōjiki wa saikō no seisakudesu",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "正直は最高の政策です"
},
{
"code": "ko",
"lang": "Korean",
"roman": "jeongjigeun choeseonui jeongchaegida",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "정직은 최선의 정책이다"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "uczciwość popłaca"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "honestidade é a melhor política"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "honestidad es la mejor política"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "ärligheten varar längst"
}
],
"word": "honesty is the best policy"
}
Download raw JSONL data for honesty is the best policy meaning in All languages combined (3.4kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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